Issue 01 : Saturday 14th November, 2015
Issue 01 : Saturday 14th November, 2015
Disney Elite hits “A New Hope” So it was the fourth Disney Elite this week (Force Awakens figures aside), with the Stormtrooper as seen in A New Hope hitting Disney store shelves. The US got these in store on the Monday, they then went online and into UK stores on the Tuesday. Richard, a regular contributor on our Facebook Page, was kind enough to share these "in hand" photo's of the Stormtrooper he picked up and of his Elite collection to date And although he isn’t due for another 2-weeks, we also got our first look this week of the Elite Series Darth Vader. Lord Vader showed up boxed in Singapore and will hit US stores on the 23rd November, and online and UK stores one day later on the 24th. 1/12 collector’s unhappy with Hasbro’s version may well be tempted by the Elite Vader. The key will be how he scales with the Hasbro figures? Most of the Elite so far have been closer to 1/10 than 1/12 but Maul for example did work well enough to give Vader fans hope that this “may” be a potential improvement upon the Hasbro version. If you want to order the Stormtrooper from Disney then CLICK HERE
The weeks NECA reveals (they are always good for 2-3 at least a week) started with the first images of their upcoming Hateful 8 range of figures. The licence to the new Tarantino Movie will see NECA release all 8 main characters. These figures will be in the 8" retro clothed action figure range and will be limited to 3000 of each of the main characters. Expect these in December. “For Quentin Tarantino’s eighth movie, we have a special treat for fans! Our newest retro clothed action figure line features all eight main characters from The Hateful Eight, and is a limited edition release – only 3,000 of each will be made available globally. Each fully articulated figure stands 8” tall and is dressed in intricately tailored fabric clothing, similar to the iconic toy lines of the 1970s. All feature authorized likenesses, and come with characterspecific accessories from the movie, like pistols, rifles, shackles, gun belts, holsters, and more, in window box packaging” NECA also continue their Ash vs The Evil Dead reveals, and this week's teaser picture was of Ash's signature chainsaw and shotgun. These figures will be in the more traditional 7 inch realistic style and we know that we will be getting Ash himself as well as at least one of the “Evil Dead” creatures.We look forward to seeing more reveals on this exciting new line and it should hit stores at some point in 2016.
If there is one thing NECA do really well is innovate new products and they certainly never restrict themselves to Action Figures. This week they announced their next 1:1 lifesize item, a replica Egg from Aliens along with its very own 1:1 scale Facehugger. The announcement was made on Twitter and was accompanied by the three promotional shots you see to the left. The egg will stand 36 inches high and will be inclusive of LED lighting that makes the inside of the egg glow. Transform any room into a deadly alien breeding ground with this Life Size #Xenomorph Egg — complete with its own eerie lighting and life size#facehugger! As seen in the 1986 horror classic #Aliens, this full-sized replica stands almost 36” tall, and articulated flaps with a wire armature allow you to actually open the top folds of the egg. The included full-size facehugger has a bendable tail, so you can pose it anywhere… waiting to drop on unsuspecting prey from overhead, or simply lurking inside the egg. The Life Size Xenomorph Egg is made of detailed, hand-painted foam and stands on its own. A switch activates the #LED lights inside the base to create a menacing, otherworldly glow effect. Requires 3 AAA batteries, not included. Starts shipping to retailers in March 2016!
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Issue 01 : Saturday 14th November, 2015
Tie Fighter Incoming Hasbro's giant 6 inch scale Black Series Tie Fighter has started to show up at Forbidden Planet. The first sighting came in from Southampton (part of Forbiddenplanet.com). This was soon followed up with limited stock turning up at Smyths and Toys R Us. So far it seems that, aside from Forbidden Planet and the independents, only Toys R Us & Smyths will carry this in store physically on shelves. Asda and Argos are doing this as an online exclusive, as of course are Amazon and Zavvi. Zavvi (click the link right) remains most competitive at £149.99 but you run the risk of them not getting stock which is a common issue. It was also revealed this week that we may see the Black Series 6 inch Battlefront Shock Trooper a lot sooner than we expected. The initial date for this was March 2016, but press releases from Walmart in the US indicate this figure will be available sooner and linked to the Battlefront game launch. News of his being available this weekend was exaggerated. We now await a firm release date from Walmart and to find out if this will translate to Asda in the UK - but we can hope.
CLICK HERE for the full story on the Walmart announcement courtesy of Yakface.com
You may remember that 2 weeks ago we broke the news that Aldi will be stocking a new Hasbro range of 6 inch scale 5 point of articulation Star Wars figures. These had been spotted in Taiwan and France, and Aldi are bringing these to the UK (and we also know to Germany) in November as part of a large Christmas Gift event. These figures will be sold at £6.99 and there are five to choose from - Darth Vader, First Order Stormtrooper, First Order Snowtrooper, Finn and Kylo Ren. The figures will hit Aldi stores from Thursday 26th of November, and like most of their promotions will be a one shot deal for about a week - so get in quick if you are after these. My intention is to pick up a full set for a review, and if these are half decent then the Storm & Snow Troopers may be bought in bulk for bulking out a First Order army. Aldi don’t stop there as they will also have a selection of 3.75” Rebels items. The will have the three 2014 Rebel ship assortment of the Phantom, Inquisitor’s Tie and AT-DP for £17.99. There is then a selection of five figures but only The Inquisitor & Stormtrooper are included from Rebels with the others being an X-Wing Luke, Han Solo and Clone Wars Obi Wan. These figures will retail at £5.99. CLICK HERE for the full interactive Aldi catalogue
Fans of Game of Thrones may want to follow my latest review challenge “Winter is Coming” With 4 of Funko’s Game of Thrones figures reviewed and archived, my new challenge is to find and review the remaining figures from series 1 and 2 by the end of the year. Watch out for Brienne of Tarth who will go up this weekend. For Star Wars Black Series collector's, watch out for our review of the Amazon Evolution of the Stormtrooper set - this should land in the next 2-weeks direct from the US.
Thank you to everyone who has followed the Mephitsu Archives and the “news that caught my eye” for close to 12 months now in one format or another. Today we start a new journey with the PDF publication of the newsletter. You can now sign up to receive this newsletter every Saturday direct to your inbox using the sign up button above. Don’t worry, we won’t pass any details to anyone else and you can unsubscribe at any point. The PDF format will also now allow us to archive older newsletters much easier, for these to be downloaded and read offline on devices like Tablets and KIndles. And we are exploring the publication of these on other online formats.