004 Action Figure Sat-TOY-Day News, 5th December 2015

Issue 04 : Saturday 5th December, 2015

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Not actual figure, stock photo from Star Wars Wiki

Issue 04 : Saturday 5th December, 2015

EDITOR UPDATE I can’t believe we are already at 4 issues! And there has been so much news again this week that we are at another 5-page issue.

There has been loads of news this week from NECA, particularly around their Alien series. And a similar avalanche regarding Star Wars Black Series.

I am also really pleased this week as the site continues to gather momentum. This week I stumbled across a couple of pieces of big news - particularly the inclusion of a Flametrooper in Star Wars Black Series in early 2016. Breaking big news is always a real buzz, and what is more pleasing is then seeing the bigger and more established sites giving us a credit for turning up the info. Thank you in particular to FlyGuy.net and Yakface. com who helped us with some exposure this week on the back of the Flametrooper news.

Onwards and upwards, soon be Christmas - and then of course the hard work starts as we reach Toy Fair season.

Force Awakens : Wave 3 1st November 2015 (overdue) ● ● ● ● ● ●

First Order TIE PIlot Resistance Trooper Rey and BB8 (repack) Finn (repack) Storm Trooper (repack) Kylo Ren (repack)

Force Awakens : Wave 4 January 2016 ● ● ● ● ● ●

First Order Snowtrooper Asty (X-wing Pilot) General Hux First Order Tie Pilot (repack) Kylo Ren (repack) Rey and BB8 (repack)

Japanese online store AmiAmi released details this week of what they called "Assortment 9" of the Star Wars 6 inch Black Series.

This assortment is due for release in February 2016 and is listed as containing the following figures

The other interesting elements are the numerical 2 after both Finn and Chewbacca.

The Finn mystery was soon cleared up when we got this image showing Finn would indeed be in his Stormtrooper armour, along with a “bloody” stained helmet.

[Set Contents] -Captain Phasma x1 -Jango Fett x1 -Flame Trooper x2 -Finnn 2 x1 -Chewbacca 2 x1 The obvious figure to jump out is that of the Flametrooper who will be packed 2 per case to bolster the ranks of the First Order.

Jango Fett will become the first non-Episode 7 character to be included in the new phase 3 packaging.

As if this wasn’t enough, then by the end of the week we found out the entire line up of waves from the imminent Wave 3 right through to Wave 6.

Force Awakens : Wave 5 February 2016 Jango Fett Captain Phasma (repack) Flametrooper (2 per case) Finn in Stormtrooper Armour ● Chewbacca ● ● ● ●

Force Awakens : Wave 6 TBC? ● EP 7 First Order Snowtrooper X 2 ● EP 7 Han Solo X 1 ● Rebels Kanan Jarrus X 1 ● Rebels Ahsoka Tano X 1 ● EP4 Luke Skywalker X 1

This wave news didn’t confirm any new figures other than the ones we’ve just discussed, but it is great news that Ahsoka, Luke Farmboy, Kanan and that Force Awakens Han are now on the release schedule.

Have a look at the wave breakdown to the left, or visit our BLACK SERIES COMING SOON page

Issue 04 : Saturday 5th December, 2015

If you have been hanging on for the Avengers : Age of Ultron Marvel Legend 6-pack to be reduced, then now is a good time to hit up your local Disney store.

The long awaited Doctor Strange (comic) figure from Diamond Select has started to land on store shelves.

The set is currently half price at £49.97 and was in plentiful supply when this image was taken at Liverpool One this week. The same price also applies ONLINE

As well as picking him up at your local store, you can also order him online - with our affiliate Zavvi having him in hand now for £25.99 and Forbidden Planet listing at £19.99 + delivery, although this is a preorder item at time of publication.

Forbidden Planet have posted their pre-orders for the first four Cinemachines vehicles from NECA. “Introducing a brand new line of die-cast collectibles celebrating some of the most iconic vehicles from film and television!”

Priced at £22.99 + delivery, these are listed with an estimated arrival date of early May 2016 Click through the images above to go to the pre-order pages and read the full retailer blurb for each model.

“CINEMACHINES brings these supporting cast members to life in exceptional detail, ready to add to your collection. Each measures 5-6” long and is made from die-cast metal and plastic that’s carefully hand painted.”

Also in almost full supply were the Disney Elite figures only the recently released Vader and Grievous were missing from the shelves.

This coming week fans will be looking to pickup Boba Fett, who arrives on UK shelves on the 8th Dec - but only in selected stores*

Watch this space as once announced it will also likely be straight onto Disney store shelves With the movie due next year starring Benedict Cumberbatch then Dr Strange is well positioned to be the next big thing, which may well make this figure highly sought after in 2016

* Oxford Street, Bluewater, Metro Centre, Trafford Centre, Glasgow, Cardiff, Liverpool

Bandai First Order Stormtrooper

Technically, Bandai are not permitted to offer these kits outside of Japan due to their licensing agreement.

Bandai’s 1/12 First Order Stormtrooper has started shipping from the Far East this week, and Gunjap. net has provided us with some tantalising images of this new addition to the Bandai Star Wars kit/figure line.

The selling points of Bandai’s kits are around affordability (sub £20 per kit), flexibility and the accomplishment of building the model in the first place which is usually a good couple of hours to get the kit to a completed stage - not to mention anyone who expands on the “in box” presentation with after market paint applications and modifications.

Interestingly, on the rear of the packaging, there is an image of an alternative head for this figure. We assume, at this stage, that this will be a Disney Store exclusive.

At time of publishing however we have located these being sold on Amazon via THIS LINK as well as through a number of eBay sellers.

This figure is going to have to do some work to stand out vs the various other 1/12 offerings such as the price comparable Hasbro Black Series, or the upcoming SH Figuarts.

One advantage that it appears to have is the ability to kit out the trooper with a variety of equipment from the standard blaster rifle’s to the riot control gear that at present is only available in a 2 pack from Hasbro.

Looking at the images from Gunjap, the only criticism I can see is the blaster and rifles are unpainted - with no white accents that you do get on the Hasbro version.

Issue 04 : Saturday 5th December, 2015

NECA announced this week that the third spot in their Alien, series 7, would be taken by the concept Xenomorph “Big Chap” from the 1979 Alien movie.

When HR Giger was originally designing the Alien for the movie, he called for a creature with translucent skin and early concept models and suits were designed to be see-through.

Technical difficulties soon saw the translucent suit abandoned in favour of the one we know so well. You can read more about the history of this concept model HERE

Courtesy of Trashmutant, this image (right) showed up on Twitter this week.

The shot at first seems to be some work in progress, presumably at a NECA studio.

But look closer at the line up of Alien figures on the shelf and there is one figure that stands out.

Between Hudson and Bishop, on the right, is what looks to be an unreleased figure of Lambert in Spacesuit from Alien.

Ultimately this is the same sculpt as the original Big Chap mould. But it is a clever nod to the movie’s history rather than just a repaint for the sake of it.

When quizzed, NECA’s Randy Falk gave a twitter “wink” and I guess that means we will have to wait and see if this makes it to retail in 2016 or beyond?

Joining Concept Big Chap in series 7 will be two Xenomorphs from the original Alien vs Predator movie - the Grid Alien and a standard AvP Xeno.

These will be released in 2016 and will fit really well with the late 2015 releases in series 15 of the Predator range.

All three of these new Series 7 Xenomorphs are already up for preorder at Forbidden Planet here in the UK at £22.99 and with a May 2016 due date CLICK HERE for the preorder page

AvP Predators : Series 14 Need help taking down those pesky Aliens? Then look no further than the trio of Predators that are landing directly from the Alien vs Predator movie in NECA’s Series 14 of the Predator series.

This week we were treated to some impressive studio shots of the production figures (CLICK HERE) and with these shipping out as we speak, these should hit stores very soon.

NECA’s longest running figure collection! Series 14 debuts our first-ever Predators from the 2004 movie Alien vs. Predator.

Celtic, Scar and Chopper feature all-new bodies with a mind-blowing new level of articulation – over 30 points! Each comes with character-specific gauntlets, armor, weapons, trophies and other accessories. We’ve paid close attention to detail to make these as accurate to the movie as possible.

Figures stand 8.25” tall. Blister card packaging.

Issue 04 : Saturday 5th December, 2015

Star Wars 3.75 Leaks Amazon in Canada let slip a number of new 5 POA Star Wars releases this week. There are no immediate spoilers, and nothing massively exciting - although I do like the look of that Speeder Bike and Ezra.

I said “I’ll be back!”

NECA gave their biggest indicator yet, practically a confirmation, that there is every chance of seeing an Ultimate version of the T-800 from the original Terminator Movie.

NECA have a number of previous figures & sculpts to draw from and whether this is a Tech Noir version, a Police Station Showdown or even a combination of both - he will be a welcome addition to the Terminator 7” stable.

Super Shiny Captain Phasma No-one has (as yet) nailed the Chrome look of Captain Phasma’s armour at 1/12 scale. But if these promotional images are anything to go by then it looks like the Bandai 1/12 kit figure may just do that.

Released in February, this kit will use the same finish as the Bandai C-3PO and looks to capture that mirror chrome look for Phasma perfectly.

Getting hold of one may be tricky as Bandai are not permitted to sell outside of Japan due to their licence restrictions.

The RRP for this in Japan is 4000Yen, so at a direct conversion that is $32 or £21

NECA add Contra to Video Game Range “working on this for years” was how Randy Falk at NECA described the announcement this week that Video Game Classic Contra would be added to their highly successful video game range.

Bill and Lance will be in 7” scale and painted to represent their 8bit selves from the NES version of the game.

Pre-orders will go out soon for these figures, and if you want to look at the announcement video from Pixel Dan, then CLICK HERE

Guest Review : Disney Elite Stormtrooper A couple of weeks ago we invited regular facebook page contributor Keith to send us his thoughts on the newly released Disney Elite Stormtrooper.

Keith went one better and sent in this great review, which we are really happy to publish for him. Click HERE to read Keith’s review

Zavvi began shipping pre-orders of the 6 inch Star Wars Force Awakens Tie Fighter this week. We would hope to have a review on the website by this time next week.

At £149.99 this is the cheapest so far for the item, with stocks available as we publish this and with FREE delivery. Click HERE to place your order.

Issue 04 : Saturday 5th December, 2015

The Variants are Coming…

This brilliant image turned up this week via The Fwoosh of an SH Figuarts display at a Tamashii Nations Showroom.

Front and centre is Mace Windu, and he is looking really good - and expands their Prequel selection of figures further.

To either side are what look to be repaints of C-3PO and their R2 mold. 3PO is in his dull unfinished Attack of the Clones decor, while the Astromech mould is recoloured to create R4-P17 and this fits in with their planned Ep2 Obi Wan figure.

Lined up behind Mace and the droids are a variety of phase 1 clones in varying decor.

Following the lead set by Hasbro, it seems we will be getting the green sergeant, red captain and yellow commander in SH Figuarts 1/12 scale.

The inclusion of the blue lieutenant will be of interest to clone collectors, as that is yet to figure in the Hasbro range.

Divided we Fall...

Diamond Select Toys confirmed on their Facebook page this week that they will announce their lineup for their 7” Marvel Select figures for Civil War by the end of this month.

There are likely going to be 3 slots to fill - with Disney Store maybe adding other exclusives, but quite often these are just unmasked or battle damaged versions.

We are fairly sure, based on previous Ask DST sessions, that Captain America will be one - and considering we haven’t really had a true contemporary Cap this is fine.

Who wants to speculate on the others? If so, then join us on Facebook and let us know what you think.

Fans of the Original Trilogy have hadn’t had a great deal to get excited about from SH Figuarts who have had a lot of Prequal focused releases.

However, this upcoming Farmboy Luke Skywalker, is now getting closer to release and looks brilliant.

Other figures revealed at the showcase included a Super Battle Droid as well as Darth Maul’s Sith Speeder from the Phantom Menace.

The C-3PO head will also get a run-out a-top a Red Battle Droid body, as seen in the Battle of Geonosis.

It is unclear if the head will come as an add-on to the standard red battle droid or if this will be a separate release.

And talking of Battle Droids, it seems that now they have the mold the SH Figuarts team will be taking full advantage with both Red & Beige versions and alternative ranked droids.

We hope that as well as bringing him to retail - they will also let us have the Episode 4 Han Solo they teased us with so long ago.

No doubt the star of the reveals for me was the First Order Heavy Gunner who will come complete with floor standing cannon.

There are no release details as yet on these figures. And as far as price goes these will set you back around £32 for a standard release (plus possible custom costs) if you order direct from the Far East via sites like Hobbylink Japan or Ami Ami.