012 Action Figure Sat-Toy-Day News, 6th February 2016

Issue 12 : Saturday 6th February, 2016

Issue 12 : Saturday 6th February, 2016

We are just one week away from the New York Toy Fair, and also one week away from our 1st Birthday.

NECA confirm the first wave of their Rocky relaunch series of figures will be on display at Toy Fair from the 13th February.

Unlike a lot of other NECA licences, the Rocky figures appear to have been kept well and truly locked away.

That embargo appears to be lifting as we get closer to Toy Fair and NECA were giving us a few sneaky peaks by the end of this week.

This image above was added as NECA’s Twitter profile picture, and shows Rocky with Championship belt taken directly from Rocky 3.

We are assuming that Rocky will follow the usual NECA format with 3 figures per series. It seems likely that each wave will be based on a particularly Rocky movie.

And this is borne out in particular with the released image (below) of the sample packaging which is an all black boxed affair, with the colouring of the art and backing card varying film to film. The box shown is for Clubber Lang who was the key opponent in Rocky 3 and will be included in the first wave.

NECA have also confirmed that a future wave (wave 2?) will include Rocky and Ivan Drago from Rocky 4.

Toy Fair Coverage 2016

One year ago, right before the 2015 Toy Fair, I launched the Mephitsu website and the associated Facebook and Twitter channels. In 12-months the site has grown and that is all thanks to everyone who reads my content and interacts with us on all our platforms.

Like 2015, I will be covering all the news from Toy Fair over the weekend of the 13th - 14th of February and then through to the shows close on February the 16th.

As a UK site we aren’t attending, and the process for us is to be a hub of all the key news coming out of Toy Fair that lines up with the sites focus on mid-scale Action figures from TV and Film.

As with any show coverage any news or images will be credited to their source reflecting the great work of the US sites who will be attending Toy Fair. And as a UK site we will be adding our UK spin to this news, adding in our expectations on UK price and what retailers may be picking up these items in the UK. If you head over to our news feed HERE you will find we are preparing for the Toy Fair news with a page per key manufacturer and once the news hits our FACEBOOK feed it will be updated onto these news pages so any visitor can dive into to the area they want the news for - whether this be Star Wars Black Series, Marvel Select or NECA. All of this news will then be rolled into a Toy Fair Special of this newsletter which will be released around the 17th February and will replace that week’s issue.

The enjoyment for me of Toy Fair is seeing all your reactions to the pictures and announcements - so please do not hesitate to comment, like, share and discuss the news as we go on a virtual tour through Toy Fair together.

Away from Toy Fair and my backlog of figure reviews is slowly being reduced, with another 5 up already this week with figures from Game of Thrones, Terminator and Hellboy. You can read two of the new reviews in this weeks edition as I have published my full review for the T800 Guardian from Terminator Genisys, and the Exclusive Kylo Ren with Starkiller base.

Plenty more to come in the coming week so keep it tuned to the Archives...

Another week and another big week for Cinemachine previews from NECA. We saw the Terminator Hunter Killer a couple of weeks back, but this new image shows a painted sample.

This was followed up on Friday with the promotional image (right) showing a line up of 8 Cinemachine ships from the Alien franchise.

We know that the Alien Derelict and Space Jockey, and the Aliens Dropship and APC, will make up the first wave of these new vehicles and are due in Spring and will retail in the UK at £22.99. These can be pre-ordered now from Forbidden Planet.

We are not sure as yet where the other 4 vehicles from Aliens will sit, particularly considering the other content we have seen from Terminator.

Back Row (flight stands) : The Derelict, The Narcissus, The Sulaco Front Row : Aliens Drop ship, Space Jockey, Aliens APC, The Nostromo, The Daihotai Tractor (Aliens Special Edition)

Issue 12 : Saturday 6th February, 2016

We already knew that DC was a big part of the One:12 collective, not only with the Dawn of Justice figures - but with the other classic DC comic book figures we saw at Toy Fair - Green Arrow, Flash etc. But it isn’t just DC that are joining the One:12 Collective…

At a pre-Toy Fair event this week, Mezco revealed that they will be bringing Marvel characters into their premium 1/12 collector's range. At present these are all also comic book based and will start with a pretty impressive line up.

Daredevil will be released in 3 different colour schemes, a similar approach to the first comic Batman figure that Mezco released at One:12 scale. As well as the usual red outfit, DD will also come in the original yellow & red combo and the black with red trim outfit.

Joining Daredevil will be The Punisher.

It was only last Sat-TOY-Day, in issue 11, that we were looking at the sneak peak from Mezco which announced their One:12 Batman vs Superman figures.

That same day the US pre-orders went up, alongside a few more images - as seen below. At $75 (assume around £60 mark for these in UK) these aren’t cheap, but they aren’t shipping until July/August so there is time to save up.

But that wasn’t all, as on the same day as the pre-orders for Batman & Superman went live, Mezco also revealed they will also be revealing a One:12 Armoured Batman. The most exciting element of this figure was given in a tweet by Mezco who were answering another query “Superman's eyes do not light up. But Armored Batman? That's another story

Punisher will be released in two versions, one the more classic look and the other the more modern interpretation.

And to finish off the trio of characters is the daddy of them all, Captain America.

Like Punisher, Cap will come in two costumes. One classic, Golden Age, costume and the other a more modern version.

UK collectors can expect to be paying between £60 and £75 for each of these, and they should hit specialist stores in late 2016.

All these images that we have here are from ToyArk.com who covered the event and if you follow the link below you can see the full gallery.

Source : ToyArk.Com

Issue 12 : Saturday 6th February, 2016

Aquaman Surfaces The first figures from Mattel’s Movie Masters range of 6 inch characters from the Batman vs Superman movie have already hit shelves in the US. Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman will soon be joined by Aquaman as per this image which has been circulating this week Aquaman is being played

by Jason Momoa who is best known from his role in Game of Thrones as Khal Drogo.

The image of Aquaman isn't the clearest, but to me it looks a lot more detailed in both paint and sculpt vs what I have seen on the Batman and Superman versions.

The World of Warcraft movie is getting its own range of 6" Action Figures courtesy of Jakks Pacific. These will be part of a wider range which also includes this new fad of 2.5" figures, larger 11" figures and role play items. The figures will be arriving boxed, in a similar format to Hasbro and NECA’s 6 inch figures.

With the big UK stores seemingly ignoring the Movie Masters and going with the cheaper lower articulation figures then it seems anyone wanting these will need to go down the specialist route or order direct from the US.

These 6 inch figures are a significant move for Jakks from their bread & butter format of large scale 20” figures from the likes of DC, Marvel and Star Wars. However, let us not forget that Jakks did hold the WWE licence from 1996 until 2009, and are actually returning to the licence in 2016, so are used to doing articulated action figures at this scale.

I know nothing about World of Warcraft as a game, but the figures look interesting and may find their way onto my review table. Pre-orders are already up at Forbidden Planet.

Marvel Legends : Beware Spoilers I am treading carefully with the Marvel Legends news of late. These new images have now shown up showing the new movie Black Panther, and the original Nick Fury - who comes with alternative Shield Agent head which lends itself to Army Building.

Photos and fully story courtesy of Idle Hands

HULK! After seeing the unpainted sample at SDCC 2015, NECA have been relatively quiet with regards to their Quarter Scale Hulk figure.

This teaser image, released this week, seems to indicate the Big Guy is almost ready to show off in all his glory perhaps with a debut at Toy Fair next week.

As well as Hulk, NECA will also be releasing an updated Mark 45 Ironman, who can also be seen in this behind the scenes image.

You can also see the Red Guardian to the right of the Panther picture.

And just to the left of the Fury picture is the arm of the comic based Nuke.

The 6 figure wave is rounded off with the Civil War Captain America and Iron-man who we saw a couple of issues back.

The 6 figure wave does come with a BAF and it is this which I consider the spoiler and that we won't discuss here. If you want to know more then head to Marvelous News

Issue 12 : Saturday 6th February, 2016

Civil War : Who Will You Choose?

Diamond and Disney always work closely on the Marvel Select range of 7” figures, and of course Disney take their pick of figures to sell in the Disney Store as exclusives.

2016 doesn’t look like the best year for Cinematic Marvel figures, with only 3 planned and no exclusives - but Disney are still strategically tieing in their store offerings with the upcoming Civil War movie and this week announced two brand new 7 inch Select comic based figures.

Avenging Captain America will arrive in late February complete with his iconic shield and a wonderful looking Hydra ruins diorama base.

Joining Captain, will be Black Panther who enters the Diamond Select 7” range for the first time. Panther arrives with no accessories that we can see, but is packed with a Wakandan themed diorama base.

Cinematic collectors will also be reasonably happy to pick up Panther in this guise in the absence of true movie version at this stage.

Cleverly, Disney & Diamond will be supporting these two new announcements with other figures to allow collectors to be able to pick up the comic versions of a number of key Civil War antagonists.

We were already aware of the new Spider-man Select figure, and he lands. Joining Spider-man are re-releases for the Winter Soldier and Black Widow.

All 5 of these new figures have an RRP at Disney Store of £19.95 and can be pre-ordered now by clicking any of the images directly below. All five have a release date of the 29th of February, at which point pre-orders will be fulfilled and these will hit Disney store shelves.

Marvel Select collectors “should” see more of these figures at Toy Fair as well as hopefully getting a first look at the movie figures for Civil War - Captain America, Iron-man and The Winter Soldier.

Issue 12 : Saturday 6th February, 2016

I am not a 100% sure why the UK hasn’t had a sniff of wave 4 (Asty & Hux).

This week NECA posted the first look at the Uncharted 4 Nathan Drake action figure

But at least wave 5 is starting to hit in depth.

The figure is released in late Spring 2016 and will come with two head options, one smiling/neutral and one grimacing. Also packed in will be an Assault Rifle and a Handgun. .

Pre-orders will be going live very soon and we would expect the figure to be priced around the usual level of an Ultimate Series figure - so anything between £19.99 and £25.99 depending on your retailer of choice.

Sightings have been reported in both Smyths and Asda, with Asda being the preference as they have slashed the price (rolled back, not clearance) to £16 a figure.

Where as before the 6” figures seemed to be in larger stores only, it seems that most stores are getting at least an initial batch of these figures. Watch out for a special promotional section in some stores rather than finding these on the Toy Aisle. Happy Hunting...

NECA have loads of Predator goodies in the pipeline at present, and are always good for a sneak peak on Wednesdays - or Predensday as it is officially called on Twitter.

This week we got this stunning image, albeit of the back of a figure. This is the Clan Leader Predator who is inspired by the 1990’s figures from Kenner.

The Kenner homage figures will form Series 16 of the Predator series, following the two Alien vs Predator focused waves.

Original Clan Leader Predator Kenner range cica 1994

I joined Clect.com this week and what a brilliant experience that was to start logging my collection online with other fans and to share pictures and experiences as well as being able to buy and sell.

If you haven’t heard of Clect.com then can I suggest you point your web-browser to THIS SITE and have a look around. They are also live with an iOS app, with Android version coming soon. If you sign up then please look me up

There are loads of new product being announced for the Batman vs Superman movie this year, and NECA are taking a slice of the action by adding the Ben Affleck Batman to their Quarter Scale Range.

Arriving in mid 2016, the Q/Scale Batman will stand around 18 inches high and comes with a Batgun and Batarang weapons.

Although they do not have the licence for 7” DC figures, a number of other Q-Scale DC figures have found their way to be scaled down and released as part of a DVD tie-in with Warner Brothers. Fans will be keeping fingers crossed that NECA may find a way to do this with Affleck Batman at some point in the future.

Issue 12 : Saturday 6th February, 2016

Review : T800 Guardian ("Pops" 2017 Version) NECA, Terminator Genisys Wave/Series : N/A Released : January 2016 Price : ÂŁ19.99 The "Pops" T800 Terminator is the 3rd, and likely final, figure that NECA have released from the 2015 Terminator Genisys movie.

Like the preceding two figures, the 1984 T800 and the T1000 in Police Disguise, Pops arrives in a red themed box with display window to show off the figure. The top two thirds of the box reflect a future war scene, with T800 Endoskeletons stalking a futuristic landscape. The lower third of the box front is a gloss black panel in which is the Endoskeleton head logo and the character name, specifically in this case the T800 Guardian.

The exact same wording comes on the younger version.

This is a very very good looking figure. When I first saw the Genisys figures I thought they looked a little cheap considering they were from NECA, but in hand they stand up robustly to any other NECA release and in fact this Pops figure has arguably the best Schwarzenegger head to date, beating the aforementioned Ultimate T2.

Pops comes with two heads, one standard and one damaged.

Both are beautifully presented and painted to perfection, in fact the NECA painters should go and show the Hasbro painters how to do greying hair as if we could replicate this on the Episode 7 Han Solo we would all be very happy. The damaged head has the extra detail with the Endoskeleton skull exposed on the left hand side as you look at it. The sculpt has given the depth to this damage so you the skull is set back from the level of the face, something other Terminator figures have not quite captured. If I had one issue with the heads is that is is quite tough to swap them out, it shouldn't really be a battle to swap heads on a figure that has been designed with that very feature.

The red background extends round both sides of the box and round onto the back where a large Hunter Killer joins the scenery in the top right corner. A black flash on the right hand of the box back encloses a paragraph which details the description, strengths and weaknesses of a T800, this is the same wording as the younger 1984 T800 Guardian. At the base of the box are the other "also available" figures - in this case the younger guardian and the T1000. Under this are three different images of the Pops figure showing different combinations of the figure using the inbox parts.

Out of the box and Pops is presented against a grey card insert and comes packed with an alternative head, arm stump and a shotgun.

Pops stands at 7 1/4" high, and this is a tad taller than the Ultimate Terminator that was released just before Xmas. I don't mind that too much as they won't really be displayed together but it seems odd that after years of making Schwarzenegger as the Terminator NECA still adjust his height from figure to figure.

The outfit, which looks quite plain in the box, is bursting with detail. The coat is a multi-pocketed affair with varying ribbed panels on the shoulders and arms. It's cast in a dark black colour, but has some level of paint wash to give a shine to some raised areas and each button shines when you turn the figure in the light. Under the jacket is a grey t-shirt and in the middle of this is another damaged area with both the cloth and skin ripped and more silver Endoskeleton on display underneath.

And if that damage isn't enough, you can swap out Pops' left arm with the damages stump. Now if you think the head was tough to swap, then the arm is even more stubborn and you will risk breaking the figure if you don't boil Pops in hot water first, or heat him up with a hair-dryer. Again this is a frustrating element of a figure that was designed to have swap out parts.

The arm stump itself is well done, and doesn't do much other than plug the hole once in. Like the other damaged parts it is nicely detailed, and gory with metallic parts showing underneath the flesh.

Issue 12 : Saturday 6th February, 2016

Trousers are grey cargo pants, sculpted with folds and creases in the cloth and with intricate stitching around the pockets and down the side seams. The outfit is finished with a pair of boots, which look plain black but are actually really detailed up close with laces and panels sculpted on top of a different coloured sole and with real tread sculpted underneath. It is therefore frustrating when you see that detail to spin the figure round and see a significantly different coloured joint on the knee - a black plastic against the dark grey of the trousers?

Articulation is standard fare for a NECA figure. The head is on a peg/ball jointed mechanism so either head have the ability to rotate fully and then adjust up and down and to the side, this gives some character to poses where you can cock Pops head to one side, or have him looking down menacingly.

The arms are ball jointed and can rotate round and then out to the side by about 45 degree. The left arm, due to it's swappable joint, is a little less manoeuvrable than the right. Elbows rotate and bend to another 45 degree angle and then the wrists rotate and also pivot on their peg within the restrictions of the sleeve.

A waist joint sits under the shirt and there is a fair bit of movement on this so you can swivel Pops off to either side to perhaps have him in a firing position with his shotgun. Knees, which are beautifully concealed at the front (less so on the back as we have discussed) bend almost 90 degrees, and with the ball jointed hips above them you can essentially get Pops to kneel, crouch or even sit - all quite awkwardly, but the range of movement is there. The final joint is on the shoes/ankles which can rotate to adjust Pops stance. With such a heavy set figure, and heavy in terms of the plastic used, you will have no trouble getting Pops to stand.

Pops comes with just the one weapon, a futuristic shotgun with shoulder strap. This fits into either hand, but more snugly in the right. Sadly, because of the way the hand grip has been designed and the angle of the but on the gun, Pops can only hold this pointing down, almost as though he is about to load it.

Stick the arm out straight to fire, and the gun looks like it is cocked down in his hand, and if you spin the elbow to put it in a two handed grip, it just can't be done as the gun doesn't sit out straight enough, nor does the elbow bend enough, to get the barrel into the left hand.

Whatever you think of Genisys as a film, this is a really good Arnie / Terminator figure. The box doesn't do the figure justice, and neither does the promotional images - something that is usually the other way round. You need to get this thing out and in hand to appreciate it fully. Had it not been for the tight swappable part and that frustrating gun position, Pops would have strolled away with a 5 star review. Instead he gets a very strong 4 and a place front and centre of my Terminator archive.

Checkout our other Terminator Figure Reviews in the Archives Click the image to go directly to access the review

Issue 12 : Saturday 6th February, 2016

Review : Kylo Ren, Starkiller Base Star Wars Black Series (Hasbro) Wave/Series : Kmart US exclusive 2015 Released : November 2015 Price : ÂŁ29.99 (UK Import Price) The Starkiller Base version of Kylo Ren was announced, along with a raft of other exclusives, on Force Friday 2015 (4th September). The figure was due to be a Kmart exclusive in the US, but there was no details on a UK release.

The figure soon showed up on pre-order from a number of UK specialist retailers, and although it's never hit the shelves in a UK store it is relatively easy to pick-up online.

Although I am not going to go into any major detail, this review will discuss some plot elements of the Force Awakens in line with how the figure sits into that plot - so if you are yet to see Force Awakens, then please be warned and hit the back button if needed.

Kylo comes pre-posed in the box with his lit lightsaber in one hand, and the other extended outward apparently performing a force push. The figure is also packed already on the diorama base and the whole thing lifts out of the plastic tray and can go straight on display.

Firstly, there is no real difference in sculpt or articulation between the original Kylo and this version. The figure looks really nice and the soft goods do work and then support the articulation, the lower part at least, which means Kylo can get into some good action poses - such as the one he arrives preposed in.

The first key difference is the dĂŠcor on the bottom of his outer cloak, which is now spotted in white. This is meant to be weathering from the snow covered forest he is standing within. Sadly it looks more like you've dipped the figure in icing sugar and the crisp almost straight line between weathering and no weathering isn't good and I would have preferred a graduated transition.

Kylo arrives in an oversized Black Series box, about twice the width of a usual box and slightly deeper. The design remains the same with the black colour prominent throughout and the character depicted in grey line art on the front and on the back.

The right hand side is bright red, but like all exclusives is not numbered and instead simply has the character name in smaller lettering. Round the back and the bio short and sweet explaining that Kylo is a "dark warrior strong with the force" Out of the box and you notice that the red backing card is not pure red like the other Phase 3 releases, but instead does have a silhouetted tree line design against it. This of course lines up with the scene in the forest on Starkiller base where we find this version of Ren in the film's finale.

I didn't expect the snow weathering to continue through to the boots and legs underneath, but fair play to Hasbro that it does.

And actually this weathering looks much more natural and realistic.

The next key difference is the left hand which was a gripping fist on the first figure, but has now been adjusted on this release to mimic the force push position. This works well, but does tie you into one particular pose for this Kylo as the hand looks odd in any other situation.

Issue 12 : Saturday 6th February, 2016

Finally, the lightsaber on this Kylo does not have the joining piece between the cross guards and the main blade. I actually prefer this lightsaber to the original as its is cleaner and more defined. And of course you also get an unlit hilt which you can use if you wish - although it is much less effective, and also seems to signal the end of Hasbro using inserted blades like we saw on other Jedi characters in Phase 1 and 2.

I scored the original Kylo a 3 out of 5 and I am not sure this version does enough extra to change that - with any new parts (base, lightsaber) being neutralised by the price hike.

The selling point of this set has always been the diorama base which is apparently one half of a larger diorama and will link up to another figure/piece in the future. Having seen TFA you have to assume this will be a Rey with lightsaber.

The base is actually pretty poor in terms of detail, it is quite slim and a lot of it is lost under the folds of the skirt. I would have liked to see a bigger piece with much more detail than a slab of white and blue plastic. The nice part of the base is that the feet don't simply slot into a peg, they actually sink into the base.

This both secures the figure and also makes Kylo look like he has sunk a couple of inches into the snow.

All in all Kylo is just as good a figure as he was in Wave 1, and I am sure we will see him again in future waves perhaps sans cloak or more likely sans helmet. This figure has an improved lightsaber and the bonus of an unlit hilt - it is however very specific to the film with the snow weathering. If you want one definitive Kylo for your display, then this may not be the one to get because of this specific dĂŠcor.

And in real terms the base and weathering do not warrant the extra ÂŁ10 or so you will have to pay for this version. It is also difficult to justify buying this without knowing what the 2nd half of this diorama will look like, or even if it will come to market.

Also reviewed this week and accessible online via our website are the following figure reviews.

Click the image to go directly to access the review