014 Action Figure Sat-TOY-day News, 27th February 2016

Issue 14: Saturday 27th February, 2016

Issue 14 : Saturday 27th February, 2016

Well after a bumper Toy Fair 2016, things have been a bit quiet and Issue 14 is a bit on the slim side.

That’s not to say it isn’t worth a read. Checkout all the NECA Aliens news as they see series 7 hitting US shelves and are gearing up for series 8.

There is also tonnes of tempting goodies coming out of Japan with new Star Wars product from Mafex and Bandai, while SH Figuarts are starting to show off their Marvel product from Civil War. For the week ahead, I am very excited for this coming Friday the 4th of March as its the annual Take your Action Figure to Work Day. This worldwide event let’s Action Figure fans join together to take their figures into work and open up their creative side by taking pictures of said figures in the work enviornment.

Of course we will be releasing some figures from the Archive and posting a few teasers all week and then a few on the day itself. We would love YOU to join in too - and all you need to do is post your pictures to any of our social channels using the Hastag #AFWD2016.

You can post them to our FACEBOOK wall, tweet us using @Mephitsu, send them to us on Google+ or send them through on email to mephitsu. archives@gmail.com. Every entry will get the contributor one entry into our quarterly contributor draw (see here for full details).

I am also really exnjoying the newly launched Clect.com having joined up a couple of weeks back.

Clect is an innovative new site which allows collectors to create cards to show off items in their collection, and then organise these cards into packs and even join them with other packs from other collectors.

The social side is obviously brilliant with some great collectors to talk to. But the other great element is the ability to begin to create an inventory of your collection.

Future additions will see Buy/Sell options on the site, and they will have mobile applications to support the platform - with iOS in beta test now, and Android following later in the year. Click the logo to join up and don’t forget to look us up.

TK Maxx : Rebels TK Maxx appear to have taken receipt of a shipment of Rebels 3.75” two packs. These are the later 2-pack wave from 2014 which barely made it into the UK. As well as more standard figures, the wave contains the much sought after Hera w/Stormtrooper and Cadet Ezra w/Kanan. £9.99 each is a decent price for two figures, but you will need to be quick - TK Maxx tends to send just a few figures into each store and there will be no restock.

We saw a number of Alien creatures at New York Toy Fair, which were touted as being part of an Aliens Creature Pack.

NECA have since provided fans with this teaser shot of the proposed contents - unpainted in this photo.

Contents appear to be 1. Facehugger in Stasis Tube 2. Chestbursters x 2 3. Royal Facehugger* 4. Normal Facehugger 5. Juvenile Queen* * Still waiting for the correct terminology for these two items NECA have also taken to Twitter to confirm that Series 89 of their Alien series will be based on Aliens to celebrate its 30th Anniversary.

Over in the US, series 7 of Aliens is not hitting shelves and of course we know what series 8 will be made up of having seen the full break down at Toy Fair, or do we?

Based on the NECA Toy Fair both display we know we are already getting two Dog Aliens in series 8 with brown and grey variances. The brown version is essentially a repack of the series 3 Dog Alien, while the grey is a new variant.

On #FacehuggerFriday this week NECA revealed they are also considering adding this Molten version (below) as a chase figure in the wave.

A chase figure will be short packed, say one in every 10 boxes. The idea is that when the boxes are unpacked onto store shelves the chase figure will be put out as normal for fans to hunt down and purchase.

I think this is a nice variant, but am not a big fan of chase figures. The issue here in the in the UK is that NECA product doesn't really hit physical shelves like it does in the states, leaving the the chase figure being unpacked by the independents and then likely sold at a premium - which is fine, but defeats the whole nature of a chase figure.

NECA are taking feedback on this option right now so time will tell how they approach the release of this molten Dog Alien

Issue 14 : Saturday 27th February, 2016

The star of the Mafex Star Wars range is however looking to be their version of Kylo Ren. Medicom are clearly ramping up their Star Wars output in their Mafex collectors range.

This week we saw solicitation images for two brand new figures.

C-3PO will arrive in November 2016 and will be packed in with BB8. 3PO is based on his Force Awakens appearance with the dull red arm.

The two pack has an RRP equivalent to £61, but UK collectors will have to add import costs on to this.

Also arriving is Captain Phasma who will be presented in a particularly impressive vac metalized finish.

Phasma is down for a December 2016 release and her RRP is equivalent to £42.

We saw a few images of this figure back in January, but the promotional images have now landed and wow do they look stunning.

Not counting the slightly out of scale Disney Elite figure, Mafex are the first to get announce a 1/12 unmasked Kylo Ren and get it to pre-order stage. I suspect they may get beaten to market

by Hasbro at some stage considering the timeline Mafex are working to.

Kylo will come with soft goods robes and will also include the melted Darth Vader helmet - another 1/12 first. He will also come with both lit and unlit lightsabers as accessories to vary the look of the figure.

Like Phasma. Kylo is scheduled for a November 2016 release, and is listed for the slightly cheaper RRP of £33.

Unlike many of the Phasma figures we have seen, it appears that the Mafex version will be supplied with a soft goods cloak.

Pre-orders for these will be going up via the usual channels such as Hobbylink Japan and AmiAmi very soon.

Ant-Man About 4 weeks ago at the Winter Wonder Con in Japan, we got a glimpse of a big SH Figuarts Marvel display into which were slots for two new figures under the Civil War heading.

We speculated at the time that these would be Antman and Black Panther.

We now know that we were correct with Ant-Man and SHF have now released the promotional images.

Based on his streamlined Civil War suit, Ant-Man will arrive in July and have a converted RRP of £40, but there will be import costs on top of this. He will include a 1.5cm mini figure to display alongside the 6 inch version.

Another company tackling a 1/12 Kylo Ren will be Bandai as part of their action figure kit range. This kit will allow you to build Kylo in three specific versions as seen in the top left of the promo image below.

Although the kit costs is the equivalent of £14 in Japan, Bandai are specifically blocked under their licence from distributing in the UK. You will therefore need to seek out more expensive import options.

Issue 14 : Saturday 27th February, 2016

Review : Shock Trooper, Star Wars Battlefront Star Wars Black Series (Hasbro) Wave/Series : Walmart Exclusive 2015 / UK Import 2016 Released : US November 2015 / UK February 2016 Price : ÂŁ22.95 - ÂŁ24.99 (UK Import Price) The Shocktrooper was first announced way back in September 2015, and when I say announced - it turned up on some UK sites first for pre-order with a due date some 6 months later in March 2016.

To the right spine, the red colouring remains but there is no numbering - just the bar-code type printing with the character name. Round the back is the usual four language top line overview of the figure - on this one leading in with how the "Shocktrooper is adept with heavy weaponry". Remember that line when we look at the weapons packed in with the figure.

It transpired that the Trooper was a US exclusive for Walmart who would be selling the Shocktrooper alongside the Battlefront game when it launched in November. After that UK fans would still have to wait for the 2016 date to get their hands on it.

Out of the box, and this is the same base Stomtrooper body that we first saw in wave 3 of the Black Series. There is not a great deal wrong with this sculpt, and with it being an early model it retains the original articulation - so those all important double jointed swivel elbows are still in place. This articulation allows the Shocktrooper, and its recent exclusive cousin the Crimson Trooper, to get into much better poses than say the more recent Force Awakens Stormtrooper.

Thank fully the trooper has landed a month or so early, and our review figure was purchased from Star Action Figures, who provided their usual top notch service and ensured the review figure arrived in pristine condition.

The issue however with this, and the Crimson Trooper, is that Hasbro seem to have gone with a cheaper plastic on these newer troopers and unlike their 2014 counter-parts the new Troopers are very soft in the legs and knee joints which makes standing the new troopers really difficult. As you will see from the review shots, most of the time our Shocktrooper had to be propped up on a stand as the legs are quite bowed, with the shins and ankles then bowing back inwards.

The Trooper arrives in a standard size Black Series, Phase 3, Red & Black themed box. Unlike the main range, and any of the other exclusives we have seen to date in phase 3, the Shocktrooper comes with a variant box design where as the bottom right front box art is actually done in both grey and red lined art and overprinted with the Battlefront logo. I guess the US plan of selling this alongside the gain made sense, but I can't help wonder what the result would have been for both the figure and the game if they had been tied into a pre-order or first release package?

Check Out the full archive of Star wars black series reviews at mephitsu.com

Issue 14 : Saturday 27th February, 2016

The paint is the real difference on this figure, and the whole reason it is badged as an exclusive. Every red panel is crisp, well painted and pops off the usual white and black armour.

The head in particular is extremely neat with varying panels of red making up the overall pattern. If you look at the Battlefront game characters, then Hasbro have matched every panel like for like, and the result is a very striking trooper for your Imperial garrison.

It's not all great news though on the decoration as for some reason the back half of the belt seems to have been painted in a very off white, almost yellow colour. I can find no reference reason for this, so not sure if mine is an error or I am missing why this belt colour is significant? Either way, it does sadly look unsightly. I could also argue at this point for some weathering? With the Shocktrooper being an elite and battle hardened trooper you could expect some paint wear and a bit of grime on the armour - an effect Hasbro has already done to some degree on the Clone Commander Cody.

As an exclusive, paint variant troopers will always go down well and the Shocktrooper will make a striking recruit to any collection. Sadly, many will be let down with those bowed hips and an inability to stand. And the purists will be further frustrated by the lack of attention to detail with the equipment, particularly if they cast a glance at the version Hot Toys will be releasing later in 2016 - yes I know there is a HUGE price difference, but it wouldn't have taken much to make the 6" version more accurate.

With the stability issues, that odd coloured belt and the equipment inaccuracies I am scoring this figure a 3 out of 5

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

The Trooper is packed with a standard E11 blaster, which is fine - cast in plain black plastic and fits neatly into either hand, or into the holster to the Troopers hip. It also comes with the DLT-20A rifle, which is a carry over from the wave 3 Stormtrooper and not really associated with the Shocktrooper. I would have rather them pack in the DLT-19 rifle that originally came with the Sandtrooper - the sculpt exists, so it would have simply needed a tray insert amendment. Or if they wanted to be more faithful to the game, gone with a unique new sculpt of the Shocktroopers rocket launcher. Ideally the trooper should have also come with a back pack, similar to that of the Sandtrooper, and the fact that this is missing and the weaponry is wrong will frustrate some fans and feels a tad lazy considering all the work that went into the paint job,