Issue 26 : Saturday 28th May, 2016
e v a W s d n e g e L l e v r a M X-Men e n i r e v l o W c n i , d e l a e v re e b l l i w s r Ghostbuste 12 : e n O e h t g joinin Collective d n a A C E N m o r f r e w o P e Turtl ns o i t a N i i h Tamas
Marvel Legends fans got their first sneak peek at the upcoming X-Men Marvel Legends 6-Inch assortment last October at New York Comic Con 2015 with the reveal of Rogue. Then in February at New York Toy Fair 2016, six new mutant figures were unveiled: Deadpool, Cable, Jean Grey, Iceman, Havok and Kitty Pryde (complete with Lockheed!). The Hasbro Pulse has the exclusive reveal of the eighth and final figure in this year’s X-Men Marvel Legends 6-Inch assortment: Wolverine!
Hasbro have unveiled, via their Pulse news site, the full line up of their X-Men Marvel Legends wave. We already knew about 7 of the figures after seeing them unveiled at Toy Fair 2016. We now know the 8th slot will be taken up by a comic Wolverine, and that the Build-a-Figure will be the Juggernaut - and Hasbro have promised a full reveal of this figure very soon. The X-Men Wave is now confirmed as: Deadpool, Cable, Jean Grey, Iceman, Havok, Kitty Pride, Rogue and Wolverine
As one of the most popular and iconic X-Men, Wolverine gets a new body sculpt and dons the look of his trademark brown and tan costume. After premiering back in Uncanny X-Men #139 (1980), the brown and tan suit outfitted Wolverine until 1991 and was his longest continuous costume. Speaking of powerful and iconic brown-costumed characters from the pages of the X-Men, fans will without a doubt recognize the Build A Figure in this assortment. Check back in the next few days for the complete reveal of this unstoppable villain!
Following its announcement last week, the first pre-orders are now up for the NECA Genocide Alien 2-pack.
In the autumn of 2015, Character Options released the first new Doctor Who 5 inch figures for some time with two versions of Missy going on sale exclusively via their website.
The pack contains the Dog Alien and Big Chap Alien sculpts, but in the striking red Genocide colouring.
This week, Forbidden Planet International have now listed these Missy figures on their website - with the Purple version seemingly to have undergone some significant tweaks. As you can see by the comparison image below, with the new Forbidden Planet figure on the left, the differences are quite distinct. Including a brighter overall purple dress colour, a change to the blouse colour, a change to the design of her broach and some additional markings on the dress. The Forbidden Planet figures are showing in stock now for £14.99 You can still buy the original figures via Character Options
The set is listed at £39.99 at our affiliate, Forbidden Planet, and is due to ship in October.
Missy (S9 Purple Outfit) Missy (The Master) is a Time Lady and like the Doctor, she’s from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. The two were friends in their youth and both chose to ignore their people’s policy of non-intervention with other species, but unlike the Doctor, Missy chose to travel the universe causing chaos and revelling in wickedness on an epic scale. S9 Purple outfit Missy is presented in Underground Toys collector box packaging.
Diamond have confirmed that they will be offering an exclusive Ghostbusters 7" figure at this year's SDCC. Peter Venkman will be the same figure from the main range, but with additional "Marshmallow" decor. The figure is restricted to 3000 units only. Previous SDCC Select exclusives, such as the Gotham Penguin from 2015, have been in slimmed down packaging and without the diorama parts. The pressrelease for this one however indicates that a display base is included. It will be interesting to see if this is simply the part from the 15 piece rooftop build, or a special stand-alone base.
Italian website, Gazette Store, appears to be the Italian equivalent of DeAgostini or Eaglemoss here in the UK offering subscription magazines with packed in collectible product. Their newly discovered (by non Italian fans at least) Star Wars 3D collection has attracted a lot of attention considering it appears to be 3.75" and 6" Black Series figures from Hasbro packed up with a subscription magazine. "For the first time ever , Star Wars comes The Black Series , the most complete collection of 3D models of Star Wars characters ever created . Darth Vader , Luke Skywalker , Chewbacca , Kylo Ren : all the protagonists of the saga , from the first episode to the last memorable , highly anticipated chapter in faithful reproductions of 12 cm perfect in every detail , to collect and cherish forever ."
They seem to be at issue 12 at this time, and it is the new figures they have now listed for the future that has caught the eye of collectors. Figures are priced at €12.99 for 3.75 and €19.99 for 6 inch. In the coming soon section you can see descriptions for 1. An Episode 7 Luke Skywalker at €12.99 (3.75) 2. A General Grievous at €19.99 (6 inch?) With no images or any detailed description this all feels a bit woolly at the moment, and may just be listing issues. We will now await SDCC to see what Hasbro has in store for us.
In an interview on the HotToyCast, Mez from Mezco revealed that they are releasing the original Ghostbusters into their One:12 Collective range of One:12 figures.
Mezco have teased this image for their 5 SDCC exclusives for 2016. Out of all of them, the classic Captain America image stands out - but we will now wait and see for these to be unveiled. While we wait for the SDCC reveals, this image has been confirmed as a Mezco One:12 Collective Captain Rogers, which will be released as a Previews Exclusive.
The range will include all four original Ghostbusters with Mezco looking ambitiously at an Ecto-One, including lights and sounds. Listen to the HotToyCast here Mezco are hoping to show the first of these at SDCC,
Within the same interview it was confirmed Mezco are also working on a One:12 female body and are hoping to unveil their first female figure at SDCC. They have also talked about a Pinhead and an Evil Dead 2 Ash figure who will all fall into a Horror range alongside the Universal Monsters.
This 4 pack of glow in the dark Alien eggs and facehugger was the NECA exclusive content in the Alien themed Lootcrate. Randy Falk at NECA has confirmed they are now looking at a possible general released in the original 6-pack carton. “theoretically in time this could be possible, might even be something I had in the works since last year…”
Joining the 7 inch Ultimate Dream Masters Freddy Krueger this Autumn is this 8 inch retro release of Surgeon Freddy Krueger.. Standing 8" high, and with real cloth tailored clothing, Surgeon Freddy will come with removable surgical scrubs, mask, hat and sunglasses. And he will come armed with his trademark glove and a bonesaw.
NECA have confirmed that the next Ultimate Freddy release will be the Dream Warriors Freddy. Dream Warriors Freddy will arrive in Autumn 2016 and will be fully articulated, as well as coming with a swap out chest/head section - similar to the design to the Ultimate T1000. The Freddy puppet and Elm Street House will also be included as well as the usual Ultimate fair of swap out hands and Freddy's trademark hat.
"From A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Surgeon #Freddy joins our retro clothed action figure line. He stands 8” tall and is dressed in intricately detailed and tailored fabric clothing similar to the iconic toy lines of the 1970s. In addition to his fabric clothing, #SurgeonFreddy also wears removable surgical #scrubs, mask and hat. He’s fully poseable and comes complete with sunglasses and bone saw accessories. Blister packaging with resealable protective clamshell features new custom artwork created by illustrator Nathan Thomas Milliner (The Art of Nathan Thomas Milliner) just for this release! Starts shipping to retailers in September!"
“From the cult classic A Nightmare on Elm Street Horror films, we present the definitive collector’s version of #Freddy from A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors! #Ultimate Part 3 Freddy Krueger features plenty of gruesome detail and tons of accessories, including 2 interchangeable heads, 2 pairs of hands, the Elm Street house, Freddy puppet and removable hat. He’s fully poseable and truly terrifying – swap out his regular sweater front to display the tortured spirits trapped in his Chest of Souls! The 7” scale figure comes in collector-friendly deluxe window box packaging with opening flap. Ships out to retailers in September!”
NECA have announced TWO Comic-Con exclusive sets based on the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Arcade Game Each box is a 4 figure set - with box one containing the Turtles, and box two containing Shredder and the Foot Clan. The figures are 7" scale, in line with the majority of NECA's core range, with the Turtles looking like they are using the existing NECA TMNT sculpts, albeit with updated Video Game decor. Both boxes will include a ton of accessories, and the packaging will have a classic Arcade cabinet design. The sets will sell at $100 at SDCC. It is also confirmed that the licensing arrangement for these figures prevents them going to retail. The agreement is also for US only, so no option of having these sets for sale outside the US - similar to how the Warner Bros licence worked on the 7" Superman, Batman and Joker figures. TMNT (Arcade Appearance) – Foot Clan Box Set Cowabunga, dude! This SDCC-exclusive box set is based on the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4-player co-op arcade game and features brand new figure sculpts and deluxe packaging. Shredder and the Foot Clan stand approximately 6” tall and feature over 30 points of articulation, including double knee joints for dynamic poses. Special paint deco reflects their in-game appearance. The box set is packed with accessories, including oversized hammer, swords, throwing star, rifle, dynamite and more. The set comes in gorgeous, display-friendly 5th panel window box packaging that re-creates the look of the actual arcade cabinet!
We couldn’t be more excited to announce two Comic-Con exclusive sets that have been in the works for a while now! From the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4-player arcade game, we’ll have 4-figure box sets for both the Turtles and the Foot Clan coming to San Diego Comic Con. New sculpts – Tons of accessories – Arcade cabinet packaging
TMNT (Arcade Appearance) – Turtles Box Set Cowabunga, dude! This SDCC-exclusive box set is based on the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4-player co-op arcade game and features brand new figure sculpts and deluxe packaging. Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael stand approximately 6” tall and feature over 30 points of articulation, including double knee joints to fully showcase their mastery of the martial arts. Special paint deco reflects the Turtles’ in-game appearance. The box set is packed with accessories, including signature weapons, interchangeable hands, pizza power-up and more. The set comes in gorgeous, display-friendly 5th panel window box packaging that re-creates the look of the actual arcade cabinet!
We've already seen the promotional images for the upcoming SH Figuarts 1/12 scale Leonardo and Donatello, and you can pre-order these for a Summer 2016 release. Now promotional images have been released for the other half of the team, Raphael and Michelangelo.
Just days after we saw the SH Figuarts versions of Harley Quinn and The Joker from Suicide Squad, we now get full details of the MAFEX versions of these figures. The Joker, wearing the longer purple coat, will arrive in December and come with alternative head options, a cane and a blinged up hand-gun Harley Quinn will arrive a month later in January 2017 and also come with two head options. She will be packed with hand-gun, hammer and baseball bat. Both will retail at 6,264 Yen, circa £40 in UK - but add onto this delivery and tax. This expands the Mafex DC range even further with Batman, Armoured Batman, Nightmare Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman all announced from the Batman vs Superman movie.
King Arts are a Hong Kong based company who have been exciting Marvel collectors over recent months with their proposed 1/9 scale diecast product. Up to now these have all been Iron Man focused, with the last big announcement being their 1/9 Iron Man landing Gantry figure and diorama. Budget Stark has this week published a YouTube video which is a tour of the King Arts store in Hong Kong and is very revealing with some new prototypes of an Age of Ultron Captain America, an Ant-Man and for the first time in Action Figure form (excluding Hot Toys) a movie Yellow Jacket.
Both Mikey and Raph will come with swap-out head options plus weaponry. And it was recently confirmed that Tamashii are using metal lower legs on these turtles - most likely to create a weighted base to allow for some of the more dynamic "ninja" poses. All the Turtles are priced at 7,000 Yen / $60, and that is directly converting to a £60 price tag here in the UK.
King Art's lineup now looks like this... although many remain prototypes at this time and may not see the light of day. ● ● ● ● ● ●
“The Joker from "Suicide Squad" gets a MAFEX figure from Medicom! He's about 16cm tall, with over 20 points of articulation for extreme poseability, and is dressed in his resplendent pearlescent purple alligator-pattern trench coat. He comes with two interchangeable heads and a cane. “
“Fan-favorite Harley Quinn, part of the "Suicide Squad" and Joker's main squeeze, joins the MAFEX lineup from Medicom! Standing about 16cm tall, this colorfully crazed criminal comes is super-posable for maximum action, and comes with two interchangeable heads; she's armed with a mallet, a baseball bat and a pistol. “
● ● ●
Iron-Man armours - Mark 1, 5, 6, 7, 15, 25, 37, 39, 42 and 45 Iron-Man add-on pack from IM3 (The Mechanic) Hulkbuster Iron-Man landing gantry Iron Monger Ultron, Ultimate Ultron and an additional Ultron addon part pack Ant-Man Yellow Jacket Age of Ultron Captain America
Prices will be circa £80-£100 upwards depending on the figure, and so far only a couple of the Iron-Man's have made it into stores and into hands of collectors.
Review : T800 Guardian NECA, Terminator Genisys Wave/Series : N/A Released : September 2015 Price : ÂŁ19.99
Directly under this panel are two insert showing the T1000 figure as "also available" and next to him the "Pops" T800 and this one is labelled "coming soon". The bottom black panel on the reverse is populated with three images of the actual guardian figure.
The NECA Terminator Genisys range saw 3 figures released across the back end of 2015. With the movie not performing as expected in the cinema, the figures suffered a similar fate. The range comprised of a first "wave" of two figures - the T1000 Terminator in Police disguise, and the figure we are reviewing here - the T800 Guardian Terminator from 1984. These would be followed a couple of months later by the "Pops" T800, the older version of the titular character.
Out of the box and The Guardian sits in a plastic tray, and that into a grey back panel - which at closer inspection contains a number of read-outs and targeting scopes, again reflecting the technical view of an active Terminator.
Like many of NECA's newer licences, the Genisys figures arrived in a cardboard window box. The box is predominantly a red design, depicting the infrared view of a terminator and throughout the box art you can make out Terminator Endoskeletons and Hunter Killers. Contrast on the box comes from a black flash that circles the bottom quarter of the box. On the front, it is this black band that contains the Terminator Genisys logo, the character name and a circular logo depicting the Endoskeleton Terminator Skull. Above this, and through the clear cut out window, is the figure itself.
The Guardian comes packed with just a single accessory, a shotgun, and no swap-out parts. This is a big difference in this release vs the other two in the range - with the T1000 and Pops Terminator coming with significantly more options to amend the look of the figure. There is an element of feeling "short changed", but when you look at the movie there is very little NECA could have included, other than that very creepy smiling head.
The Guardian stands exactly 7 inches high, bang on with most of the other Arnie figures that NECA have given us in recent years.
Round the sides, the red theme continues with a repeat of the logo at the top of the spine, the skull mid way and the character name on the black band at the bottom. On the back and offset to the right is a panel that details some characteristics of the T800, with strengths, weaknesses and "interesting facts".
The sculpt is the usual high quality and perfect likeness we would expect from the NECA sculpting team. They have still managed to inject some personality into the facial expression, with Arnie exhibiting a very subtle grimace. It is these facial expressions, capturing the actors mannerisms, that is keeping NECA ahead of the competition.
The head, on a ball joint, will rotate fully round and look up and down as well as being able to cock to either side. The ball jointed shoulders withdraw under the jacket when raised, and the arms can be raised to almost a 90 degree angle to the body. They also rotate to go above the head. The elbow joints are a single 90 degree bend, but they do also rotate, as do the wrists, which allows the Guardian to hold his shotgun in that familiar position that we see in the movie.
Sadly the paint, on my version, wasn't as good as the head sculpt. The eyebrows and the front of the hair line had paint missing, so you were simply seeing the flesh tone underneath. They had also completely missed the hair around his ear on his right hand side, making Arnie look like he had been attacked by an angry barber.
The waist swivels and, unlike many figures, can rotate a full 360 degrees. The hip joints are well hidden, but not as manoeuvrable as other ranges - so the Guardian won't sit, or kneel particularly well. The knees are single jointed also, not double like we are finding more and more on this scale. There is then an ankle joint, although this is restricted by the trouser leg and can only really shuffle a bit either way to square of the stance.
The clothing is fairly standard and quite plain, with a hooded jacket sculpted over a plain grey T-shirt. The jacket has some nice sculpt and paint detail, with a bronze zip to the front and on the back of the arm cuffs, even though you don't really see them. Same with the zips on the back section of the upper arms. The jacket is coloured in a slightly glossy effect, so naturally picks up it's own detail. There is no paint wash on either the jacket or t-shirt. The trousers are a cargo type effect, and again like the top half of the figure they do have loads of detail worked into the sculpt and there is a very subtle wash to bring out this detail. The trousers, and the black shoes, would go on to be reused fully for the Pops version of the T800.
The only accessory to speak of is the Shotgun, which is really well sculpted and painted in at least three different colours, all of which are perfectly applied with no bleed or drips. It fits snugly into the right hand and can then be cradled, if you wish, in the left hand to that midriff firing position. My only gripe with the gun is that I am already getting paint rub on the barrel from the hand. The T800 Genisys Guardian is by no way a bad figure. In fact it suffers more because of the high bar NECA has set with other releases in the same price bracket, and indeed in the same range. The paint issues are factory problems, and if I had the opportunity to look through a few I would find out without issues. The problem with the figure lies with what is not there.... an alternative head maybe or alternative weaponry.
Articulation is always a fine balance on a NECA figure between preserving the looks, but allowing the figure to get into some variant poses. The Guardian is no different, and the joints are all really well disguised at first look.
There are certainly better, and more iconic Terminator figures out there - for example the Ultimate T2 Terminator at just a fiver more. In terms of a score, I give the Genisys Guardian a safe 3 out of 5, just behind the older "Pops" version who benefits from more packed in options.