044a review of 2016, january 2017

End of Year Review 2016

While 2016 hasn't been a particularly good year for many reasons, it has been a good year for Action Figure collectors. In this review of 2016 I will be looking back at the releases we've had from the key TV and Movie licences and picking a few of my favourites.

For anyone new to the site, we cover Action Figure News across the world - predominantly in small to mid-scale (3.75" up to 7"). My reviews are based on figures I collect myself, and in the main my overall theme is mid-scale figures in 5" to 7" scale, that puts me firmly as a regular customer of Hasbro's Star Wars Black Series, Diamond's Select Series and the various 7" lines by NECA. This end of year review therefore is a few of my favourite figures from these three main properties.

We start, as of course did 2016 itself, with Star Wars. The Force Awakens was taking cinema's by storm, and collectors were clamoring for merchandise - sadly Hasbro weren't quite keeping up, leaving some figures highly sought after initially. Early waves of Asty and Hux didn't even reach UK shores, and were limited in the US. There was also an initial rush on the early releases of the Flame Trooper, Episode 7 Han and Jango Fett - and yet just a few months later these were shelf warming and being reduced by up to 50%. As the year progressed we moved from Force Awakens into a mix of Original Trilogy and Rebels figures. And as the autumn drew in, the focus switched to Rogue One and here Hasbro really stepped up their game in terms of quality control and distribution.

Choice three goes to a very brave figure decision by Hasbro in that he really only exists in an animated series. I am of course talking about Kanan Jarrus who was taken from the Rebels series and brought to life in the Hasbro 6" realistic style. Not only did the figure work really well, it is also one of the better human sculpts to come out of the Black Series line. He also comes with a brilliantly designed light-saber which assembles like it does in the show, and when not in use it hangs neatly on Kanan's belt. The success of Kanan, and the subsequent Ahsoka has led to Hera Syndulla making her way to the release schedule for 2017 - and we would hope Chopper, Ezra and Zeb aren't too far behind.

2016 has actually been the biggest year to date for the Black Series 6" range with 36 releases including exclusives. It is therefore difficult to pick my favourites. While figures like Ahsoka and Jango were particularly impressive, it is the latest Rogue One figures that really consistently hit the mark. My first Star Wars choice therefore goes to the Hover Tank Pilot from Rogue One. Although it is an exclusive, it is at least a worldwide release. It is also a brilliant sculpt and design, whilst also having a paint job to match - something the similar Scarif Trooper failed to manage. He may get just a couple of scenes in the movie, but the Hovertank Pilot is a worthy addition to your Black Series display.

My final choice from the Black Series is controversial in more than one sense. I have picked the US Walgreens Exclusive C-3PO. I wanted to spread my picks across the new films and the Original Trilogy, but 2016 has not been brilliant in terms of Original Trilogy releases and at the time of writing this we haven't had our wave 9 figures who I am sure would have made a big impact on the results of this review. So why 3PO, and why a figure that I didn't really give a brilliant review to first time round? Well since reviewing both 3PO figures I have seen them every day, front and centre of my display. In this environment they do stand out and under lighting the slightly duller finish actually works better than the glossy version that Bandai gave us for example.

Sticking with Rogue One for choice two, and I have selected Director Krennic. What? I hear you shout, not K-2SO, not the Scarif Trooper? As much as I love most of the Rogue One output so far, I have found the human characters quite softly sculpted. Krennic, as a figure, defies this with a particularly decent sculpt at the 1/12 scale and price point of the Black Series. Krennic symbolises the ability for Hasbro to produce good looking Human figures, and also opens the door for future Imperial officers. He is one of my personal favourites and deserves a slot as one of the top Black Series figures of 2016.

C-3PO also represents the passion, in some degree, from Hasbro's Black Series team. He had been rumored and "promised" for over 2 years before he hit stores and in that time you feel that the Black Series development team have worked to give us the best version they can in the budget. It would have been so easy for the Walgreens version just to have a swapped out arm and lower leg, but the attention to detail to adjust the tummy wiring and even the box art is testament to the love that you feel goes into this range - even if we don't always love everything that hits shelves. Now the exclusivity is a frustration, but I don't think anyone has struggled to find this figure in the US or in the UK via import, with the stinger being a slightly elevated price.

Diamond Select Toys are one of the smaller Toy companies, but 2016 has seen them put out some fantastic product. Of course their Marvel Select output is their bread and butter, but 2016 saw them expand their Gotham series with two more waves - and launch their brand new Ghostbuster 7" figures.

This is definitely true of the big release of 2016, the figures associated with Captain America Civil War. DST went with three releases from the movie Captain America, Iron-Man and The Winter Soldier. While the Bucky figure was a welcome addition, some fans saw the release of Cap and Iron-man a waste when other characters like Vision and Scarlet Witch are yet to get a Select figure. I liked Bucky, although he did come with incredibly small hands.

The Iron-Man was however a disappointment - being much too small and looking out of scale alongside the other human figures and the previous Iron-Man armours.

Gotham now has 9 figures in total, with wave 4 due in 2017. While many would argue the Gotham line is a lot of men in suits, it is a nice change from the spandex laden Marvel collections and DST are doing a decent job of capturing the likeness of the key Gotham characters like Alfred, Gordon and Bullock. The criticism of the range has to be the character choice for Wave 3 which we will be reviewing soon - we still have no Fish Mooney or Butch, whilst we are getting not so regular henchman Victor Zsasz Ghostbusters is one of my favourite licences, and whatever you think about the 2016 reboot it has done fans of the original movies a big favour in terms of new licensees for the franchise - including the 7" Select figures from Diamond. Originally planned as a 12 figure run across 4 waves, there are now 15 figures announced. Diamond also went the extra mile with their build-a-diorama pack in which by the time wave 5 hits in 2017 will see us able to build the Rooftop Diorama.

My other pick of figure of 2016 is this aforementioned Captain America figure. This is arguably the best Marvel Select Movie release to date in terms of sculpt and paint job - at least level with the 2013 Wolverine. He also comes with a brilliant diorama piece to build a back wall of the Avengers facility, however this wasn't handled particularly well by DST and the four pieces planned were reduced to three, and to finish your diorama with a 4th piece you will need to double-dip on the Captain America figure which is now coming packed with the "not very good" Winter Soldier unmasked head sculpt as a Disney Store Exclusive.

That all being said, if you want a 1/10 scale Cap in your collection - then this is the best of the three released and holds its own against other 1/10 figures like NECA and McFarlane.

The Select figures aren't the greatest in terms of likeness, but Diamond certainly pack in a hell of a lot of value to each release while keeping them around the ÂŁ20 price point.

They have also done an awesome job with the Ghostbuster characters with plenty of detail on the Proton Packs and with swap out hands and accessories. And it is from this new range that I chose one of two Diamond figures for my top 10 of 2016. While Winston and Ray were first to hit shelves, my pick is the series 2 Egon Spengler release - a childhood dream, brought to reality after 30 years.

So to Marvel, and any collector will tell you that the collecting of Marvel Select figures is both awesome and frustrating. While Hasbro can pump out huge volumes of releases in a year, Diamond are restricted to a small number each year across both Comic book and Movie releases. Whilst the detail and sculpt on most DST figures, in my opinion, is better than the Hasbro offering they do lack in articulation and depth of character releases often leaving collectors frustrated at getting one main character in a movie and not the others.

Before I finish, I will talk about a few of the comic releases put out by Diamond in 2016. I am not a collector of these as such, but even I couldn't resist the Avenging Captain America and the Black Panther that went into Disney stores in Spring. It is the innovative new figures like these that are really pushing the Select range to a new level and I look forward to what will hit Comic Book shelves in 2017.

NECA had a particularly impressive 2015 with some awesome releases like the first ever 7" Ripley figure from Aliens AND the Power Loader. It was therefore going to be interesting to see if they could match this in 2016.

We need not have worried as NECA had us covered across 2016 in all of their key licences.

First off, Rocky was back! With the original releases virtually impossible to find, collectors were overjoyed when NECA announced they would release at least four waves of four figures, a mix of new and re-release figures covering the first four Rocky movies. 2016 saw the first wave hit shelves based on Rocky III. Three of the figures were straight up re-releases, not that there was anything wrong with this considering how awesome the Clubber Lang and Rocky figures were. The fourth figure was a tweak and was based on the promotional poster for the movie, with Black shorts and the Title belt - brilliant! And it is this figure that is my first pick of four NECA figures in my 2016 Top 10.

Over to Terminator next, and here the line has moved on from single releases to existing almost exclusively now in the Ultimate range. 2015 saw us get the key Terminator 2 figures, whereas 2016 was certainly the year of the original 1984 Terminator movie. The first was the Tech Noir Nightclub T800, an awesome sculpt of the young Arnie which obviously borrowed from the original release but still stood out on its own with the swap out head and arm options. My favourite though, and my 2nd NECA choice, is the Police Station Assault T800. This figure was THE iconic T800 with the biker jacket, turned up collar, array of weaponry and of course those trademark sunglasses.... I'll be back!

2016 saw NECA add a lot of new licences and figures. We saw the return of Ash in his new TV show incarnation from Ash vs The Evil Dead. The retro figures also went from strength to strength, with Bill, Ted and Rufus arriving - most excellent! But of course for NECA their big two licences are Alien and Predator...

Predator fans got a wealth of Alien vs Predator figures, with all new bodies and articulation. There was also the teases in 2016 of the Ultimate Predator figures, something to definitely look forward too in 2017.

And for Aliens, well wow! The first big news was that Newt figure, although a wave of anger soon followed when this was initially going to be an SDCC exclusive. Thankfully we've seen NECA work their magic to put Newt into a revised 2-pack with Ripley, sadly this didn't hit UK shores in time for this years review. If Newt wasn't enough, NECA pulled out all the stops to negotiate the likeness for Vasquez AND Frost to be made, significantly increasing the Marine population. Frost is good, but Vasquez is stunning and is my 3rd NECA pick in the Top 10.

We stay with Aliens for my final choice. Not only did NECA give us new Aliens figures like Frost, Vasquez and Newt - but 2016 was also the year they moved to Alien 3 releases. A new Ripley, complete with shaved head, arrived in summer alongside the Dog Alien. The Dog was a re-release, but to add some variation the cases did include a greyer finish Dog Alien. The third figure in this Alien 3 wave is my final pick for the Top 10. It is also the first figure to ever receive a 5* review.

The Weyland Yutani Commando played a minor part in the movie, appearing very late in the film and not doing much other than flanking the new Bishop as he tried to persuade Ripley to not kill herself and the Alien Queen she was carrying. Despite this, the figure is stunning. It does what many figures and figure companies fail to do, line up a brilliant sculpt with a great paint job AND strong articulation. The commando carries a level of detail beyond its ÂŁ20 price point, like the sculpted face under the mask and the swap out eye pieces to give the figure variant looks.

Looking Forward So we now look ahead to 2017 and what Action Figure goodies we have in store. One thing is certain, and is already evident in some stores, is that our figures here in the UK will be costing us more in 2017. With Brexit impacting exchange rates with both the US and the Euro, figures are going to get more expensive. We've already seen collector focused supplier having to raise prices, and only last week the Black Series price in Asda stores (traditionally one of the cheapest) was seen to rise to just shy of ÂŁ25 I also think 2017 will make or break some lines. McFarlane's Color Tops will be into its 2nd year, and at least here in the UK hasn't yet made a massive impact. I also think Diamond will need to make some decisions on where next to take Ghostbusters and the Gotham line, with the latter seemingly struggling when you look at online pricing.

But we've also got more huge movies in 2017 that will drive more figures to stores. Diamond and Hasbro will be putting out product for all three Marvel movies in 2017, with the kicker being Logan not getting any support. We also have Episode 8 of Star Wars, and if the output for The Force Awakens and Rogue One is anything to go by then 2017 could be the biggest yet for Black Series collector's.

Marvel Legends Daredevil 6" I am not a big collector of the Legends line from Hasbro, more picking up figures for my son. However, the announcement that the Netflix Marvel heroes will be released in 6" scale has piqued my interest. So far we know we are getting Jessica Jones and The Punisher, it is therefore not a huge leap to guess that the Netflix Daredevil won't be too far behind, perhaps he will be joined by Luke Cage and Ironfist to round out a Defenders wave in time for the show's release later in 2017.

NECA Predator 30th Anniversary, Dillon The team at NECA have already confirmed that 2017 will see them release a 7 figure special assortment of Predator figures for the movie's 30th anniversary.

While likely to be repacks and tweaks, there is a little bit of me that hopes that the deal has been done with Carl Weathers to release Dillon in the Predator line. The two parties did seem to be discussing "something" back in Summer 2016 via Twitter after the success of Alien Day and involving actors like Ricco Ross, Jenette Goldstein and Carrie Henn. This prediction is very much wishful thinking, but NECA have surprised us plenty in 2016 - why not carry that on in 2017

The following figures are predictions from me, most of which are based on nothing more than a whim of what I would like to see - although I have applied a bit of logic on some. Will be cool to look back at the end of the year to see how many we "hit" and how many we "missed".

Marvel Select Spider-Man (Homecoming) Diamond have already confirmed figures for Guardians of the Galaxy in 2016, and that they will be doing figures from Thor and Spiderman too. It seems a no-brainer that the Spiderman figure will be the title character - the third Spider-man movie figure to be released by Diamond. The secret hope is that Diamond can make The Vulture too, but I suspect that won't happen.

NECA Q/Scale Ant-Man (Civil War) NECA already have the licence for Marvel figures in the 18" quarter scale.

And from what I know, Randy Falk (product developer for NECA) is also a collector of the Hasbro 6" Marvel Legends line. So bear with me here.... but imagine NECA putting out an 18" Ant-Man from Civil War in 2017, and how that could be utilised by collectors of the smaller figures as a Giant Man stand in. I can see it now, the 18" NECA Giant-Man waving around a 6" War Machine while Spider-Man webs up his legs.

Marvel Select Thor and Marvel Select Planet Hulk (comic or movie) Like Spider-man, it seems unlikely for Diamond to do anything but a new Thor for his 3rd solo outing on screen. That's fine as I do like the look of the new outfit. I also get the feeling that Planet Hulk will feature somewhere from Diamond. I would hope this is a movie version, but if we are following form then a comic version could also be an option for Diamond - particularly if Disney Store want to get him on shelves ahead of the movie like they did with comic versions of Civil War characters earlier in 2016.

Black Series Moff Tarkin The inclusion of Tarkin in the Black Series now seems like an obvious choice, considering how he now spans three movie's as well as The Clone Wars animated series. To get a Peter Cushing in the 1/12 scale would be brilliant.

Diamond Select Ghostbusters 2. Peter, Ray, Winston and Egon (revised darker uniform) and Vigo the Carpathian I mentioned above that 2017 would see Diamond having to decide where next to take the Ghostbusters licence. They have already confirmed they are developing figures past the initial 15 figures, but haven't confirmed what that would look like. With nothing left as such to release from the 1984 movie the choices would seem to be move to the 2016 reboot or move on to the Ghostbusters 2 sequel. Considering the reception for GB2016, I suspect Diamond will go to the GB2 movie and start with the Ghostbusters in their revised darker uniforms and the main protagonist, Vigo the Carpathian. While I doubt a collectible diorama of the same scale as the 15 part rooftop will be included this time round, the option to pack in the Vigo painting from the Art Gallery would be a pretty cool display item.

Black Series Ep7 Luke Skywalker This one is a bit of a cheat prediction as Hasbro have spoken about the release of a 6" Luke from The Force Awakens. My feeling is they will hold him back for the first wave of Episode 8 figures around September - he can then bridge both Episode 7 into Episode 8