047 Action Figure Sat-TOY-Day News, 11th February 2017

Issue 47 : Saturday 11th February, 2017

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s e r u g i f 2 1 e: n O o c z e M w Ne s r e s a e T r i a F y o T e n a l r a McF ry a s r e v i n n A h t 0 4 s r a W r Sta y r a s r e v i n n A h t 0 3 A C E N on i t c e l l o C r Predato

Starlord "Hot footed" The music-loving leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy comes hot foot from saving the universe to the roster of Marvel Select figures. Star-Lord's large collection of accessories include a pair of jet-flame boots. Includes interchangeable masked and unmasked heads, two Element Guns that can attach to his hips, an interchangeable hand that can hold a stolen crystal, and a pair of boot-jet flame effects, which can plug into the soles of his shoes

When the first Guardians of the Galaxy film was released in 2014, a decision was made somewhere along the line that Diamond would not release any movie based figures in their popular 7" scale. This was the first Marvel Cinematic Universe film to not have a movie based figure from Diamond since they took up the mantle for Iron-Man 2.

Drax "Strong favorite" The musclebound member of Guardians of the Galaxy is all set for battle. This poseable Drax Action Figure by Marvel Select includes two weapons, additional hands, and detailed environment base. Includes trench knife with spiked knuckle guard, and large energy axe. Three sets of interchangeable hands are also included

When Guardians Vol. 2 was announced, Diamond have been bullish about bringing us 7" scale Guardian figures and also talked about doing the full team - something that felt a big ask consider the limitations of Diamond's licence.

We've since found out that for GOTG2 we will be getting MCU figures of Starlord and Drax. And within those releases they will pack a Rocket with Starlord and a baby Groot with Drax.

Who would have therefore predicted this HUGE announcement that ON TOP of these MCU figure, Diamond and the Disney Store have teamed up to bring us a full set of Guardians of the Galaxy comic book figures.

This set of four is made up of Starlord, Drax, Groot and Gamora, with the latter being packed with Rocket. They will be packed with a diorama base that will connect to make up a larger display. Each figure will come in with the standard 16 points of articulation What is always great about these Diamond / Disney Store releases is that they are in stores in a matter of weeks from the day they are announced, and these should hit Disney Stores in early March.

US collectors can pre-order now via Marvel Shop with a 27th of February release date. US RRP is $24.95 while the UK price should stick at ÂŁ19.99

Groot "Branching out" The towering twisted member of Guardians of the Galaxy plants his feet as this poseable Groot Action Figure by Marvel Select. Includes interlocking detailed environment base

Gamora and Rocket "Four armed" Two of the Guardians of the Galaxy team up in this Marvel Select action figure set. Gamora is paired with Rocket Raccoon, and both come with an impressive arsenal of weapons with which to save the universe.

Gamora comes with three sets of interchangeable hands, sword, knife, laser rifle, and two laser pistols.

Rocket comes with two blasters

While McFarlane has pretty much switched to 7" with their figures, the Walking Dead 5 inch wave is still clinging on to life and exists now as a Walgreens exclusive line.

Comicbook.com have exclusively revealed the next figure to hit Walgreens will be a 5" version of Sasha.

Sasha is based on her appearance from Series 7 and will hit stores in July 2017. The US RRP is $15.99, as yet it is unclear if these will be made available to overseas retailers.

Previous Walgreens exclusives (Star Wars Black Series and Marvel Legends) have proved elusive outside the US.

We have seen the Dark Knight SH Figuarts figure a few times now as a pre-production piece at various Far East Trade Shows. Tamashii Nations have now confirmed the full details of the figure and a release date for July 2017.

Batman will come with soft goods cloth cape, optional hands, and optional head. He will also arrive armed to the teeth with a grapnel gun, batarangs and bomb-gun

"Fierce and pragmatic with a dead-eye shot, Sasha is a formidable individual, yet is no stranger to the harsh reality of the state of the world," McFarlane Toys' official description reads. Hardened by the loss of those she loves, Sasha became distant and detached from the fellow survivors, but finds purpose in strengthening their community instead of dwelling in her grief."

Featured in her outfit from Season 7 of AMC’s The Walking Dead™ • Spectacular likeness of Sasha taken from 3D scans of actress Sonequa Martin-Green • Figure includes Scoped Assault Rifle, Pistol, and Knife • Designed with 22+ points of articulation for dynamic posing • Featured in traditional clam shell packaging Available July 2017. Walgreens exclusive figure. MSRP $15.99

The ever-popular Batman: the Dark Knight joins the S.H.Figuarts series of ultra high quality figures! Utilizes digital coloring and incorporates a bendable cloth cape - a series first! The highly posable and expressive figure includes optional hands, an optional head, grapnel gun, batarangs, and bomb-gun accessories.

Availability : July 2017.

Materials : PVC, ABS Size : 150 milimeters.

Mezco have held a pre-Toy Fair press event to show off their new 2017/18 product ahead of the big show itself.

The preview was streamed live on Facebook and we have tried to capture the key images of new One:12 Collective product.

While some of these have been announced and even put on pre-sale it is nice to see these in the flesh Marvel Wolverine Doctor Strange Iron-Man Netflix Daredevil Spider-Man DC Batman Wonder Woman Harley Quinn Deathstroke Other Popeye!

Ash from The Evil Dead 2 Zombies from Dawn of the Dead

McFarlane Toys took to social media ahead of Toy Fair 2017 with a series of teaser images to whet fans appetites about new licences and products that they will reveal at Toy Fair. We take a look at the first 10 of these.

While many fans mines leapt to Spaceballs from this image - this is highly unlikely considering all the legalities the movie is tied up with in terms of Lucasfilm and now Disney.

The most likely explanation therefore is Steven Universe.

This appears to be a silhouette of Gjallarhorn from Destiny : Rise of Iron (video game) and we would guess this would be 7" Color Top figures.

Day #6 of the McFarlane Toy Fair teases and it seems that Destiny will be a big part of the McFarlane plans for the next few months. Today's reveal appears to be Lord Saladin, indicating this could be the 4th Destiny figure planned for Color Top release.

This GIF, alongwith the clue WANPAN, is pretty much confirming the Anime classic One Punch Man licence is hitting the McFarlane stable. My feeling is Color Tops with a 7" figurine release

Further confirmation came later in the week with more teaser images of Destiny products… read on.

This is the portal from Rick Morty. Our thinking is that licence would be suited to McFarlane building line rather larger scale figures/statues.

and this the than

The fourth teaser image from McFarlane of new product they will debut at Toy Fair is a little less cryptic than the first three we have had.

The image is clearly of three figures from the video game Destiny and even in silhouette, fans have identified these (from left to right) as Hunter, Titan and Warlock

Day #5 of the McFarlane Toy Fair teases and this image turned up on their Facebook page.

Like the previous two days, this appeared to indicate a Video Game tie in - this time with Borderlands with the silhouette being Handsome Jack. Most likely this means a 7" Color Top release.

This image took fans a while to interpret, but the common thought is this is the scene in The Walking Dead when Sasha shoots the painting. We have already seen a Sasha figure confirmed in the 5” Walgreens line. It seems odd though that they would announce that after the tease. So would that mean a 7” Color Top figure?

"Say what you see" with this one and it is obvious this is Ghost in the Shell as a licence. The exciting part, and as we found out at the UK Toy Fair, is that this is the licence to the 2017 movie starring Scarlett Johansson.

The Major (the character Scar-Jo is playing) was specifically mentioned as a figure in the Color Tops range

McFarlane's 10th Toy Fair teaser is one I personally have been looking forward to seeing.

The GIF is quite self explanatory with that iconic glove and crystal ball, and the owl flying in the background. Let's hope that these Labyrinth figures hit the 7" Color Tops range and aren't just limited to Jareth.

After a number of reveals and teases we have now had the contents of the 30th Anniversary Predator wave confirmed. There will be four re-released Dutch figures - the Jungle Patrol, Jungle Extraction, Jungle Encounter and Jungle Disguise

After the reveal of a painted sample Sentry Gun, we now get this image of how the USCM weapon pack is starting to evolve and what other pack in goodies we should expect.

Starting at the top of this sample we can see the ammo bag, marine helmet and flame unit that came with Private Frost. Next is Hicks shotgun and under this a Pulse Rifle and what I think is a new handgun (or at least new to the Alien series). The two flame and firing effects are also new, while the knife and lamp are from Bishop. The Sentry Guns (the obvious stars of the set) are all new.

"NOT final & some are not painted, refining the Aliens USCM Arsenal Accessory pack layout #facehuggerfriday" - Randy Falk, NECA (via Twitter)

After teasing the head sculpt a few weeks back, NECA have now confirmed their next Xenomorph in the Aliens series will be based on the Defiance Comic Series.

Essentially this is the Isolation Xeno with new head sculpt. It is expected the Defiance Xeno will be the third figure in the next series alongside Lambert and that blue Kenner inspired Xenomorph.

"DEBUT!! This new Alien is dying to meet you at #ToyFair2017 next week as seen in Defiance @DarkHorseComics #facehuggerfriday" - Randy Falk, NECA (via Twitter) Series 11 is expected to land in late Summer 2017 with the Alien : Covenant figures and the missing Prometheus wave being released first.

After teasing the accessories on Friday the 13th (of January 2017) NECA have now confirmed the full details of their next Ultimate Horror figure, Jason from Friday the 13th Part 4.

Like all Ultimate releases, Jason will come with a plethora of accessories and swap out parts. There are two head sculpts and two masks, with one of the heads designed to allow you to pose Jason with the machete embedded into the side of his head.

Weapons include the aforementioned Machete, Knife, Corkscrew, Cleaver, Axe and hacksaw. There is also a Tombstone.

The figure comes in the window flap packaging, with the front window featuring original Movie Poster Art. He is due to ship in June 2017. Expect UK pricing to be around the £25 mark, possibly more considering the price rises we are seeing recently across all Toy lines from the US.

The remaining three figures will then be Predator figures - the Jungle Hunter, The Jungle Demon (part cloaked) and a surprise being the Gort Predator. The Gort was previously released only as an SDCC exclusive (and a quarter scale) and features a prototype mask that was made for the 1987 movie, but never used on screen.

After the reveal of the full line up of their 30th Anniversary Predator range, NECA have now released this image and the promotional blurb below.

Introducing the 30th Anniversary Predator collection!

We’ve brought back some out-of-production fan favorites for those who missed out the first time around and given them various upgrades – plus we’ve included one ALL NEW figure, the Jungle Demon!

Everything comes individually boxed in new 30th anniversary window box packaging with foil accents.

All Dutch figures feature the likeness of Arnold Schwarzenegger and have over 20 points of articulation. All Predator figures feature BRAND NEW bodies with over 30 points of articulation, retractable wrist blades and articulated shoulder cannons.

Details on each figure are below - visit our website for a huge gallery! --> http://neca.io/2kwAxj7 ● Jungle Disguise Dutch: Comes with torch, spear, bow and arrows. ● Jungle Encounter Dutch: Comes with M-16 with grenade launcher, pistol and knife. ● Jungle Extraction Dutch: Comes with M-16 with grenade launcher, pistol, machete and knife. ● Jungle Patrol Dutch: Comes with M-16 with grenade launcher, pistol and knife. ● Jungle Demon: Comes with removable backpack and over 30 points of articulation. ● Jungle Hunter Masked (Prototype): Comes with removable backpack, bloody skull and spine, and now over 30 points of articulation. ● Jungle Hunter Unmasked: Comes with removable backpack, skull and spine, and now over 30 points of articulation.

Gizmodo have revealed a number of the new products that Hasbro have planned for the 40th Anniversary of Star Wars.

One of the lines we have been keen to find out more about is the 6" Black Series range. While this doesn't confirm everything that Hasbro has planned, it is perhaps not quite what we expected.

Hasbro will be launching a companion range to the 6" Black Series called the Centrepiece collection. These will be static figures pre-posed in an action stance. They will come on a detailed and dynamic diorama base, and will come with light and sounds functions. Each base will also carry additional foot pegs to allow other figures from the Black Series to be added to enhance the diorama.

Only one image has been shared to illustrate what Hasbro have planned, this is the Luke Skywalker in flight-suit from The Empire Strikes Back with a very impressive looking AT-AT foot base.

Each set will retail at $50, so not cheap. That will equate to £40 or so here in the UK.

The diecast figures have been touted for a while now. It has now been confirmed these are 3.75" size and are actually un-articulated figurines.. They will also be released under the Titanium banner, a range Hasbro have used before for vehicles and that is currently dual stamped onto the Black Series vehicle collection.

Each will be packed with a base that fits a card backdrop. Two backdrops are provided, one being a scene from the movie the other being character artwork. The bases can be connected into a larger display. As an added bonus the figures have built in FX around their weapons so there are light up features.

Five figures have been shown - Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Han Solo. The figures will retail in the US for $15 - expect the UK RRP to be around £12-£15 once they've made their way across the Atlantic.

Hasbro have confirmed a further group of Rogue One cardback figures which will be hitting stores in Spring 2017. Revealed via Screenrant, the releases are a mix of figures we had already been told about (Admiral Raddus) and some surprises like the new Bistan and Lieutenant Sefla figures.

In the single carded figures we can expect to get Admiral Raddus, Galen Erso, Lieutenant Sefla, Fenn Rau (Rebels) There will then be a new 2-pack containing Bistan and the Shore Trooper Captain.

Attached to the same press release was the news that the Death Trooper will be released in the 12" scale and will be an electronic duel figure complete with sound and light fx.

This image is doing the rounds on Facebook.

It appears to have been taken in 2015 and is of a Return of the Jedi SH Figuarts Jabba the Hutt. As this has not yet hit retail or pre-order then we have to assume that it was either cancelled or is still on the back burner pending a release - a similar situation to General Grievous.

Regardless as to what you think about that segmented articulated tail and the slightly too high neck and head it is great to see that SH Figuarts are not restricting themselves to humanoid characters. I also would not put it past SHF to deliver this along with the throne and hookah, something Hasbro failed to do when they released Jabba.

Remember that 1/6 scale Yoda from Bandai we reported on a while back, the one that comes with a 1/12 version? Well the figure has been revealed via a Far East Trade show.

The Merc with the Mouth has been announced as joining the One:12 collective by Mezco. Arriving between August and October, Deadpool will be the usual highly articulated 1/12 figure completed with tailored soft goods clothing. He will come with six interchangeable hands and enough weaponry to level a small town - including grenades, two handguns, automatic rifle (with more grenades) and his iconic twin Katana's. If that wasn't enough, Mezco are throwing in Headpool IF you pre-order directly through the Mezco website.

Deadpool will retail in the US at $85 and US collectors can pre-order now direct with Mezco to bag that Headpool accessory. UK collectors will have to wait for the pre-orders to go live here, and should expect to pay between £75 and £85.

Please be aware the next two pages contain potential spoilers for upcoming 2017 movie’s…

Spider-Man Homecoming Wonder Woman

It was obvious Hasbro would be looking at a full wave of figures for Spider-Man Homecoming, but up to this week we had only seen the Vulture figure and the associated build-a-part flight accessory. Hasbro have now released details of more movie figures that will make up this wave We will get two Spider-Man figures in the single wave - one will be the homemade "early" suit while the second will be the more advanced suit with web gliders. Vulture will then come as a single packed figure with his flight back being assembled by purchasing the full wave. I would expect Hasbro to potentially follow recent waves by making up the rest of this wave with comic book figures, albeit Spider-Man themed.

So far Hasbro's 12 inch Legends range has given us the basic staples of Captain America, Spider-Man and Iron-Man. We also have Deadpool on the way, and now Hasbro have confirmed you can now add Thor and Hulk to your Avengers 12" Legends display.

Thor looks particularly impressive, and will come complete with MjĂślnir.

He also gets a smiling helmeted head and a unmasked serious head.

The Hulk sculpt is a modern interpretation of comic book Hulk, with ripped jeans. He will stand 14.5 inches high, putting him a good couple of inches taller vs the other figures. Like Thor he comes with two heads - one angry and one neutral (or as neutral as Hulk gets).

RRP on these are around ÂŁ60 in the UK ($60 in the US). Expect to pay more for Hulk which has a US RRP of $75. In the US a number of these have been tied into specific store deals like Walmart and Toys R Us. In the UK they have never hit mainstream retail but have been sold via independent specialists. We expect to see and find out more at Toy Fair 2017.

But that is not all. There will be a 2-pack release for the movie which will contain Spider-Man complete with alternative Tom Holland head sculpt. He will be packed with Iron-Man in what looks to be a variation of the Mark 46 armour (Mark 47?)

While we have seen a silhouette of a Diamond Select Homecoming Spider-Man, and while we know Hasbro are doing Legend figures, Medicom have gone one better and completely revealed their 1/12 MAFEX Homecoming Spider-Man. Like all MAFEX figures, Spidey will be highly articulated whilst also coming with a variety of swap out parts. This includes different head options in terms of the eyes of the mask. There is also an unmasked Tom Holland head sculpt and when using this a mask that you can place in Spideys hand. Webbing is also included and looks to incorporate a neat looking loop around the wrist rather than plugging into the hand.

The MAFEX Spider-Man is due to release in October 2017.

Based on other MAFEX releases, expect to pay ÂŁ50 in UK / $60 in US

Ahead of the New York Toy Fair, Hasbro have circulated details of some upcoming Marvel Legend 3.75" figures that are tied in to two of the big Marvel Cinematic Universe movies of 2017 (and one from 2016) The first is for Spider-Man Homecoming, and while we know that 6" versions of the titular character and key villain Vulture will be released - these images confirm that for 3.75" collectors they too can add Spidey and Vulture to their collection.

Guardians of the Galaxy have not had any 3.75" figures to date, with the original movie getting the 2" mini-verse figures and the larger 6" legends. For Volume 2 Hasbro are giving us at least one 3.75" two pack containing Starlord and Yondu.

And finally we step back slightly to 2016 to find another 2-pack of 3.75" figures from Doctor Strange. This pack includes 3.75" versions of the good Doctor in both his standard guise and then his astral plain version.

At present there are no more details on these releases other than the promotional images.

We will find out more at Toy Fair 2017

2017 will see Wonder Woman hit the big screen in her own origin story that ties her into the DC Universe.

Mattel will continue to hold the master toy licence for these DC movies, and these two images have now appeared online confirming that Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor will be two figures in this range. There doesn't appear to be any build-a-figure in these packaged shots, which means the wave could be just these two figures packed in with other Multiverse figures - or they could all be based on the movie.

Review : Snowtrooper Star Wars Black Series (Hasbro) Wave/Series : Wave 9 (Phase 3) Released : December 2016 Price : ÂŁ22.99

The final figure of Series 9, numbered 35, is the Snowtrooper from The Empire Strikes Back. The release of this troop complete a full set of Original Trilogy Stormtroopers after releases of the Sandtrooper, Stormtrooper and Scout Trooper.

Once slid out of the box you are faced with the Trooper himself surrounded with his backpack to the right (as you look) and two weapon options to the left.

The Snowtrooper stands dead on 6 inches high putting him in line with the other troopers to date. In the 1980 release of Empire there at least two different Snowtrooper armors in use in the Hoth scenes. Our figure appears to be based on the ground troops that enter Echo base once the shields are down. It will be interesting to see if Hasbro will tweak the sculpt and give us the commander version we see on the AT-AT bridge with General Veers.

Like all of the phase 3 figures that came before, the Snowtrooper is packed in the standard black box with red spine and backing card and grey lined artwork. He is titled Snowtrooper in red on the front and again on the side spine with no specific reference to the actual movie he appeared in.

The sculpt is very impressive on this figure, as it has been with most armoured figures that Hasbro have released. The helmet is smooth and rounded, while the face section does carry some folds and creases to reflect it is actually a cloth face cover. The bodysuit which is visible at the arms and legs is also creased and painted in a cream colour to create a differentiation Round the box back is a short overhead of the Snowtrooper role within the

with the gloss white armour pieces that sit on top.

Imperial Military Machine and again this is kept generic rather than talking about their onscreen appearance at the Battle of Hoth. The grey lined

The body armour starts with two shoulder pieces that seem to hang in place.

artwork, used front and back, captures the sleek look of the Snowtrooper

There is then the chest section with its rounded central section and inserted

helmet while applying a partial shadow effect and some dynamism into the

control panel with black painted detail. There are a couple of further details

image as though the trooper was swinging his head round at the time.

either side of this with a red/black decal to one side and the larger three squared red controls to the other side. The arms have forearm panels and the gloves are white with an armoured piece across the back of each hand.

While all the paint is neat the issue with the figure for me is how dark the cream colour is. Now I know this is screen accurate, BUT there is such a thing as perception of what the Snow Trooper should be and thanks to the various incarnations of the Snowtrooper since 1980, including the Vintage figure, my view of the figure is that it is too dark and too far away from what I perceive as the crisp white armour of the Snowtroopers. It's a minor complaint, and feels ungrateful considering Hasbro could have cast the whole thing in white but instead went for screen accuracy.

The backpack slots into a hole in the rear of the figure. Around this hole are some sculpted straps but these are lazily just cast in the same cream as the rest of the outfit. The hole is hexagonal while the peg on the backpack is rounded and it actually doesn't matter which way you put it in as it rotates easily around to any position. It does however hold in place quite well although over time it may start to loose grip. The backpack, like the armour, is gloss white in hard plastic. It has some neat details with red, black and grey paint details in the controls and a couple of areas which appear to be Aurebesh text and impressively they don't seem to be decals but rather painted details.

Articulation is standard starting with a ball jointed head. The head does move a lot more than you may expect it to with that face section. What happens though is that as you do rotate the head the face cover starts to "hover" unnaturally. The shoulders are ball jointed, and as the arms raise the shoulder armour retreats under the chest joint without restricting any movement.

Down from the shoulder we have a single elbow joint which both bends to 90 degrees and rotates. Thanks to this, and some pivot pegs in the hands, the ability to hold a weapon in two hands is pretty impressive. Just under the chest piece is a torso joint which feels like a ball joint rather than simple rotating peg. The torso can we swiveled to either side, with a little bit of The snowtrooper wears an impressive looking armoured codpiece which is attached to the belt which also carries the skirt section. The knees, like the shoulders, are armoured. The belt section has pouches to either side, and the familiar Stormtrooper circular capsule round the back. From this the skirt hangs down, and this is cast in a textured plastic rather than soft good. It is also coloured in the cream used on the undersuit.

The figure ends with the cloth boots, similar to the ones both Han and Luke are wearing in their Hoth gear. Up to this point the paint apps have been neat, but quite simple with gloss white on the armour and cream on the other parts. Here though the skirt bottom and the boots have both been weathered. The weathering is also quite variant between batches, with some I've seen being heavily muddied, while mine was more subtle on the skirt base but still quite heavy on the boots.

forward and back movement also.

The legs are a different matter unfortunately as they are completely blocked in by the skirt. While not a complete fan of soft goods, you feel a soft good skirt here would have worked so much better to allow the Snowtrooper to get into some more action poses - kneeling and crouching. The leg joints are all there to achieve this - with ball joint hips, double jointed knees and ankle rockers - they are just locked in place by the skirt.

The two weapons are the E11 blaster, the new version that has been tweaked for Series 9 and that has also arrived packed with the Princess Leia and AT-AT Driver figures. It's a plain black plastic, but carries some decent detail and it fits into the Snowtroopers hand really well, including the trigger finger slotting into the trigger.

The Snowtrooper is a fantastic figure, and in a wave full of crowd pleasers it still stands out from the crowd. The cream is a tad too dark for some people's liking, and there is opportunities for some extra paint apps around the backpack straps. It does have articulation issues around the legs, but makes up for it in the arms. In fact with these niggles aside, the problem with this figure will simply be its availability for those who want to army build. I would hope Hasbro give us options for picking up more of these in the future either with re-releases or perhaps with some troop building boxes alongside the Commander we mentioned earlier, or even with the E-Web cannon.

I award the Snowtrooper a 5 out of 5 score, and had the skirt been a bit more flexible and the colouring a little better then he could have easily been The larger weapon, the DLT-19 heavy blaster, is the same as was packed with the original Stormtrooper. While cast in black plastic, it is heavily dry-brushed in silver to bring out the details. Out of the two it is the DLT-19 that not only looks better, but also poses better. With this weapon I got the Snowtrooper into a bunch of poses - including a two handed carry pose, but also a sniping/firing position.

Checkout our extensive Star Wars Black Series Archive over at www.mephitsu.co.uk→

the first Star Wars Black Series figure to get our 5* award.