Issue 62 : Saturday 16th September, 2017
Diamond's long awaited 7" Select Pulp Fiction figures are preparing to ship, and these packaged images have been unveiled by DST. The red theme stands out really well and is very reminiscent of the visuals used on the movie posters and original VHS versions. The first wave contains Marsellus Wallace, Jules Winnfield and Butch Coolidge. Each come with a diorama piece. These should hit stores from 13th of September, and DST are usually consistent with UK and US release dates. You can pre-order a case of 3 from our partners Toys In The Attic
Bring the coolness of Pulp Fiction home with you! Quentin Tarantino's 1994 movie masterpiece has been brought to life as highly detailed 7-inch collectible figures. The first series includes go-for-broke boxer Butch Coolidge, born-again hitman Jules Winnfield and fearsome mob boss Marsellus Wallace. Each character is 7-inch scale, with detailed paint applications and the actor's likeness, as well as 16 points of articulation and character-specific accessories. Plus, each character comes with a diorama piece - Jules includes the room where the big shootout takes place, while Butch and Marsellus each come with a piece of sidewalk from their chase scene! Packaged in display-ready Select packaging with spine artwork for shelf reference.
Checkout these images of the next wave of Nightmare Before Christmas figures from Diamond Select Toys. Arriving soon in your local store are Santa Claus, Pumpkin King and Lock, Shock and Barrel. All come with added diorama parts and accessories.
It seems Diamond are not satisfied with the release of one Gladiator Hulk, and have announced a comic version of the Planet Hulk in his Gladiatorial armour to be released in October as a Marvel Store / Disney Store exclusive. The figure stands 10" high and comes with gladiatorial armour, removable helmet, battle axe and shield. To partner this new release, the previously released Mighty Thor Select figure will get a re-release. The Mighty Thor figure is much sought after following its initial release and subsequent "sell out". He comes with the spinning Mjolnir hammer. "Get ready for epic battles with this fully poseable Planet Hulk action figure. Featuring his gladiator armor worn in Thor: Ragnarok, the warrior comes with a helmet, battle axe, and spiked shield." It is, as the promo text confirms, inspired by Thor Ragnarok and this figure will be on shelves as the movie debuts in cinemas. The MCU version based on the movie look will likely not hit stores until the 1st Quarter of 2018. Orders can be placed at Marvel Store now. Expect to find Hulk in Disney Stores from 2nd October in the US, and in European Disney stores later in the month.. The US RRP is $29.95, UK price is likely to be around ÂŁ22.95.
The fourth wave of Diamond's Gotham figures are almost ready to ship in the US. While these are the basic versions of Hugo Strange, Azrael and Mr Freeze, without the diorama pieces, they are worth getting excited about. Particularly as this wave see's the first real dive into the more "visual" villains as opposed to the basic "men in suits" we've seen to date. These basics are sold in Toys R Us over in the states. The Selects will be available worldwide.
Diamond have shared packaged images of the Marvel Select (Marvel Cinematic Universe) Spider-Man from Homecoming. The figure is due for release in the next few weeks and remarkably will beat the Guardians of the Galaxy 7" figures to market. Spidey should be available at all good comic stores.
McFarlane have confirmed details of new 7" figures from the Borderlands video game licence. First is Zer0, the mysterious bounty hunter. He will stand 7" high and will come with a code for exclusive in-game content. The figure itself is based on Zer0's appearance in Borderlands 2. He will have 12 points of articulation and come with his "0" hologram. The RRP in the US is $19.99 and he is due to hit stores in February 2018.
McFarlanes new 7" figures from the Destiny Video Game are now hitting stores in the US and UK. McFarlane have shared the above promotional image to coincide with the release and this informative image of the figure articulation - an area they had been criticised on during their return to the 7" series with the Color Tops line. You can get your very own 7" Destiny Action Figures now at our site Partner, Toys in the Attic
Shrouded in mystery, Zer0 is an assassin-for-hire whose identity and origin are unknown. Left unsatisfied after a previous target failed to fight back, Zer0 turned to Vault hunting in search of a worthy challenge. ● Highly detailed sculpt of Zer0 modeled from in-game assets ● Figure includes a code for exclusive downloadable in-game content ● Figures comes with Infinity Gun and Energy Sword ● Includes iconic “0” Hologram ● Figure is featured in outfit worn by Zer0 in Borderlands ● Designed with 12+ points of articulation for dynamic posing
Also confirmed is this deluxe box set of Claptrap - the guide and quest giver from the game. The set will include a 4.5-inch Claptrap and a bunch of accessories including pistol, wand, Sheriff's hat and Wizards cap. He will be released in February 2018 also and will retail at $34.99 A general purpose CL4P-TP robot manufactured by Hyperion, Claptrap acts as the Vault Hunter’s (sometimes) useful guide and quest-giver on Pandora. Programmed with an over enthusiastic personality, Claptrap masks his fear and loneliness behind cheerful bravado. ● Figure comes with Jakobs Pistol, magic wand, One Shot Wonder Sheriff’s hat, and Wizard’s cap ● Figure installed with working shocks that enable the tire to move smoothly ● Retractable Antenna ● Designed with multiple points of articulation for dynamic posing. ● Rotating Eye
NECA have announced, via ScreamFactory, a new 8" Mego style horror figure. This will be a Bluray tie in release for the remastered movie Silent Night, Deadly Night. The Carter Burke & Xenomorph set, including the Welcome to Hadley's Hope sign, has been revealed in its clamshell by NECA - one step closer to release. While these set stays faithful to the clamshell design, it doesn't seem to have any artwork to the side of the blister. The front card has also moved from a blue to red theme
Silent Night, Deadly Night is the heartwarming story of little Billy Chapman who was traumatized by his parents' Christmas Eve murder, then brutalized by sadistic orphanage nuns. But when grown-up Billy is to dress as jolly St. Nick, he goes on a yuletide rampage to "punish the naughty!" Santa Claus is coming to town ... and this time he's got an axe! Robert Brian Wilson and Scream Queen Linnea Quigley star in this jaw-dropping horror classic that a nation of angry mothers still cannot stop! The 8� clothed action figure by NECA is exclusive to this set! Billy Chapman is dressed in a fabric Santa suit with hat and features the authorized likeness of actor Robert Brian Wilson. The figure is fully poseable and comes with an axe accessory in window box packaging.
The set will be a combination pack of a bluray of the movie and the 8" figure. There will also be an exclusive poster. This Exclusive Limited Edition contains: Silent Night, Deadly Night [Collector’s Edition] 2-disc Blu-ray (with slipcover) An exclusive, limited edition 8" tall Billy/Killer Santa action figure by NECA An exclusive, limited edition 18" x 24" rolled poster of the newly-designed art from artist Joel Robinson (this will ship rolled, in a poster tube) To obtain the figure you have to purchase the figure via ShoutFactory.com and is limited to 2000 copies. That will make this particular horror 8"figure a sought after piece for horror figure collectors.
NECA announced they have picked up the licence for the new Stephen King IT movie and will be releasing figures and other products from the movie in 2018. "In theaters today, on your shelf soon! Full line of action figures and more coming in 2018 from NECA." It will be interesting to see the direction NECA are going to go with this range. A "full line of figures" indicates more than the titular character of Pennywise. That could mean that they may go down the 8" Mego style route, a direction they've taken with other properties like Home Alone or Hateful 8. I for one would love to see at least one 7" IT figure, ideally with his red balloon. The question of being able to return and do figures and products from the 1986 IT movie
NECA have shared this work in progress of the box artwork for their Alien Vs Predator Video Game series.
SH Figuarts are releasing a companion piece to their 1/12 Darth Maul - a compatible Sith Speeder and Sith Droid. The set will be released in April 2018, with preorders looking to open at the end of September. The set is designed for the released SH Figuarts Darth Maul, the figure is NOT included. The RRP in Japan is 5184 Yen, that is only ÂŁ36 or $47, but the price will rise once it's gone through Bluefin for importing.
Hasbro's HASCON event has not thrown up anything new for the 6" Star Wars Black Series, other than another look at those awesome dioramas from San Diego. We did finally see Snoke and Rose lined up with other figures, and it confirms Snoke is very tall at around 7" as a figure.
New figures were confirmed in the basic range including new Last Jedi versions of Rey and Luke and a Leia figure. There was confirmation of an R2-D2 figure, Yoda and a figure of the DJ from Canto Bight (as played by Benicio del Toro). There is also a 3-pack coming containing new character Rose, in First Order disguise, alongside BB-8 and the new "bad" BB unit, BB-9E
For the returning Vintage 3.75" line it was confirmed that Snoke would also make an appearance in this line. And we got a better look at that Rogue One Hover Tank.
At HASCON, Hasbro's own convention, the Marvel Legends section has given us a few snippets of new figures joining the 6" range in late 2017 and into 2018. Mezco have announced a special Wolverine One:12 Collective 6" figure will be available as their Fall Exclusive. This will be sold at NYCC 2017 in October as well as direct from Mezco - pre orders start on the 13th September. "The yellow and blue Wolverine will be available on our site for preorder next Wednesday, the 13th. As with all of our exclusives, he'll only be available on our website or at our booth at NYCC at booth #1954, from Oct. 5th to the 8th. Until that happens, feel free to check out our behind-the-scenes photos below!" The release will use elements of the existing Wolverine (brown & yellow outfit) but with the more iconic yellow tiger stripe costume. It will also come with extras like an unmasked Logan head and Mask of Ogun. We will update this thread with full details when the pre-order goes live.
How most of these will line up in terms of waves and release dates is not confirmed, but checkout the images below from around the net for new figures of Wolverine, Storm and Psylocke from X-Men. You can also see a new Iron-Man as well as Klaue and Thanos. The new Apocalypse Build-A-Figure was also discussed, but not on display. We now await the confirmation, likely at NYCC, as to how all these join together and contain which BAF's
We may be a few months away from the release of Marvel's Black Panther, but Hasbro have revealed the basic range of toys for the movie. The items will mirror the type of merchandise that Hasbro put out for Spider-Man Homecoming - and will include 12" Titan figures, Roleplay items and basic 5.5" figures. 5.5" limited articulated figures will include Black Panther as a standard figure and a "Vibranium" release. Like the Tech Suit (blue) Spider-Man, this may well be an imagined look for Black Panther rather than reflective of the movie. There are also figures of Shuri and Erik Killmonger.
In the 12" range we have Black Panther, Erik Killmonger and a sound and light's version of Black Panther - again, in the same vein as the FX Spider-Man and Vulture. They will also scale well with the current Thor and Hulk figures from Ragnarok.
Review : Dr. Elizabeth Shaw Prometheus (NECA) Wave/Series : Lost Wave Released : July 2017 ÂŁ22.99 In 2012 and 2013 NECA released three waves of Prometheus 7" action figures. At the time the hype for the Alien movies prequel was at a high, but despite this the figures did not do too well in stores. A further set of figures had been developed and sculpted and two were even pictured on the back of the packaging. The lack of sales and interest causes NECA to make the decision to pull these figures from the release leaving those fans who had supported the range looking enviously at the sculpted images of Holloway, Dr Shaw and Fifield. Roll forward to the end of 2016 and with the imminent release of the Prometheus sequel, Covenant, in 2017 NECA came out of nowhere with the announcement that it would be releasing these missing Prometheus figures - the so called "Lost Wave". This Lost Wave wasn't quite the missing 2013 figures. While Fifield and Dr Shaw had survived, there was no place for Holloway. Instead a brand new figure, Meredith Vickers, was introduced to make up the three figure wave.
Round the back, on the reverse of the insert, is printed an image of the actual Shaw figure in a triangle insert. To the side of this sits a short bio of Shaw and her place on the Prometheus mission. Both of these sit atop a background of further hieroglyphics. Under the image of Shaw sits a set of triangular inserts - 9 in total - which show the now complete range of basic 7" Prometheus figures from both 2012/3 and 2017. Under this is a further image of the deluxe Engineer and Trilobite. While these "also available" images are a nice touch to sew all the releases together - it will frustrate those who are just discovering the Prometheus figures as the rest of the range from 2012/3 is now selling for a ridiculous mark up on the secondary market. The card reverse ends with a Weyland Yutani logo and a plug for Alien Covenant coming in Summer 2017. This was obviously added when the figures were originally due for release in June, the figures ended up arriving after the Covenant premiere. The blister has to be cut to be opened, and inside the figure is sat in an inner tray - tied into position with twist ties. It baffles me why these are used on blister figures as the figure isn't going anywhere and as a theft deterrent, the blister is hard enough to open. Oh for the day NECA takes a leaf out of Hasbro's book and does away with these ties. Alongside the figure is her helmet, an axe and the severed head of David-8.
Collectors will be pleased that despite being four years between the waves, NECA have kept the packaging for the Lost Wave identical to how it came in 2013. The figure arrives in a blister pack with insert sandwiched between the blister and plastic rear. A further insert sits at the bottom of the blister. This confirms the character name and under this sits a Prometheus logo. Behind the figure the blister insert carries a dark black and blue image based on the hieroglyphics seen in the movie and beneath these a stack of Engineer bodies. The blister is pretty flimsy sadly. I received all three figures as a case and they all arrived with warping to the blister side. The insert is also very flimsy and once the blister is warped, this creases very easily - it doesn't look great for display by MOC / "in packaging" collectors.
In my opinion, NECA's sculpting team is about the best in the business at the moment at this scale and price point. Dr Shaw is no exception and the likeness to Noomi Rapace is very impressive. But it doesn't stop with sculpting with NECA, they have a very good level of paint applications for the face - and Shaw has subtle shading to bring out the sculpt as well as nicely painted expressive and realistic eyes - none of this black lining and dots we see on figures of a similar price. There is even a hint of blusher on the cheeks. The figure is also full of graphical detail, most applied as decals. These can be found on the base of the helmet, on the left shoulder and round the back of the helmet base.
The spacesuit is really well designed too and captures the costume used in the movie. It is essentially a sleek blue, but this blue is metallic and holds a sheen to it and really dances in good light. Across this are neon orange trims. There are then black paneled segments on the neck, shoulder, wrists, belt and feet. While these look a singular colour, there are variations in black and grey and also in finish from gloss to matt. Details such as the vents on what is the spacesuit back pack are also picked out in silver, as are red panels around the helmet. There is even a screen accurate salmon pink strap visible to each side of the chest. All the painting is ultra neat, I can't find any bleeding or mis-colouration. Excellent work.
Articulation on Shaw is improved from the 2012/13 David-8 figure, who came in a similar Spacesuit. The head is ball jointed and can turn and look up and down within the physical constraints of the helmet collar. Shoulders are ball jointed and can raise up quite a way, with the grey shoulder panel being flexible and moves with the arm. The elbows are a single rotating joint and the hands are on a small ball joint too (socket on hand, ball on the wrist) so will rotate and move forward and back ever so slightly. The torso is jointed under the blue panels of the chest and the waist is on a similar ball joint. This means Shaw can bend a good way forward and backward. The legs are ball joints too and the groin area is that softer plastic that NECA favour to allow some more movement without ugly T-joints. That being said, the joints won't let Shaw sit or kneel - you will get a reclined position if you really want. With single jointed knees and ankle rockers finishing off the legs - the figure has plenty of range for action stances.
Accessory number one is that weird shaped axe that Shaw arms herself with towards the end of the movie. This is well made and is painted with a silver blade, wood effect handle (two tones of beige) and a black grip with silver end cap. It fits into either hand and the arm articulation also allows for two handed poses if you wish. You might have to coax the fingers a little to achieve these.
The other accessory / costume addition is the oversized space suit helmet. When you unpack this be very careful to take out the small baggie that is packed inside. This contains an articulated camera that can be slotted into a socket at the front of the helmet. It can also, if you aren't using the helmet, slot into a similar socket on the left shoulder. There is nothing on the packaging that tells you this (hence no images of ours being shoulder mounted), I found it out a bit later when trawling some images. The helmet is well made and slots perfectly into the notches on the collar. It is made of a very clear perspex, but that means it is brittle and won't take much to scratch or break if the figure takes a tumble. Being oversized the head can be posed within the helmet - so can look ahead, to the side or up and down without stopping the helmet being worn.
Accessory number 3 is an odd one, but of course very apt to the movie. It is a severed head of the android David-8. The head comes with part of the neck and from this is a silver metallic spine. The head is actually articulated with the head on a ball joint to the neck.
At first I thought this was a new sculpt of David-8, which seemed extravagant. On inspection it is the same as the 2012 release. But you can therefore see in the comparison image how far NECA have come in just 4-years with the painting of human heads. David-8 has the same subtle shading/blushing to the cheeks as Shaw. The eyes are also painted realistically, with the hair and eyebrows using two or more shades of brown to bring out the depth. The only niggle for me is a spot of silver paint from the exposed mechanical parts has been splashed on the flesh tone on the neck. The head doesn't do much obviously, but Shaw can hold it if you really want.
I wonder (and this is speculation on my part) if the inclusion of the David-8 was a little nod to fans on two fronts. Being jointed and assuming it can be boiled and popped off - it would allow collectors with the original David-8 figure to update the head to a superior paint job (if they wanted of course considering the price of the figure on secondary market). The other option is of course that the Fifield figure uses the same body as David-8. Buy an extra Fifield and swap heads and you have an instant David-8 for your crew without paying "silly money".
Alongside the actual 2012 David-8 figure, Dr. Shaw does stands out with a much brighter space suit and better paint applications - although yes I am aware the spacesuits did differ in the film. However, the gap is not massive and David-8 is certainly not overshadowed in the way some earlier releases are when stood next to more modern versions. I look forward to unpacking Vickers and Fifield for a full crew picture.
I find it rare to review a NECA figure at present that doesn't score high on our rating scale. In fact it was a NECA Alien 3 figure that resulted in us adding an extra 5* score for exceptional figures. While Shaw doesn't hit that height, there is little to fault with the figure itself. Sculpt, paint and articulation are all top notch and there is a good array of accessories. The only downside, for MOC collectors, is that blister packaging and the thin insert being prone to warping. I score Dr. Elizabeth Shaw from the Prometheus Lost Wave a 5 out of 5.