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The second wave of Jazwares / Wicked Cool Toys Halo 6 inch Spartan Collection has been listed on the Target website in the US, giving us full promotional images for the four figures in the wave. Emile 239, Spartan Mk5 and Jerome 092 will come with alternative hands as well as two weapons. The fourth figure, Spartan Gungnir, will also feature alternative hands and two weapons - but is also packed with an additional visor part to provide two head options for display. The four figures in Series 2 are being listed via Target as arriving in stores now (February 2021). They should make their way into the UK stockists, including Smyths, in the next few weeks. Checkout our blog page for more action figure news, reviews and store reports About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys... action figure, news, toys, reviews, action, figure, blog, checklist, collectors,

A new McFarlane DC Multiverse Batman figure has turned up online via Amazon in the US. This is the Todd McFarlane Batman as designed for the Gold Label releases at Walmart. This variant is a general release and recolours the figure to a darker blue tone and replaces the goggles with a new gold batarang and the knives tweaked to a differing design. The figure is not an exclusive, it has simply been listed first by Amazon. There is no release date as yet. Checkout our blog page for more action figure news, reviews and store reports About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys... action figure, news, toys, reviews, action, figure, blog, checklist, collectors,

Super7 have re-issued their first Series of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ultimates figures for release later this month (February 2021) with pre-orders opening (and selling out) at Big Bad Toy Store. This re-run of the first wave includes Baxter Stockman, Foot Soldier, Splinter and Raphael and to differentiate them from the original release the accessory sprues have been given variant colours this time round. With the Ultimates Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from Super7, you can relive the fun and excitement of the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figures. Each 7-inch super-articulated figure is lavishly painted and includes a large cache of accessories. This reissue features updated colors! Product Features 7 inches (17.78cm) Made of plastic Super articulated Deluxe packaging Each figure includes a set of painted and ready to use weapons as well as an unpainted weapons rack like the original toy line Based on the vintage Playmates Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toy line Raphael figure Unpainted weapons rack 2 Sai 2 Throwing stars Long bladed weapon 2 Short blade weapons 3 Alternate pairs of hands Alternate head Open Communicator Closed Communicator Pizza slice Splinter figure Unpainted weapons rack 3 Arrows 2 Throwing stars Baton blade 3 Alternate pairs of hands Walking Stick Ninja bow Baby turtle Removable robe Cup of tea Foot Soldier figure Unpainted weapons rack Pistol Rifle Knife 2 Throwing stars Flail Grabber arm 7 Alternate hands Baxter Stockman figure 2 Alternate pairs of hands Mouser Swatter Ray gun Unpainted weapons rack Checkout our blog page for more action figure news, reviews and store reports About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys... action figure, news, toys, reviews, action, figure, blog, checklist, collectors,

The Star Wars Black Series Archive line is an avenue for older and more sought after figures to be re-released in the Black Series line and has now reached its 3rd wave. The 2021 Archive wave is also part of the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Lucasfilm and it contains the winner of the Fan's Choice for Archive re-release, Commander Cody, as well as Grand Admiral Thrawn and Luke & Han from Hoth. The Archive Series moves away from window boxes to a blister card format. The shaped backing card carries the same Black Series logo and uses a black base colour with a grey panel behind the figure window. The character name sits down the left hand side and in line with the Lucasfilm celebration this has changed from grey to gold, and the Lucasfilm 50th Anniversary logo sits at the top left of the card. The Gregory Titus artwork is added as an insert to the blister and is a new image of Luke Skywalker from Hoth - the original 2015 release only carried a small piece of artwork of Luke's head The back of the card carries the same image of Luke and a short piece of background text. "While on patrol, Luke and his tauntaun are attacked by a vicious wampa. The creature hangs Luke upside down in its cave, but Luke uses the Force to escape" The first two Archive waves followed on from the figure detail with some archive information about the original release of the figure and included an original release year and an image of the original packaging. This has now sadly been removed and replaced with the Lucasfilm 50th Anniversary timeline that plots the Star Wars Movie & TV properties from 1971 to 2021 - although it doesn't mention the Mandalorian? Under this is short piece of info about the anniversary. "Commemorate the first 50 years of Lucasfilm with figures inspired by the original Star Wars trilogy" This hybrid of Archive and Anniversary Exclusive is OK - but really needed to go one way or the other. I would have preferred a traditional Archive release with the background info, or a special card series just for this 2021 anniversary. 3.5 Luke arrives in the lighter beige Hoth fatigues/uniform that he was wearing when he is attacked by the Wampa in The Empire Strikes Back. The face sculpt and applied face print technology does capture the look of Mark Hamill, but is a little heavy on the eyes and eyebrows and that does throw off the overall look. The face itself is the only art of the head visible as Luke is sculpted in the padded head gear from Hoth with peaked cap and side communications aerial. The scarf piece hangs from the right hand side of the head as a soft goods felt strip - it is long enough to go across the face, but cant be executed as such and it lacks any texture of definition. The uniform is presented really well with the padded coat carrying the rank badges of the Alliance picked out in colour segments. The belt wraps the padded jacket and is coloured in a leather brown with silver clasp and hooks & fixings. The trousers are a grey tone and the boots back beige with a lighter strapping. Each element of the outfit is coloured in the base colour with no application of weathering or washes to demonstrate wear & tear. This is the same figure, as is the case with the Archive releases, as was released back in 2015 alongside the original Hoth Wampa. The figures do differ in so much the 2021 version is more aligned pre-Wampa attack so has no blood effect or facial damage and the soft goods scarf is attached to hang down in a normal standing position. The earlier version has the facial damage and was packed upside down in the box to recreate the Wampa cave - with the scarf attached in a reverse position which hangs down really well when Luke is inverted, but when he is stood up normally it looks a little odd. The left hand side rank badge on the newer figure is missing the yellow, therefore the older version is more accurate as far as I can tell vs screen shots. 4.0 Luke is armed with a DL-44 blaster, the same as was included in the original release and with earlier Luke figures like Bespin Luke and X-Wing Luke. It is a bigger cast than the one include with Han but includes the same details - painted brown grip and silver nozzle. It fits into Luke's right hand where a trigger finger engages into the trigger. When not in use it fits securely into the holster on the belt where a strap comes over the top to hold it in place and plugs into the body of the holster - this all works fine and while fiddly to get into place it does slot in neatly and hold in place. Luke also has his lightsaber, again the same as the original release and not he smaller version that came in with Rey and The Force Awakens. Considering the size the detail captured is good including the defined fins on the grip and the control buttons. The blue translucent blade is straight and true and clicks in and out of the hilt without any issues. The lightsaber fits into either hand or can be wielded two handed thanks to the arm articulation. When not in use the loop at the end of the lightsaber hilt corresponds to the hook on Luke's belt and allows the lightsaber to be hung on the belt. This is not a tight fit and it will fall off if knocked or moved. 4.0 Luke Hoth has a total of 16 points of articulation which on paper is standard. It should be noted that the treatment of the wrists on Luke are not the usual pegged wrist with a pivot, but instead the hands are sculpted as a part of the lower arm then plugged in just under the elbow meaning the hands will only rotate on one axis. Head : ball joint head with pivot Body : ball joint waist Arms : ball joint shoulder, single joint rotating elbow, wrist rotation Legs : ball joint hips, thigh swivel, double joint knees, ankle rocker Aside from the wrist joint, the other articulation all works well enough and Luke can stand, kneel or sit and take up a number of action poses included one and two handed lightsaber poses. If you want him too, Luke can also ride and hold the reigns of the Black Series Tauntaun, although we are yet to see Luke's particular mount get a release. Each joint on Luke is tight and secure and he stands perfectly well without support in a number of poses. 4.0 Considering the early press for the Archive Luke Skywalker Hoth figure I was expecting this to be a very low scoring review indeed. Instead, it was Han who disappointed and for me Luke is a perfect example of an Archive re-release with tweaks to create a better looking figure. The face print is not the best the Black Series has seen so far, but it is a huge improvement ont he 2015 release and looks like Mark Hammil - a likeness Hasbro have not been able to consistently capture on all their Luke figures. The outfit was a pretty good body sculpt at the time and is recreated the same way. We could say that the outfit needs some snow weathering, and that the scarf section doesn't work and could be re-done like the Hoth Rebel Soldier. We could even go down the route of two face plates to give us a before and after Wampa attack choice. This of course is taken us well outside the remit of the Archive series. I have made my feelings clear on the packaging for the entirety of this wave, it is trying too hard to meet two criteria and doesn't do either justice. The Archive side is missing that history of the figure and original packaging images and dates, while the Lucasfilm 50th Anniversary is just not celebrated enough. There is enough here for the £20 price point to warrant picking up Luke, regardless of having the original figure and I do hope that we might just get a new Tauntaun release to accompany this figure in due course. As it stands I score the Archive release of Luke Skywalker (Hoth) a total of 4.0 For more News, Reviews and a Checklist of Releases - visit our Black Series Database About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys... action figures, reviews, review, articulation, star wars, luke skywalker, hoth, black series, archive, lucasfilm, 50th anniversary

The Star Wars Black Series Archive line is an avenue for older and more sought after figures to be re-released in the Black Series line and has now reached its 3rd wave. The 2021 Archive wave is also part of the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Lucasfilm and it contains the winner of the Fan's Choice for Archive re-release, Commander Cody, as well as Grand Admiral Thrawn and Luke & Han from Hoth. The Archive Series moves away from window boxes to a blister card format. The shaped backing card carries the same Black Series logo and uses a black base colour with a grey panel behind the figure window. The character name sits down the left hand side and in line with the Lucasfilm celebration this has changed from grey to gold, and the Lucasfilm 50th Anniversary logo sits at the top left of the card. The Gregory Titus artwork is added as an insert to the blister and is a new image of Han Solo from Hoth - the original 2015 release only carried a small piece of artwork of Han's head The back of the card carries the same image of Han Solo and a short piece of background text. "Han stuck with the Rebel Alliance and helped establish its new base on the ice planet Hoth. After Luke didn't return from a routine sweep of the planet surface, Han headed out alone into the frigid cold to find him." The first two Archive waves followed on from the figure detail with some archive information about the original release of the figure and included an original release year and an image of the original packaging. This has now sadly been removed and replaced with the Lucasfilm 50th Anniversary timeline that plots the Star Wars Movie & TV properties from 1971 to 2021 - although it doesn't mention the Mandalorian? Under this is short piece of info about the anniversary. "Commemorate the first 50 years of Lucasfilm with figures inspired by the original Star Wars trilogy" This hybrid of Archive and Anniversary Exclusive is OK - but really needed to go one way or the other. I would have preferred a traditional Archive release with the background info, or a special card series just for this 2021 anniversary. 3.5 Han arrives wrapped in his large hood and scarf and therefore the quality of the head sculpt is not overly clear. The hood is a separate piece to the coat and is sadly very ill-fitting to the left hand side of Han's shoulders as you can see in the far right image below. My figure had also seen the fur front start to separate from the brown hood. The fur itself is soft and lumpy in the sculpt and is not well painted. Han's coat on this release is brown, in line with the prop although the argument on colour will still rumble on. The coat and arms are cast in the brown base colour of the coat, with the sculpt of the coat carrying the padded texture on the shoulders and the various pockets and fastenings. The only paint applied is to the rank badge on the left hand side. Like the coat, the trousers are cast in a base colour and include the quilted padding on the knees. The boots are then executed in brown with a light beige strapping. The hood piece can be removed revealing the Han head underneath. This is executed with he cold weather head gear in place and only the face of Harrison Ford shown. This face sculpt and face print is excellent and a really good likeness. The issue though is the scale of the head which is too small for the body once the hood has been removed. Considering this look is not seen in the movie, and with the issues with the ill-fitting hood, there was perhaps another option here to have the head and hood as one piece fitted more naturally into the body. Essentially this is the same figure as released in 2015 with the Tauntaun, although the coat has been recoloured and the face updated with the face print tech. I found the hood fitting and exposure of the face was much better on the original version with or without the glasses. Aside from the head, I guess the decision over which Han Hoth is better comes down to your jacket colour preference - original Kenner blue, or prop Brown? 3.0 Han is pretty well served with accessories, starting with his DL-44 blaster. This is cast in a softer plastic but holds detail quite well. It is cast in black plastic with a painted brown grip and silver barrel. The blaster fits into Han's right hand where a trigger finger engages with the trigger. When not in use there is a working holster on Han's belt that this slots snugly into. The only issue with the holster is the thin strap designed to hold it in place. This should plug into a hole in the holster, but the one on my figure refuses to engage Also included are a pair of Macrobinoculars. These are cast in a harder plastic with visible detail sculpted into the casing and the viewing areas - although Hasbro have not painted any of this detail and therefore the piece looks a little flat and boring. A weather wash would have really enhanced it. It comes with quite a rigid strap that stops it hanging naturally round the neck or off the shoulder. The strap is also an issue if you manage to get Han to hold the Macrobinoculars up to his eye as the strap holds horizontally - and therefore really unnatural for a pose. Holding it into place is also difficult as the hands are not designed to grip the piece - so while the elbow joints will get it up to the eyes the wrist joint and hand shape will only really let it be propped in place. Our final accessory are the goggles that arrive attached to the top of the headgear. These are a separate piece and can be removed. They are cast with a hard plastic around the lenses with a softer strap. The strap is designed to fit snugly over the top of the hat but they cant stretch to go over the peak of the hat and down over the eyes. You can bypass the peak of the cap by removing the head, putting the goggles over the neck and reattaching the head. The goggles can then be moved up over the eye position. Its more difficult than say the elastic strap on the more recent Hoth Soldier, but will last a lot longer. The only issue with engaging the goggles over the eyes is that they then start to look oversized and when the hood is placed on top it has a habit of pushing the glasses back down and misaligning them. In the grand scheme of things, they could have simply been part of the head sculpt or glued in place. 3.0 Han Solo Hoth has a total of 16 points of articulation which on paper is standard. It should be noted that the treatment of the wrists on Han Hoth are not the usual pegged wrist with a pivot, but instead the hands are sculpted as a part of the lower arm then plugged in just under the elbow meaning the hands will only rotate on one axis. Head : ball joint head with pivot Body : ball joint waist Arms : ball joint shoulder, single joint rotating elbow, wrist rotation Legs : ball joint hips, thigh swivel, double joint knees, ankle rocker Aside from the wrist joint, the other articulation all works well enough and Han can stand, kneel or sit and take up a number of action poses - including of course riding the Tauntaun and holding the reigns if you want to update your Tauntaun with this newer look figure. Each joint is tight and secure and he stands perfectly well without support in a number of poses. 4.0 I was looking forward to an updated Han Solo Hoth in his brown coat having not yet purchased the Convention exclusive from a couple of years ago. This new version is very much in line with the principles of the Archive Series - updating the décor only and providing Han with an updated face print decor. This face print is brilliant, but is spoiled by the ill fitting hood and the gaps it creates. The head behind the hood is also to small for the body, The packaging looses some of its identity by trying to incorporate the Lucasfilm 50th Anniversary, one of the things I liked about the first two waves was the history piece on the back of the card looking at the original figure release and the packaging from that figure. While the Archive series is not about do-overs for an existing figure, there are still improvements needed to make the definitive Han Hoth and as it stands, I score this Archiev release of Han Solo in his Hoth outfit an average score of 3.0 For more News, Reviews and a Checklist of Releases - visit our Black Series Database About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys... action figures, reviews, review, articulation, star wars, han solo, hoth, black series, archive, lucasfilm, 50th anniversary

In 2016, the Hasbro team created its first full wave of MCU figures. The wave, titled "The Best of the MCU" took figures from the previous year and repacked them into one MCU wave with an MCU BAF. These waves were offered outside of the US, often to Europe or the Far East or both. 2016 got the Hulkbuster BAF repacked with characters from Age of Ultron and beyond. 2017 gave us a Giantman repack with Civil War figures. 2018 combined figures from Thor Ragnraok and Guardians of the Galaxy 2 with a Gladiator Hulk BAF. And in 2019 it was a Thanos BAF repack with figures from Infinity War and Ant-Man & The Wasp. The first rumblings of a Best of MCU wave for 2020/1 were in Summer last year (2020) where Taiwanese store Damning Toys listed an Avengers Endgame Best of MCU wave for sale. There were no official images of the wave, just a group photo of the 7 figures. The figures could not be shipped outside of Taiwan due to Covid-19 and soon sold out. No other retailer has since listed or sold the wave. In the last week I have noticed the wave has now started to show up on Aliexpress. What is interesting is that the listings appear to now come with promotional images. These images are very low res but show us both the figures and the packaging which now carries the full Avengers Endgame logo - the original waves did not use the Endgame name specifically. The wave is made up of 7 figures in total, with nearly all the figures from Avengers Endgame and as released in other waves in 2019. The Iron-Man Mk85 does not come with a BAF part and appears unchanged from the original release. Thor is taken from Infinity War rather than be updated to his Endgame look which would require a new figure. He comes armed with Stormbreaker and is packed with Thanos' head which has to be intentional. This is the third time this figure will have been released, although this 3rd release looks to have dropped the lightning effect. Rescue is a direct repack from the Endgame waves and comes with the alternative backpack. Rescue comes with the Thanos torso. Captain America looks to be the Worthy Cap exclusive repacked, he includes his shield (still not broken) and the Thanos right leg. Mjolnir and the alternative head from the original release have been dropped. The Iron-Spider was the one released initially for Infinity War and like the first release it excludes the mechanical legs that would come in a later 2-pack. He comes with the left arm of Thanos The Black Panther figure looks to be the same as the UK slimmed down release which is the Infinity War suit without the Vibranium Effects and the newer head. He comes with the Thanos left leg. Black Widow is the only figure in the wave that is new, in a fashion. She has been assembled using what appears to be the Infinity War body with the combat vest removed, and the head from the Quantum Suits 2-pack. She comes with the Thanos right arm and weapon. The Thanos BAF is the Armoured version of Thanos and this remains unchanged from the original release and still comes with Infinity Gauntlet left arm and his twin blade weapon At this point there is nothing to suggest this wave will make its way to Europe and the UK, although the cardback that is being used on Aliexpress for the Iron-Man figure is the standard card which is used for global releases and has no overstickers or details for a Far Eastern release. I am therefore going to hold out hope that we may see these figures in 2021 as the MCU gets back on track after having the whole of 2020 off. Checkout our blog page for more action figure news, reviews and store reports About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys... action figure, news, toys, reviews, action, figure, blog, checklist, collectors,

In 2021 we will see the Gaming Greats subline of the Star Wars Black Series move into the new Phase 4 packaging and bring us our first Deluxe release in the shape of this new Cal Kestis from Jedi : Fallen Order. The Deluxe Cal uses the original base figure from 2019 but now includes Cal with one of his poncho's with removable hood. The set includes both a blue single lightsaber and a green double bladed lightaber as well as a Jedi Holocron. BD-1 is also included, now in a deep red colour and could we hope from the staging of the promo images that BD-1 can now connect onto the back of Cal and sit on his shoulder. And a final addition to the set is the Bogling from Bogano. The use of the Phase 4 packaging brings us a new dimension to Gaming Greats with the side art and combining montages. It is unclear, but likely, the Gaming Greats will sit as one collection under the sky blue colour band. It is also apparent that Cal Kestis may not be the number one figure in this new collection as the side art on the box shows another figure to the left hand side, and the internet speculation is that this is a re-release of the Imperial Jump Trooper. The following text is from the Zavvi pre-order page with pre-orders live as of the 5th Feb 2021 at most independent stockists. In the US this is a Gamestop Exclusive and in Canada, EB Games. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order lets players evade the Empire’s forces as Cal Kestis, a Padawan fugitive on a quest to complete his training and rebuild the fallen Jedi Order! Kids and collectors alike can imagine the biggest battles and missions in the Star Wars saga with figures from Star Wars The Black Series! With exquisite features and decoration, this series embodies the quality and realism that Star Wars devotees love. Star Wars The Black Series includes figures, vehicles, and roleplay items from the 40-plus-year legacy of the Star Wars Galaxy, including comics, movies, and series. (Additional products each sold separately. Subject to availability.) The 6-inch-scale Gaming Greats Cal Kestis figure is detailed to look like the character from the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order video game, featuring premium detail and multiple points of articulation. Cal Kestis: Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order lets players evade the Empire’s forces as Cal Kestis, a Padawan fugitive on a quest to complete his training and rebuild the fallen Jedi Order Video Game - Inspired Design: Fans and collectors can imagine exciting moments from the Star Wars Galaxy with this premium Cal Kestis toy, inspired by the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order video game Entertainment-Inspired Accessries: This Star Wars The Black Series action figure comes with 3 entertainment-inspired accessories that makes a great addition to any Star Wars collection Premium Articulation and Detailing: Star Wars fans and collectors can display this highly poseable, fully articulated figure, featuring premium deco, in their action figure and vehicle collection Look for other figures from a Galaxy, Far, Far Away: Look for movie- and entertainment-inspired Star Wars The Black Series figures to build a Star Wars galaxy (Each sold separately. Subject to availability) Checkout our blog page for more action figure news, reviews and store reports About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys... action figure, news, toys, reviews, action, figure, blog, checklist, collectors,

The Loyal Subjects have shared prototype images of three new 5 inch BST AXN figures. The multi franchise line will see the addition of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel and Aang from Avatar this April. The figures are exclusive to Walmart in the US. Over here in the UK these figures are being stocked at B&M stores as well as selected independents.

NECA have shared a new image showing what looks like new figures of dinosaurs featured in King Kong (1933). We await more details, but looks like NECA are going big with the Kong licence now that their Godzilla licence has moved on.

After two phased releases of Doctor Who Exclusives in 2020, B&M Stores and Character Options announced two additional sets heading into stores just before Christmas 2020. Moving slightly away from the current formats of the figure 3-packs or Dalek 2-packs, the sets would pair a figure with a Dalek in a story based set. We have the 12th Doctor and Davros from the Witch's Familiar in one set, and Ace and an Imperial Dalek from Remembrance of the Daleks in set 2. The Witch's Familiar set uses the same dimensions packaging as those employed for the History of the Dalek sets. It uses the same design with a frame in dark blue and then box art in grey with a blue lined image of the TARDIS. The front of the box has a figure window, slanted to one side to allow the right panel to display the Dr Who logo and part of the TARDIS image. Unlike the History sets or the Coal Hill School set, the internal layout has been considered so both figures are on show and not obscured by the angled right side segment. The set name - The Witch's Familiar - sits under the window, subtitled with "Collector Figure Set". There is a very obvious error on the red year flash at the base of the window which reads 'THE WITCH'S FAMILIAR (1988)'. The story actually dates from 2015. The error has potentially been carried over from the date used on the other set in this wave - Coal Hill School - but should have been picked up before going to production. On the back of the box is an image of both figures and a roundel that confirms the contents as the Twelfth Doctor and Davros - the first time the character names have been used on the box. To the side of this is the extensive background text we have seen on the Dalek and TARDIS sets. As per usual this give away the full story and plot of the story and includes a few grammatical issues. "THE WITCH'S FAMILIAR (2015) Having been previously transported to the Dalek homeworld and promptly 'exterminated' Clara and Missy are teleported outside the Dalek city. They make their way through a sewer, which contains decaying and insane Dalek mutants. They capture a Dalek using the mutants in the sewerand steal its casing, which Missy convinces Clara to enter to help them re-enter the city. Once inside, Clara finds her words are translated into only "Exterminate" or "I am a Dalek". The Doctor does not believe Clara is dead and confronts Davros in the Dalek control centre but is knocked unconscious. When he wakes he encounters Davros who is attached to numerous cables that provide life-support to him from every Dalek. Davros tempts the Doctor to kill all the Daleks using the cables, but the Doctor refuses. To give Davros enough life to see the sun rise, the Doctor provides some regeneration energy, but this travels through the cables to every Dalek, creating new hybrid Daleks. The Doctor, aware of Davros' plan, notes even the 'insane' sewer Daleks will regenerate. They arise and attack the cit. The Doctor and Missy escape and run into Clara, still within a Dalek casing and Missy tries to tell the Doctor that this is the Dalek that killed Clara, but the Doctor sees through her lies when the 'Dalek' asks for mercy. He frees Clara and tells Missy to run. The episode features a number of all backs to previous episodes and adventures. Missy and Clara teleport out of the city using the energy emitted by the Daleks, revealing how Missy survived after being shot at the end of Death in Heaven. Both the Fourt and First Doctors make an appearance during Missy's exposition of her account of the Doctor's fight with android assassins. Among the past Dalek designs shown in this episode is the Special Weapons Dalek that first appeared in Remembrance of the Daleks (1988) at one point Davros informs the Doctor that he has been given 'the only other chair on Skaro...' this references the First Doctor's companion Barbara who comments that on the Daleks' world "There wasn't any furniture". When Davros tempts the Doctor with killing every Dalek on Skaro, knowingly committing genocide, he asks "Are you ready to be a god?" This echoes the debate the Fourth Doctor has with Davros in Genesis of the Daleks (1975); when the Doctor asks him whether he would knowingly unleash a virus that would destroy all life in the Universe. Davros is intrigued by the concept: "Yes... I would do it. That power would set me up above the gods!" Once again the text is excessive and rather than tease the story it covers every aspect of it, leaving nothing for new fans to go off and discover. The background piece and references to the older Doctor stories is interesting - but badly punctuated. The plastic tray is then sat in a cardboard backing section which i a wonderful recreation of the Dalek City on Skaro. It would make a brilliant backdrop for display - but needs work as the sides are plain cardboard and the overall construction is relatively flimsy once outside of the outer box. 3.5 The Twelfth Doctor likeness is standard to the range, recognisable but not necessarily overly detailed or realistic. It has a base flesh colour applied with painted eyes and those "attack" eye-brows. The hair has a base colour of dark grey with a lighter grey over the top as a dry-brush. The set has opted not to include the Sonic Sunglasses he wears in the episode. The costume is a good match to the one worn in the episode with a grey t-shirt with the hint of a pattern in the area that is visible. Over this sits a black hoodie and then a black coat with red lining, which is just and so visible round the back on the tails of the coat. The trousers are very well done with a chequered grey pattern, with the legs finishing in a pair of black boots with painted brown sole. The figure for the Twelfth Doctor is the same sculpt as released in 2017 in two Exclusive Sets for Forbidden Planet. The costumes on each have been painted to indicate a specific episode while the face sculpt and paint application is similar across all three figures - the newer 2020 version has not discernible improvement over its counterparts from 2017. All of the figures do seem to suffer from a slightly longer left leg which does give the figure a look of leaning to one side when posed neutrally. Moving on to Davros, and this is a very good recreation of the modern era Davros complete with a very impressive and gnarled head-sculpt with the drooping jaw line and third eye positioned in the forehead. Around this sits a halo of apparatus connecting him to his chair and this connects down as the back of the chair section. Davros is wearing a simple black tunic with silver metal fastenings down the left hand side of his chest. The right arm is exposed and ends in his metallic silver hand, while the left hand is tucked down and into the chair. The controls of the chair are very well done with clearly sculpted switches and controls many of which are picked out in coloured paint - yellow, orange, black and green. There is also a clear translucent blue screen. The rest of the chair is the usual black base colour with silver roundels akin to the base of a Dalek - all of which are very well painted with just a hint of a spillage on one side where some silver residue is visible against the black. The sculpt is the same as the original 2008 release of Davros, a testament to the Character teams sculpting, even 12 years ago, on alien and monster figures. There are very minor differences with the 2020 Davros having a slightly darker skin tone. The silver on the new release is brighter, although the older figure in our image may well has faded over time. The new figure has not painted the rivets around the base of the figure, the older figure picks these out in silver. 4.0 Neither Davros nor the Doctor get any accessories - not even a sonic screwdriver, despite the right hand of The Doctor still left sculpted to hold one. To be fair that is accurate to the episode as the Doctor had moved to his Sonic Sunglasses at this point - they would have been nice as an inclusion to create another point of difference to other releases. It is worth looking at the cardboard insert though at this point which is a feature of these story based sets. The printing is impressive on this with a good perspective view of the Dalek City scaled for the figures. With a bit of work this would be serviceable for display - but you would have to eliminate the brown plain cardboard sides. N/A The 12th Doctor comes with 16 points of articulation, which is standard to the line although the figure includes an an upgraded shoulder joint that not only rotates but extends outwards also. Head : rotating neck plug Body : rotating waist Arms : rotating and pivoting shoulder joint, bicep swivel, single pin elbow, rotating wrist Legs : T-Joint hip, thigh swivel, single pin knee The joints are a little dated in their design vs other lines, with exposed pegs. They certainly are not wide ranging in terms of posing. What they can do are some gesturing poses, with the sonic for example, and some wider leg poses and settings. Each joint is secure and moves well, with just a watch out for the bicep swivel which can pop out when rotated. The Doctor stands fine on his own although the longer left leg does skew the pose in some stances as mentioned earlier. Davros comes with three joints on the body with a rotating head, a pivot joint in the right shoulder that raises the arm up and down and a rotation peg in the right hand. The chair base features a front rotating pivot wheel and two rear fixed wheels that allow the figure to be moved across the floor. 4.0 Considering the focus recently in the Character Options B&M Exclusive line, the 12th Doctor and Davros set is an interesting choice considering both figures remain fairly easy to get hold of on the secondary market and where perhaps a Classic Davros and Doctor or Dalek combination may have been welcomed more by fans. While both figures are repacks, the Doctor in particular is tweaked via a repaint to match the Witch's Familiar outfit. They are both executed well with neat paint apps and a consistency with other figures in a line that has now been running for in excess of 15 years. The error on the packaging is a shame, dating the set as 1988 and not 2015 and I still think there is too much text on the packaging where a shorter background synopsis would grab newer fans in particular and encourage them to watch the story - not read the whole plot on the back of the box. I score the Character Options B&M Exclusive Doctor Who Set, The Witch's Familiar, a total of 4.0. For more News, Reviews and a Checklist of Releases - visit our Doctor Who Database About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys... action figures, reviews, review, articulation, doctor who, dr who, dalek, davros, 12th doctor, B&M, exclusive, witch's familiar

After two phased releases of Doctor Who Exclusives in 2020, B&M Stores and Character Options announced two additional sets heading into stores just before Christmas 2020. Moving slightly away from the current formats of the figure 3-packs or Dalek 2-packs, the sets would pair a figure with a Dalek in a story based set. We have the 12th Doctor and Davros from the Witch's Familiar in one set, and Ace and an Imperial Dalek from Remembrance of the Daleks in set 2. The Remembrance of the Daleks set uses the same dimensions packaging as those employed for the History of the Dalek sets. It uses the same design with a frame in dark blue and then box art in grey with a blue lined image of the TARDIS. The front of the box has a figure window, slanted to one side to allow the right panel to display the Dr Who logo and part of the TARDIS image. This does mean the set suffers from the same issue as the History of the Dalek sets with this cut in panel actually obscuring most of the figure on the left hand side of the box as we look at it. The set name - Coal Hill School - sits under the window, subtitled with "Collector Figure Set" another panel in red sits to the right hand side and confirms the story as Remembrance of the Daleks and the year as 1988. There is actually no mention of the characters or figures included on the front of the package. We do however get a gold foil sticker confirming this as a limited edition. On the back of the box is an image of both figures and a roundel that confirms the contents as Ace and an Imperial Dalek. To the side of this is the extensive background text we have seen on the Dalek and TARDIS sets. As per usual this give away the full story and plot of the story and includes a few grammatical issues. "Remembrance of the Daleks (1988) The TARDIS arrives in London in November 1963, where the Doctor and Ace discover that two rival factions of Daleks - one Imperial and one Renegade led by the Supreme Dalek are seeking the Hand of Omega, a powerful Time Lord Weapon that the First Doctor hid there previously. The Doctor tries his best to keep everyone out of harm's way while the two Dalek factions battle each other for control of the Hand device. But, while investigating the school premises, Ace ends up in a pitched battle with an Imperial Dalek and dispatches it expertly by use of a British Army RPG. The Imperial Daleks eventually do capture the Omega Device, whereupon the Emperor Dalek reveals himself to be Davros. The Doctor cruelly allows Davros to use the Hand of Omega knowing full well it is already programmed to fly into Skaro's own sun which destroys the Dalek homeworld in the resulting supernova. First transmitted in 1988 this adventure gives us a lot of new information about the Daleks and the Doctor and some glaring continuity errors. The Daleks feature new bodyshell designs not seen before. Due to a new production process in making them, the newer casings are easily identified due to their rather 'jelly mould' look . The Daleks also for the first time show is they can climb stairs! We also see a new version of Davros and a Special Weapons Dalek with a hugely powerful gun. The Doctor is now revealed to be over 900 years old at this point and has become a much darker and manipulative character. We also see a personal calling card with the name Theta Sigma on it... a reference harking back to The Armageddon Factor (1979). There are a few continuity errors as well with the gates of the Totters Lane scrapyard incorrectly spelled, the date of the Dalek Invasion of Earth incorrectly stated as the 21st Century and the Doctor mispronounces the name of the Planet Spiridon." The set opens up and reveals the figures secured into a plastic inner tray by way of cotton ties that are best cut rather than trying to untie them. The Dalek sucker is also taped into place as is the middle of the RPG launcher. The plastic tray is then sat in a cardboard backing section which is a wonderful recreation of the corridor of Coal Hill school including notice board and stairs leading off to the upper classrooms. It would make a brilliant backdrop for display - but needs work as the sides are plain cardboard and the overall construction is relatively flimsy once outside of the outer box. 3.5 Starting with our Imperial Dalek Drone first, and it uses the long established Classic Dalek body with an adjusted central segment with the wider solar panels. The dome lights are also changed to the flat gold coloured Imperial Dalek format. The Dalek base colour is an off white / cream with the gold application to the roundels, central panels, dome lights, sucker arm, gun and eye stalk. The paint is pretty neat with just a few coverage issues on the central panels. There is also a visible seam line right at the front of the Dalek on my review version, this is most likely an assembly issue and not a widespread issue. Ace has a better paint décor than original. The coat decals are same but brighter on new figure but that may be down to my older one fading with age. Before this release, the Imperial Dalek had been released twice before - both in 2010. At the start of that year we had a a version in a 2-pack with the 7th Doctor. This Dalek had a longer eyestalk and smaller gun. The 2nd version released towards the end of 2010 in the 4-pack Remembrance of the Dalek set reduced the eyestalk length and then increased the width on the gun. This new version employs a combination of both previous versions. The eye stalk looks new and was not used on either previous Imperial Dalek. It has a short length but a larger eye piece with a black centre and no blue dot as used on the older versions. The sucker arm is the same length as the late 2010 release but with a smaller sucker, and the gun is then taken from the early 2010 version. The gold on the new Dalek is darker and arguably a little more screen accurate. There has also been a neat update to the central panel section which now has a texture to the sections in between the gold panels. Ace in hand is a very impressive piece in terms of the wider Who line thanks to the varied decals applied to her famous bomber jacket. Underneath this is another decal on her white shirt, while the skirt and legs are then cast and left in black. Ace 's head sculpt is a good likeness to Sophie Aldred and remains consistent with he rest of the line in terms of how it is painted and presented. This means your new figure wont look any different or superior to the figures you may have been collecting since 2005. Ace is packed with her backpack in place, and this can be removed by sliding the two straps off her arms. This then reveals further décor on the back of the jacket with the word "Ace". I am pleased that they've left this in place as I was expecting it to be left off in lieu of her wearing the backpack in the packaging. Ace, in this format, was first released in 2013 and this is a direct re-use of that 2013 figure. The head finish is much crisper and delivers a much better likeness on this version, and the decals look brighter and crisper - although I appreciate the older figure may have faded in the last 7-years or so. Character have not included the baseball bat that came with the original Remembrance Ace and that slotted into the backpack. 4.0 It is unusual for us not to skip the accessories section on a B&M exclusive Doctor Who review as these are not usually included. Ace comes with the British Army RPG launcher she uses in Coal Hill School to dispatch one of the Imperial Daleks. This is the same weapon as released with Ace in 2013 and includes quite a bit of décor with a black main body, silver and brown grips, olive green missile with yellow trim and silver tip. It fits into Ace's right hand and can be hoisted up and onto the shoulder. The left hand can then come across to support the weapon. Even with the length of it, Ace stands perfectly well with the weapon posed in this way. The backpack we removed earlier is cast in black plastic with grey panels added on the front and top. The straps are a rubbery plastic that go over the arms well enough and the bag sits flat and naturally against Ace's back. The only real issue is the lack of the baseball bat, which was a piece included on the first release and is designed to fit into the slot in the backpack. The slot remains, but is left empty. 4.0 The Dalek is articulated in the way we expect a Dalek to be articulated, starting with an articulated eye stalks that can look up within the confines of the slot in the doom. The sucker arm and gun sit on ball joints plugged into the body and can move on a full 360 degree range. The dome is also articulated and can rotate a full 360 degrees for additional posing options. Each Dalek also runs on three castor wheels, two fixed and one swivelled so they can be pushed along the floor. Ace features 14 points of articulation, and unlike many Doctor Who figures this includes the pivot shoulders that can extend out and away from the body rather than simply rotating in the torso. Head : rotating neck plug Body : rotating waist Arms : rotating and pivoting shoulder joint, bicep swivel, single pin elbow, rotating wrist Legs : T-Joint hip, thigh swivel, single pin knee Ace can pose with the RPG launcher as we have seen with the bicep swivel allowing the left arm to swing across to support the pose. The head rotates fully and there is a similar rotation in the waist. The legs are held in a touch by the soft rubber skirt. Couple this with no ankle joints of any sort, Ace will be limited to a standing pose. 4.0 I do like this format of sets from Character bringing us a character and a monster from a specific episode. Ace is a welcome re-release for those who missed her or were not collecting back in 2013 and she is a brilliant likeness with a huge amount of detail on the jacket thanks to the decal application. She is also at the top end of the articulation range for Doctor Who with the additional shoulder joint and comes with a couple of great accessories. I do feel slightly miffed that the baseball bat is missing. The Imperial Dalek is one of the most sought after Classic Daleks and ripe for Army Building so I suspect we will see a huge influx of Ace figures on eBay. The Dalek improves on both previous versions with a darker gold finish, texture to the central panel and well proportioned eyestalk, gun and sucker. As a set I think the only real improvement would be the box which still obscures most of the Dalek because of the angled window. I do think that too much detail is given in the synopsis text and this could work as a teaser for new fans about the story for them to go and discover themselves rather than laying out everything. And there remains grammatical issues within the writeup which makes it tough to read in places. I score the Coal Hill School pack of Ace and the Imperial Dalek a total score of 4.0 For more News, Reviews and a Checklist of Releases - visit our Doctor Who Database About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys... action figures, reviews, review, articulation, doctor who, dr who, character options, dalek, ace, B&M stores, exclusive, coal hill school

The McFarlane DC Multiverse Batman Beyond general release is a figure based on the animated TV series and is not part of a wider wave, nor does it have any BAF parts included. It shares parts with the comic book version from the comic book series, specifically the body and wings while the head is different on each release. The animated series Batman Beyond features a batarang, alternative hands, jet effect pieces that clip to his boots and a flight stand. Preorders are starting to open on this version via a number of European sellers such as Comic Cave in Germany. The release date is listed as the 30th June 2020. Checkout our blog page for more action figure news, reviews and store reports About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys... action figure, news, toys, reviews, action, figure, blog, checklist, collectors,