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For San Diego Comic Con 2018, Hasbro produced and sold a very special version of their recently announced Bespin Han Solo in collectors set called The Exogorth Escape. The set was based on the scene after our heroes escaped from Hoth and found themselves hiding in a cave on an asteroid that turned out to be a giant space slug - the aforementioned Exogorth. The figure included exclusive packaging and exclusive parts including a Mynock. It would sell at SDCC 2018 for $34.99 and there were limited amounts sold via UK retailers. Roll forward 12-months, and the Exogorth set started to arrive in The Entertainer stores in the UK for £29.99. Packaging 4/5 The packaging for the Exogorth set is part of the exclusivity and it follows some basic design principles laid down by previous exclusives. It does not conform to the current phase packaging and there are no coloured spines or lettering. The box is black with grey artwork an white text. The artwork covers much of the box with an illustration of the Millennium Falcon. To the right hand side we get an image of Han Solo wearing his oxygen mask. The black series logo and the name of the set, this in feint dark text above the logo, sit in the centre. And round the back we get a repeat of this offset to the left with the set name now larger and easier to read. A rebel phoenix logo is presented in the middle of the box reverse with the legal and safety notices underneath. To the side of this, in quite faint lettering, we get a short background text regarding the escape from Hoth and the encounter with the Mynicks and Exogorth. The set obviously missed any form of proofreading - checkout the typo for Threepio which is actually on the box. " WHEN HAN SOLO ESCAPES FROM THE BATTLE OF HOTH TO AN UNSTABLE CRATER IN THE HOTH ASTEROID BELT, HE AND HIS CREW MADE UP OF CHEWBACCA, PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA, AND C-P30, QUICKLY DISCOVER THAT THE CREATURES OF THE CRATER - THE MYNOCKS AND EXOGORTH - HAVE THEIR OWN IDEAS FOR THE DATE OF THIS REBEL UNIT The figure is only revealed when the two halves of the box are pulled apart. This sliding option then reveals Han, and the Mynock, in an interior window. This window is decorated to look like the floating mist of the Exogorth cave. And rather than a coloured backdrop we have a card backing that is the Millennium Falcon landing ramp. My issue with the box starts here as the two sides that slide out cannot be easily detached from the inner box. There is a strip holding the inner box to the outer one - one at each side - and these are not easy to remove and without knowing they are there you could rip and damage the box. With some careful deconstruction the box can be disassembled revealing the inner packaging which is simply black with the window - no text, no artwork. The main set then slides out from here giving you the entire internal diorama backing card with Han sat in one inner tray round the landing ramp, and the Mynock in its own tray to the side. There is a huge mass of tape and tabs on the back to work through to get everything out in one piece. Paint & Sculpt 5/5 This is the same sculpt of Han in his Bespin fatigues as was released in the main range as number 70 in wave 18. That being said when compared side by side there is some paint variances, and the SDCC set seems to be darker in skin tone, almost making Han look like he has a 5 o'cock shadow. The face print is brilliant (on both versions) and the outfit is also well executed with Han's blue jacket, white shirt and the brown trousers with yellow stripe. He has his gun slingers belt and the Blaster is already in this straight out of the box. The Mynocks is a single cast piece with a gorgeous paint job that includes translucent bat like wings with visible veins. The body is a darker brown, and on the underside we have a detailed underbelly and the large sucking maw. This mouth is sadly a bit too plain and looks like a mop head, it would have benefitted from more detailing or shading to make it look organic and fleshy like the rest of the figure. Accessories 4/5 We know Han comes with the oxygen mask as it is fitted to the figure on arrival. The breathing gear is cast in clear plastic so the face can still be seen under the mask. There is then a snaking translucent pipe that clips to Han's jacket. The whole thing is removable by means of an elasticated strap round the head. This strap is not quite as nice as the rest of the piece and is freyed and oversized, I am not sure it will last long if you keep swapping this on and off the figure. One of the best parts of this set, considering it was not included in the main release of Han, is his pointing left hand. This gesture is of course used quite a lot in Empire, and the hand gives the figure some character and helps in posing the figure in Han-esque poses. It swaps in and out easily and it will also work on the basic release if you wish. Next, we have Han's DL-44 blaster. This is the same sculpt as the main release and is cast in a grey plastic with a painted brown grip. It fits into Han's right hand where a flexible trigger finger can slot into the trigger with a bit of fiddling. We know also it fits in the working holster - this is how it arrives - and it slips in here neatly and is held in with a thin rubber strap that comes over the handle and plugs into a hole in the front of the holster. And the final accessory is a Hydro-Spanner. This is cast in a black plastic with no further paint decor. It arrives a little bent so might need a bit of work to straighten out. It sits in either of Han's hands - but most snugly in the left gripping hand. While not a true accessory, I am going to use this segment to discuss the diorama insert. It is the best we have had in the Black Series to date and is certainly useable for both photography or for display. It benefits from having 3D elements with the ramp and the landing struts being individual pieces that are stepped away from the backdrop of the stationery Falcon. The piece would sit well in a display case if you can find one of the right size. Articulation 5/5 The articulation on Han is great, 16 points in total as is standard on the Black Series Head : ball joint pivot neck Body : Torso ball joint Arms : ball joint shoulder, single rotating elbow, wrist pivot Legs : ball joint hips, thigh swivel, double joint knees, ankle rockers All these joints are tight and fully mobile, and with the various accessories and parts allows for some nice posing options for Han. There is a very small issue with the right hand that is positioned so that when holding the blaster it is always holding down - the joint is not the issue, and rather the sleeve. The Mynock is a static piece with zero articulation. Displaying this is therefore difficult. You cannot attach it to anything easily and without any kind of stand included your options are really laying it flat or propping it up on display if you take it out of the box. The solution is a flight stand of sorts, and I found that the Mynock can sit neatly into the waist clip on these stands that are unbranded from the Far East. This allows you to have a flying Mynock. Summary As an exclusive, this set ticks many boxes in giving the collectors who pick this up some added value in terms of the packaging and the Mynock, while still then allowing a wider release of the base figure for everyone else. The increased price tag is offset by the box, diorama and the Mynock. And the only disappointment is perhaps why a few more of the creatures couldn't have been thrown in to really give Han and the Falcon a problem. It would have also been nice for Hasbro to work through how to display the Mynock and not just rely on people keeping the set boxed. To display this boxed you will need a lot of room for what is essentially one figure and while the sliding option is a neat gimmick, a more simple window box with slide on/off sleeve would have been preferable. We score the Han Solo Exogorth Escape SDCC 2018 set an impressive 4 out of 5. See More Star Wars Black Series Figures #TripleForceFriday#TripleForceFriday #TripleForceFriday#TripleForceFriday #StarWars#StarWars #BlackSeries#BlackSeries

NECA have teased some images of their booth being laid out at NYCC 2019 with a challenge to see if anyone can spot anything? We can certainly see a Nosferatu figure in the Toony Terror section, indicating he is joining the 6 inch stylised line. And over with the Turtles it looks like a 7 inch scale Tricerton figure alongside Slash to the side of the image. Stay tuned for more NYCC news and commentary over the next few days.... and all our NYCC news will sit on our convention and events page, although it will be sharing with Triple Force Friday which falls over the same weekend.

Checkout the official images of the Marvel Legends 80th Anniversary Punisher War Machine figure. The figure has started showing up in the US, but will be a worldwide release via the fan channel. UK pre-orders are already starting to open with an expectation of stock arriving by the end of October 2019. The figure uses the original Civil War War-Machine, with a new paint job featuring the Punisher skull design. The figure comes with the same accessories as the original.

Loot Crate filed for bankruptcy in August 2019, but have since been handed a lifeline when they were purchased by Joel Weinshanker. That name may not mean much, but Joel Weinshanker is the man behind an empire of pop culture memorabilia, and that empire includes NECA. The new owners wasted no time in renaming Lootcrate to The Loot Company and one of the first activity after writing to all their subscribers was to offer an exclusive NECA 7 inch Batman figure as a subscriber flash sale. The new Tec-Shield Suit Batman was touted by NECA back in 2018. It used the existing 7 inch Michael Keaton sculpt, but was painted to pay homage to the original Kenner Tec-Shield Suit figure from the original Batman movie line. The Loot Company looks to allow NECA to now bring this to market, and that of course also opens up huge opportunities for other NECA niche products - we will watch how Loot Company and their NECA partnership develops. Hey, Looters! We wanted to share some important company updates with you: First, Loot Crate has been officially acquired by Money Chest LLC! Who are they? Well, they’re majority funded by NECA, the company that owns Kidrobot and WizKids. That’s right, we hit the new owner lottery! NECA has been creating one-of-a-kind limited edition collectibles for years, so they understand our business and, more importantly, what our community wants: unique offerings, on-time delivery, and high quality merchandise. With their support, we can deliver more exclusives to your door on time! We now also have a new name. Loot Crate is officially The Loot Company! There’s a lot more to share and we’ve got a ton of exciting new experiences coming your way, so keep an eye out for updates soon! We Love You, The Loot Team

The 4th of October 2019 is Triple Force Friday, the day the merchandise for three huge Star Wars properties - Episode 9 The Rise of Skywalker, The Mandalorian and the EA Games Fallen Jedi - start to arrive in stores. Stay up to date with what Action Figure product to expect at our events page. Here in the UK we used to look forward to Midnight Madness at selected Toys R Us stores for Force Friday. But with Toys R Us a distant memory we try and understand where you could get your Star Wars fix come the 4th of October 2019 and in person. We will aim to keep this post updated as any more info comes in... Online shoppers can expect everyone to drop their product order pages come midnight on the 4th of October. While that probably means waiting until Saturday for product, in this day and age I suspect we may see some next day deliveries dispatched just after midnight to land on your doorstep on Friday. If you are a retailer and want to share some details with us of your Triple Force Friday plans then drop us a PM on Facebook or Twitter. Checkout your local specialist via our UK directory Or for online shoppers, we have our Online directory Forbidden Planet The most likely choice at present if you have a Forbidden Planet store near you, with the Shaftesbury Avenue store opening at midnight on the 4th of October for an hours trading. Orders should go up around the same time on their website for delivery the early part of the following week. Forbidden Planet International While they have no online store anymore, it is pretty certain FPI will have stocks from opening on the morning of Friday 4th of October. Disney Store A good choice for a trip on Friday would be the Disney Store. Shop DIsney UK have confirmed a big product launch on Friday and have a teaser page in place. As the only really Disney own merchandise we saw on the product reveal was the figurine pack - we would hope Disney have a good selection of the new Hasbro product to choose from come the 4th. Smyths Our expectations of Smyths have changed in the week run up to Triple Force Friday. First we had a full list of the new Black Series figures on their German website, indicating a potential stock of the figures across their network. It was then confirmed they would be stocking the Carbonized First Order Jet Trooper as an Exclusive (Hasbro press release) and that indicates they will have some form of offering - whether that is from 4th October onwards, or later into the Autumn remains to be seen. Argos Have done flyers and product launches for previous Force Fridays, but as yet there is no details or news. Tesco/Asda/Sainsburys/Morrisons Very unlikely. Best bet would be to see the new Galaxy of Adventures start to filter through. The Entertainer While the Entertainer have been the "go to" store recently for Star Wars, it has all been older product. Entertainer managers have no knowledge of any event for next Friday. Again, the best you could expect would be the Galaxy of Adventures product to show up.

It seems that the Carbonized Star Wars Black Series figures are coming to the UK as Hasbro release details of where the exclusivity sits for these in UK retailers. Each Carbonized figure has a specific home rather than being a shared Fan Channel Exclusive. Star Action Figures, one of the main UK independent stores, are going to be stocking The Mandalorian Carbonized figure. He will be available to order come midnight on Force Friday. The Second Sister will go to Diamond Comics. Diamond are a distributor rather than a retailer and that means that any stores that uses Diamond as a distributor can order and stock the exclusive Second Sister. We believe this will include Forbidden Planet. The Sith Trooper is an Amazon UK exclusive. There is no listing as yet, we'd expect this to go up at midnight on the 4th and be ready for Prime delivery for Saturday the 5th. And the possible big news is that The First Order Jet Trooper is heading to Smyths Toys. Smyths have been very quiet in the UK about Triple Force Friday and have had virtually no Star Wars offering in UK stores for about a year now. With their European arm listing all the Black Series Triple Force Friday figures, and this news about an Exclusive - we may need to add Smyths to our Force Friday shopping trip Stay up to date with the Force Friday activity from UK retailers Stay up to date with what Action Figure product to expect at our events page. Fans and collectors can imagine scenes from the STAR WARS Galaxy with premium STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES CARBONIZED COLLECTION figures, inspired by a variety of STAR WARS entertainment including the THE MANDALORIAN live-action TV series on Disney Plus, the STAR WARS JEDI: FALLEN ORDER video game, and STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER. The STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES CARBONIZED COLLECTION is treated with a sleek metallic finish for a premium figure that really stands out in any STAR WARS fan’s collection and features premium detail and multiple points of articulation. Characters in this collection include THE MANDALORIAN (exclusively at Star Action figures), SECOND SISTER INQUISITOR (exclusively at Diamond Comics), SITH TROOPER (exclusively at Amazon), and FIRST ORDER JET TROOPER (exclusively at Smyths).

NECA have shared the packaged images of their next wave of Toony Terror figures featuring Leatherhead, Pinhead and Michael Myers. The 6 inch figures come in blister card packaging that features a cutout backing piece for displays. These next three figures are due to land around November 2019. Series 2 of the adorably creepy Toony Terrors line will bring more stylized horror icons into the mix! Standing approximately 6 inches tall, the action figure assortment includes Pinhead (Hellraiser), Leatherface (Texas Chainsaw Massacre), and Michael Myers (Halloween 2) complete with accessory jack-o-lantern. Comes in blister card packaging with a bonus cutout backdrop.

While we all get excited about Triple Force Friday, let's not forget that New York Comic Con 2019 starts this Thursday at around 3pm UK time. All the #NYCC news will be posted to our events page along with #TripleForceFriday news across the same weekend https://www.mephitsu.co.uk/cons Ones to watch.... Hasbro Star Wars is Sunday at 6.15pm UK time, no details for Marvel as yet or indeed Transformers, Power Rangers etc. Diamond have a panel Saturday at 9pm UK time NECA are displaying at a small booth and have tweeted they will be mostly showing off Horror and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Product. Nothing new for Aliens, Predator etc.

In 2019, Hasbro brought the first comic book characters from the Star Wars comics to the Black Series line. New fan favourite Doctor Aphra was released in wave 21 and alongside her came her droid due of Beetee and Triple Zero. Packaging 4/5 Beetee is number 88 in the phase 3 black and red packaging. He comes with a very detailed illustration of his upper body and dome, complete with weaponry. The figure name plate reads BT-1, his droid designation, with the word Beetee following in brackets. There is no link on the box showing that this is a comic book character, something that was done with the EA video game characters. We do get a small write up on the back about Beetee and his work alongside Doctor Aphra. "A hostile astromech droid, BT-1 (Beetee) works with Doctor Aphra alongside the protocol droid 0-0-0 on destructive missions. The black metal-plated droid is heavily armed with flamethrowers and other destructive weapons." Paint & Sculpt 3/5 Beetee uses the Black Series astromech sculpt, but with a new dome section. The dome is brimming with the weaponry of a Blastech droid. The body is cast in a dull grey plastic - and this does hurt the overall look of the figure who is described on the packaging as being a blak metal plated. While Hasbro have yet to bring us a true metallic figure, some metallic finish to the grey would have looked great. We do get metallic finishes on some of the panels, with a bronze section front and centre, and silver elements around the body. Beetee's single orange eye is neatly painted, but is again quite dull and could have done with being glossier. While the overall argument about the scaling of the Black Series astromechs will continue, Beetee looks good lined up with Triple Zero and Doctor Aphra. Accessories 4/5 In terms of accessories, I first want to talk about the weaponry either side of the head. This is removable and unplugs from two holes on the head side. You can then clip off the cover panels and slot these back onto Beetee to display him without his weapons. Sadly this is not explained anywhere on the packaging and may be missed especially as the panels on the weapons don't easily move. You also then have two further accessories in the box - one that looks like a row of small missiles, and the other with two pronged spikes. I first thought these were alternative options for the head. Then I remembered the original R2 had clip on boosters on the legs - and these parts are made for those slots. You ping off the covers and replace them with the leg weaponry for a truly weaponised Beetee Blastech droid. Articulation 3/5 As an astromech, Beetee has limited articulation. There are essentially 14 points of movement across Beetee allowing both posing of the weapons and legs, but also to extend or reveal other parts. Dome : rotating dome, dual hinged missile pod, rotating hinged blaster cannon Body : opening side panels with flip out manipulator arms Legs : pivot top, ankle rocker, lowering centre peg Like all of the Astromechs released to date, Beetee has the centre leg which is raised and lowered by turning his dome. This is a very very tight operation on Beetee with his head very difficult to move. All three legs have very small rollers built in so he can be pushed around with ease. The other moving parts include pivots and hinges on the two large weapons as well as opening panels either side of the body with manipulator arms that hinge out. This final one is not easy to operate, particular for grown up fingers. Summary Beetee is an interesting interpretation of the Astromech, and while using most of the original astromech, Hasbro have still made this droid unique with the weapons pods and parts that can be swapped in and out depending on which look you want for your Beetee droid. The downside is the usual issue of the astromech looking too small in terms of scale to what we see on screen. A lot of this stems back to using measurements from the prequels I think and not the original A New Hope Kenny Baker prop. It is too late to change this now considering how far we are into the line. The other issue is paint finish which is not as metallic as I would like. I score BT-1 (Beetee) a 3 out of 5. See More Star Wars Black Series Figures #TripleForceFriday#TripleForceFriday #TripleForceFriday#TripleForceFriday #StarWars#StarWars #BlackSeries#BlackSeries

Storm Collectibles have teamed up with New Japan Pro Wrestling to create a new line of 7 inch wrestling figures from the NJPW. The set will launch with Jyushin Thunder Liger, the longest serving member of the NJPW roster. As yet Storm have released a single image (see below) and we await more details.

Storm Collectibles have released the full details for their Darkseid figure from the DC video game Injustice : Gods Among Us. Darkseid will include 4 head options and 4 alternative pairs of hands. There are two Omega Beam effect accessories that clip onto the heads - the smaller one looks great, I am not yet sold on the larger beams effect. Darkseid is down as a Q1 release for 2020. A being of pure hate incarnate, the lord of Apokolips Darkseid demands the total subjugation of all existence. His merciless obsession has left a wake of suffering and obliteration as he seeks the Anti-Life Equation. With his invincible body, limitless strength, army of Parademons, and the annihilating power of his Omega Beams make him not only a threat to this world, but to every world within reach. Features: 4 x Interchangeable Head Sculpts An authentic custom designed Darkseid body - approx. 246mm tall 4 x Interchangeable Pair of Hands 2 x Omega Beams Effect Release Date: Q1 2020

Remember the Marvel Legends Grey Hulk that showed up on Amazon in Mexico? Hasbro have finally confirmed the figure and the details of its release. Grey Hulk will be an 80th Anniversary release on a Vintage style card. He will come packed in a outer box, complete with Hulk design. The figure, which stands 8.5 inches tall, comes with a crushed pipe accessory for extra smashing options. The figure will initially be sold as a European Exclusive, available at MCM London and then a number of following European conventions. From the 4th of November the figure should be up on Hasbro Pulse for US collectors, and via stores worldwide both online and on shelves.