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Over at D23, the DIsney Fan Convention, Marvel have been revealing some early looks at what we have in store for Phase 4 of the MCU. We have had a panel where the cast of the Eternals were on stage, and over them was a graphic of each of their characters in costume. This was followed by a movie poster for Black Widow - with a first look at both Natasha's costume for the movie, but also Red Guardian! We then have two Disney+ posters - one for Falcon & The Winter Soldier the second for WandaVision. While we are still many months away from any of these, it is nice to start speculating what Action Figures we may get from these properties.

Aside from the 2018 Deluxe Xenomorphs, it has been nearly a 2 year wait for NECA's next foray into the Alien movies. Series 14, released in August 2019, finally brings the series to the fourth movie Alien Resurrection. It brings us a new Ripley figure, a Resurrection Xenomorph and the figure we are reviewing here, the terrifying Alien Newborn. Packaging 3/5 The Newborn is a bit of an odd release for NECA's Alien line in that it sits within Series 14 alongside the other two Resurrection figures, but is so big it warrants a differing packaging design. To contain the size of the Newborn, NECA have used a window box design similar to the Ultimate and recent Godzilla figures. It is a closed box with an opening flap that then reveals the figure within. Unlike the Ultimate and Godzilla figures, the design is quite plain and simple with a subtle starscape overlaid only with the Alien Resurrection logo. The front carries the figure name, and it is here we find the word "Deluxe" preceding the Newborn name. The back of the box bears the only real resemblance to other Alien packaging with inset panels of the figure in diorama settings and a short piece of text. "Two hundred years after her death, military scientists aboard the USM Auriga are attempting to clone Ellen Ripley in order to extract the Xenomorph Queen embryo that was in her body when she died... And on the eight attempt they succeed. Contaminated with Ripley's DNA, the Queen gives birth to a grotesque human/alien hybrid called the "Newborn," which escales, forcing the crew into a desperate race to destroy it and the other cloned Aliens before the ship reaches Earth." Opening the front flap, held in place by Velcro, reveals the figure as well as a chilling further image of the figure on the front flap. Sadly this inner panel is not aligned well and is borderd in plain cardboard. The whole box design feels quite plain and boring and for MIB collectors of the Alien line will be a problem. Paint & Sculpt 5/5 The Newborn stands an impressive 11 inches high when fully stood out of the packaging. The sculpt is fantastic, capturing the look of the Newborn fully down to those hollow eyes and gaping jaw. It is cast in an almost translucent cream plastic which makes it look slick and wet. Over this is a degree of washes and dry brushing to darker areas around the head and arms. There are further paint applications around the creatures head and into its mouth - and also on its abdomen. While horrific, it is also a thing of beauty that NECA could create and release this thing in scale to the other 7 inch figures (apologies for the photo we do not have Ripley 8 at time of posting). Accessories 3/5 While the figure looks brilliant, it is not designed to stand on its own - those spindly legs cannot support the bulk of the upper body and protruding head. To help NECA have included one of their Dynamic figure stands within the box. This needs assembling, and once built can grip the figure around the waist and with the height adjuster can help the figure stand. While this all works, we have to be mindful that the NECA Dynamic stand (as we reviewed a while back) has issues. It is quite brittle and also the grip piece is not spring loaded in anyway and is reliant on the screw that holds the two parts of the claw together. I am also disappointed the stand is black and not clear. While I appreciate most Alien displays will be a darker display type - the black does clash very much with the pale skin of the Newborn. In fact I have ditched the NECA stand within a few minutes of opening and have found that one of my cheaper secondary market stands for dolls works just as well. Whichever display option you choose, ensure the Newborn is away from any long drops. Even on either stand my Newborn has taken quite a few shelf dives already. Articulation 4/5 Our Newborn arrives with 17 points of articulation. Head : hinged jaw, articulated ball joint neck Body : ball joint torso Arms : ball joint shoulder, double joint rotating elbow, wrist pivot Legs : ball joint hip, single joint rotating knee, single joint lower shin, ankle rockers Articulation is very much tied into the stand and overall balance of the figure and the legs in particular are key to this with the joints working well to allow the figure to stand tall or indeed get into low crouching positions. Working with the arms as counter balance points it is even possible to have the Newborn stood unaided in some of these low crouch positions. The arms give the widest range of motion, with some clever double jointed elbows allowing the forearms to bend fully back on the upper arm while also rotating. The jaw works well, but opened too far will expose a gap at the back where the two pieces meet. The neck joint allows the head swivel and tilt, while the torso joint also adds upper body swivel - but sadly no real lean or pitch. Summary Like the Power Loader and the Alien Queen, the Newborn is a centrepiece release for any Alien collector and also adds some stark contract with its pale translucent skin against so many dar blue and brown Xenomorphs from the original movies. The box is a little boring, but does its job. And the stand too might have been better if it was clear and a simple design like the ones used for the Dog Alien releases. Sculpt and paint are spot on, and articulation for such a beast is good. I score the NECA Alien Resurrection Newborn a 4 out of 5. See More NECA figures

Full gallery and details have been released for the upcoming McFarlane Fortnite Ice King. The figrue was listed as an Amazon exclusive a week or so back, but only had a placeholder image. Now we get to see the Ice King in all his glory. The Ice King comes with his Ice Mantle Back Bling, Infinity Blade and an Ice Scepter harvesting tool. He will be released on the 6th September 2019 and pre-orders are open now via Amazon. The US site will ship to UK and the figure will set you back about £32 with shipping and custom charges. Fortnite is the action building game from epic games that lets you drop into a massive 100-player PVP battle Royale or team up with friends in a co-op campaign to save the world against a horde of monsters. Craft and loot in giant worlds where no two games are ever The same. Fortnite battle Royale is free and available on PC, Mac, PlayStation 4, xbox one, switch, iOS, and Android. Hyper-articulated featuring 22 Moving parts Comes complete with ice mantle back bling Ready for battle with the infinity blade accessory Harvest your materials with the included ice scepter harvesting tool Showcased in premium glossy Fortnite themed window box packaging

Following on from the 2018 First Ten Years sets of MCU figures, 2019 saw Hasbro announce a similar line of sets from the MCU to celebrate the 80th Anniversary of Marvel comics. The Captain America set, which returned to Cap's origin story movie, was an Amazon exclusive and gave us a brand new WW2 Cap along with Peggy Carter. Packaging 5/5 The 80th Anniversary MCU sets follow a very similar design to the 2018 First Ten years sets. The box is squared and mat black. The lead logo is that of Legends and interestingly while this is listed as an 80th Anniversary set, there is no obvious 80th Anniversary logo on the pack. The movie logo sits under the window - ad the window itself remains trimmed in red with the character names written into this red border. The two side spines are now full picture panels and are quite glossy making them quite reflective. Peggy sits on the right hand spine, with Cap on the left. Round the back we have a movie poster - same as the First Ten Years sets - set centrally. To the right is a shot of Peggy from the movie, and Cap sits to the right. There is a longer than usual background text piece under each character. Once opened the cardback is a very impressive red explosion. "Captain America Driven to help out his country during World War II, Steve Rogers enlist in the military as part of Project Rebirth. After he impresses the scientist in charge of the project, Steve is injected with Super Soldier Serum, increasing his strength and physique. He becomes the patriotic hero Captain America, fighting for freedom throughout the world." Paint & Sculpt 5/5 After struggling with Chris Evans likenesses since 2014, the last two years have seen Hasbro really nail the look of Cap and this set is just as good with a movie specific sculpt of Chris Evans. We have two heads included, both essentially the same head sculpt with face print technology that looks great. We then have different hair pieces glued on top, and these are not quite so good as they are very plainly painted and do stand up a little. The thinking seems to be that the "higher" hair is for when Cap is un-helmeted, the other head allows the helmet to sit naturally on the head. Of course any spare head also gives collectors the opportunity if they wish to update other figures - see the end of the review for some options. The costume is the WW2 leather jacket over his promotional Captain america shirt with just a touch of the central white star visible. Over this is the ammo straps and pouches and a belt and below this a pair of combat pants and boots. The costume is well painted and this includes weathering on the jacket and a subtle wash to weather the trousers. Accessories 5/5 I cant remember a figure coming with so many accessories than Cap has in this set. While some are designed to be shared with Peggy, they are very much orientated for use with the Cap figure. We start with the blue helmet complete with the Captain America "A" and those googles. The goggles are part f the sculpt so cant be pulled down but this is not an issue as the helmet looks great and fits snugly on the smaller hair head. It will also fit on the other head (see first row right below) but it does sit too high. Cap then has a revolver which is well detailed and includes a painted brown textured grip. It fits best in Cap's right hand with the trigger finger slotting into place. Cap can also hold it in the left and it also then fits into the working holster on Cap's belt. This holster is held secure by a rubber strap over the top that plugs into the lower holster to keep the gun in place. For hand to hand combat Cap also gets a combat knife, again well detailed with a ridged painted handle and serrated blade. This also goes in either hand, and when not in use slots into a sheath on Cap's left shin. We are still going..... and the next accessory is Cap's WW2 era machine gun. This is not quite as detailed, despite being larger, but is also painted so we have a brown wood coloured stock, handle and grip around the barrel. Thanks to the articulation, Cap will hold this in two hands. And where would Cap be without his shield. And in the set we get two. First is his shaped original shield from the WW2 promotional show. This is smooth hard white plastic with vibrant red and blue painted designs. Over this is splashed some brown paint to weather it. Round the back we have too plugged in handles that can slip over Cap's forearm to allow him to hold it in either hand. And finally we have the Stark built round shield, in its original unpainted state. This is the same shield as has been included with a lot of recent Cap figures from Hasbro and it is now cast in silver plastic. The looped handles round the back are brown leather in colour with one larger than the other and that also slip over either forearm. After this wealth of accessories it feels greedy asking for more, but it would have topped this figure off nicely if one or both shields could have been slung on Cap's back - but sadly not. Articulation 5/5 So we have great packaging, great sculpt, great paint and an abundance of accessories. Surely the articulation cant be great too? Well actually it can, with Cap coming with 21 points of articulation. Head : ball jointed pivot neck Body : torso ball joint, waist swivel Arms : ball joint shoulder, bicep swivel, double jointed elbows, pivot wrists Legs : ball joint hips, thigh swivel, double jointed knees, boot cut swivel, ankle rockers This makes Cap really poseable and there some really great dynamic poses you can play with including firing his weapons or fighting with either of his shield. He can even dance with Peggy if you wish. All the joints are tight and work well with the figure standing squarely and securely with no issues - as if Captain America would stand any other way! Summary This new WW2 Captain America is a superb release, and I can't fault it on any element from paint, sculpt, articulation and accessories. He looks fantastic on display and there are multiple options for display with loads of variations using the helmet, head options, weapons and shields. I can score Captain America no less than a 5 out of 5, and this set is a real stop-stopper and I recommend it highly for any MCU Legend collector. See More Marvel Legends figures Checkout the Peggy Carter Figure from this 2-pack Figure Hacks Because you get two very similar unmasked Captain America Chris Evans heads in this set, you may be looking to see if the "spare" one can be used to upgrade an existing figure. As this is an early MCU Evans sculpt, we tried it on the following figures 2014 WW2 Captain America : While this Cap body is a little small, the head still works. The fit is tight and you may need to warm up the head/peg slightly. I really like this look. 2014 STRIKE Suit Captain America : The Winter Soldier Cap is also a good look, but the head hole is a lot larger than the peg. So while the head fits, it is very loose. If you want this look you will need to pack the whole a little. 2012 Avengers Captain America ; This one sadly does not work due to the height of the neck peg. While the fit between head and neck is good, the look is all wrong. It will be interesting to revisit this with the 2019 "Avengers" Cap from Endgame Wave 3 to see if that works any better?

Following on from the 2018 First Ten Years sets of MCU figures, 2019 saw Hasbro announce a similar line of sets from the MCU to celebrate the 80th Anniversary of Marvel comics. The Captain America set, which returned to Cap's origin story movie, was an Amazon exclusive and gave us a brand new WW2 Cap along with Peggy Carter. Packaging 5/5 The 80th Anniversary MCU sets follow a very similar design to the 2018 First Ten years sets. The box is squared and mat black. The lead logo is that of Legends and interestingly while this is listed as an 80th Anniversary set, there is no obvious 80th Anniversary logo on the pack. The movie logo sits under the window - ad the window itself remains trimmed in red with the character names written into this red border. The two side spines are now full picture panels and are quite glossy making them quite reflective. Peggy sits on the right hand spine, with Cap on the left. Round the back we have a movie poster - same as the First Ten Years sets - set centrally. To the right is a shot of Peggy from the movie, and Cap sits to the right. There is a longer than usual background text piece under each character. Once opened the cardback is a very impressive red explosion. "Peggy Carter A British agent with the Strategic Scientific Reserve, Peggy Carter is a capable soldier and strategist. She is part of Project Rebirth, which developed the Super Soldier Serum that was injected into Steve Rogers. When Project Rebirth ends, Peggy continues to assist Steve as he becomes the world's first Super Hero, Captain America." Paint & Sculpt 4/5 The figure has a good, but not perfect, likeness to Hayley Atwell. The eyes are not as intense and the jaw a little slim but aside from that the face print is good with blushed cheeks and ruby red lipstick. The hairstyle is also well sculpted with intricate swirled fringe and permed round the back. Peggy is wearing her dress uniform as seen in the Camp Lehigh and New York scenes when Steve became Captain America. This is not a bad choice by any means, but considering this is a line of action heroes it might have been nice to get Peggy in her leather jacket and trousers from her scenes on the front and alongside the Howling Commandos. The outfit we get is faithfully recreated with details including the buttons and lapel wings in gold paint. The legs have a stocking seam painted up the back and the shoes are heeled, but done in such a way that Peggy cant stand. Accessories 3/5 The box set as an entirety comes with a large amount of accessories, but most feel like they are designed for Steve Rogers and not Peggy. Peggy can of course use a number of these, and while the helmet and shield don't make sense - she can use the machine gun, knife and handgun. Each of these is well cast, the machine gun being the worst of the three, with good details like the textured grip on the handgun and the serrated blade on the combat knife. Peggy's smaller hands will hold the weapons, but are too small to slip a finger into either of the triggers. Had this set been the Howling Commando Peggy then the machine gun would have worked, instead I think the handgun is probably her best accessory option - although using this leaves Steve with an empty holster. Articulation 3/5 As a female figure, Peggy has a joint count of 16 - quite a bit less than Cap, and with some joints not as mobile as the ones used on the male buck. Head : ball jointed pivot neck Body : waist ball joint swivel Arms : ball joint shoulder, single joint rotating elbow, pivot wrist Legs : ball joint hip, thigh swivel, double joint knees, ankle rockers While the legs are very well articulated, most joints are redundant thanks to the pencil skirt. This is not a bad thing essentially as I don't know how you'd get round this - but it does give another argument for this having been a trousered Howling Commando Peggy, not the dress uniform. The skirt does thankfully cover most of the knee joints - but the ankle joints are very unsightly. The arms, with the single jointed elbow are not fully mobile but there is enough there for her to have her hands behind her back, hands on hips or cradling the machine gun. The heeled shoes are, as we said above, designed well enough to allow Peggy to stand with the ankle rockers nice and tight. You may have to use the thigh swivel to turn the feet outward a little, or for more shelf security drop her onto a stand. Summary The Captain America and Peggy Carter set is a wonderful thing, but Cap is obviously the star of the set with Peggy more of a supporting character. Cap gets all the accessories, articulation and swap out parts - while Peggy has a single look and she can borrow one of Cap's weapons if needed. I score the Peggy Carter figure a 3 out of 5. And I hope that Hasbro can find an opportunity to enhance the head sculpt even further by sticking it on a more action orientated Peggy body in the future. See More Marvel Legends figures Checkout the Captain America Figure from this 2-pack

Disney and Marvel have announced three more MCU shows in development for their Disney+ streaming service. Arriving at some point in 2021/2 we will have shows for Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk and Moon Knight. These new properties obviously open up opportunities for more Marvel Legends figures in particular when they are released - as well as figures from other Marvel licence holders including Diamond Select, MAFEX and SH Figuarts. As we are excited about Phase 4 and beyond we have our Marvel Legends Phase 4 page all laid out and ready to go

Hasbro has announced, at Fan Expo Canada, a brand new Marvel Legends Amazon Exclusive box-set of Canadian Superheroes Alpha Flight. The six figure Alpha Flight set brings the entire team to the table alongside the Sasquatch BAF and the 2019 Guardian. Puck is a re-release of a previous BAF but gets a new head scult. We then have Shaman, Aurora, Northstar and Vindicator. The set will come in a white window box packaging. Shortly after the news broke, The Marvel Legends Alpha Flight Exclusive went up on Amazon US for pre-order. It will be released 1st December 2019 and to have it shipped into UK with customs will set you back around £120 https://amzn.to/2Zdd7We

Images have been shared from a US internal Gamestop catalogue, via Action Figure Junkies, that confirms NECA are releasing their recent SDCC 7 inch scale Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle set of Shredder and Splinter as individual 7 inch figures. The four figures will be Shredder, Splinter and two versions of the Foot Soldier. One Foot Soldier comes with blunt weapons - nunchucks, night-stick and a staff.The other has bladed weapons of katana's and sai's. Splinter has a pair of nunchucks, pizza slice and Ooze cylinder. The chain and manacles are not included. Shredder has a knife and spear and alternative hands including wrist blades. The crate and weapon rack are also not included in any of the sets. Details at this stage indicate a pre-order starting soon. The date on the images is possibly a misprint. If these are getting a US release, then we should expect these into UK independents also at some stage in 2020.

A brand new 80th Anniversary Marvel Legends figure of Iron-Man has been announced for release later this year as a fan channel exclusive. The stealth Invincible Iron-Man uses the Invincible Iron-Man sculpt from the Black Panther wave from 2018. It gets a full repaint into the Stealth colours and comes with swap out hands and FX piece. It does lose the Tony Stark head, but gains a new sword. The figure is expected in December 2019 "Tony Stark modifies his suit for stealth capabilities to take on cybernetically enhanced ninjas! The Marvel Legends Stealth Suit Invincible Iron Man 6-Inch Action Figure - Exclusive is loaded with articulation, energy blasts, a sword, and swappable hands. With over 80 years of comic book history, Marvel has become a cornerstone of fan collections around the world. With the Marvel Legends Series, fan favorite Marvel Comic Universe and Marvel Cinematic Universe characters are designed with premium detail and articulation for poseable and displayable collectibles. From figures to vehicles to premium roleplay items, the Marvel Legends Series offers elite character-inspired product for Marvel fans and collectors. Additional figures each sold separately. Subject to availability."

The first Hasbro panel of the Fan Expo 2019 in Canada was the Transformers panel, and four brand new Studio Series Transformers were announced for release in 2020. From the original Transformers movie is a new Voyager Class Megatron. He is joined by Shockwave (Leader Class) from Dark Side of the Moon. The set will include Brains and Wheelie and some mini NEST soldiers with parachutes. There are then two more Constructicons in the shape of Scavenger and Mixmaster. Scavenger is a Leader Class Mixmaster will be Voyager class.

We saw the Spider-Man : Into the Spider-Verse MAFEX figure of Peter B. Parker a few weeks back at the Medicom Toy Convention. Now Medicom have released the promotional images and details of the figure that is due to land in June 2020. The figure is essentially a Spider-Man but comes with swap out parts as well as soft goods sweat pants and jacket to give you numerous options on how to display this version of Spidey. For example you have three pairs of feet - the standard Spider-Suit ones, and then a bare pair and a third set of mismatched boots/trainers. We have four head options - two masked, one partially unmasked and one with no mask. Hand options include one holding a coffee cup, and also the usual web slinger hands with various web FX pieces.

2018 saw the first releases from McFarlane in a brand new 7 inch scale Star Trek line. The first two figures saw the two iconic Enterprise Captain's of Kirk and Picard launching the line - although at the time of writing this is still the only two figures we've had and the future of the line is unclear. I must admit I have been sat on this figure since December 2018, the reason being it arrived missing the stand from the sealed packaging. I have then been in this endless runaround with McFarlane saying they do not send out parts and to return it to the retailer, and the retailer saying the pack was sealed insisting it shouldn't come with a stand and refusing a refund. Having not found another reasonably priced Kirk I have finally given up and opened the figure for the review. Please note that I borrowed the stand from Picard to complete the review. Packaging 3/5 McFarlane do not seem to have settled on a preferred packaging type, and despite using the window boxes heavily recently with Color Tops and Fortnite, they return to carded blister for this line. The shape and colour is very appealing with the colour at the very top indicating which of the CBS Star Trek shows the release is from - yellow being the Original Series. The only artwork on the card front is an illustration of Kirk peeping in from one side and the character is named on a sticker on the front of the blister. The figure is visible fully in the blister with accessories surrounding him - the stand should sit behind the figure. On the card back we have images of the two figures released to date - Kirk and Picard - and under this illustrated images of Michael Burnham and the Original Series Spock who are meant to be the next releases. There is then an image for a 1:1 scale phaser which has also been scrapped. There is room for some background history for Kirk, but this has not been explored by McFarlane. Paint & Sculpt 5/5 Kirk is sculpted really well and is a better likeness than Picard with a real look of the 1966 William Shatner. This is not face print technology, but the face is shaded well and painted neatly around the eyes and lips. The costume is faithfully represented including the Starfleet badge and the seams around the chest and shoulder, and those gold trims around both sleeves. Accessories 4/5 Kirk has a number of accessories included, starting with a 1966 era Phaser. This is very nicely done at such a small scale with lots of painted detail. It slots into the hand that comes fitted to Kirk and can be posed in a shooting position. We also have a larger phaser rifle, which is also well designed and even has a spinning central barrel. Checkout the colours on the control panel! You will need the larger grip hand for this but be really careful swapping this as McFarlane use a very tiny and very fragile wrist ball joint - I am not sure it will stand up to any rigorous swaps and I don't know why the McFarlane designers stick with this design after so many issues on the Stranger Things figures. We also have a communicator which is meant to slot into the first smaller grip hand, but the fit is poor. It is best served sat slightly to the side in the wider grip. Like the phasers the communicator is very detailed for its size - although it isn't hinged like the real prop. The final accessory, assuming it is there, is the circular stand. This has a Star Trek design on it in black but in gloss, which looks stylish. It has a single peg that corresponds to a single hole on the figure on the right foot. Articulation 3/5 I do not expect a huge amount of articulation from McFarlane, but they are getting better and learning the more they do in this sort of scale. Kirk has 14 points of articulation. Head : ball joint neck Body : waist swivel (locked in place) Arms : ball joint shoulder, single joint rotating elbow, ball joint wrist Legs : T-Joint Hip, single joint knee, ankle rocker This articulation really makes Kirk quite stiff in the posing as the legs look off when posed in anything other than a neutral stance thanks to that older style hip. The knees also do not bend enough for kneeling or action stances. The ankle rockers are also very week and wobbly and even with the stand, Kirk likes to lean forward and eventually fall over - another common trait with McFarlane. The waist joint is virtually useless as it will not turn at all, so we are left with a head that can rotate to either side and arms that can get up and out to some shooting poses, or holding the communicator ready to contact the ship - but not up to his head, and kind of half way out in front of him. I don't expect a huge amount of articulation on Trek figures, they are not overly action orientated. But had McFarlane put in a double joint elbow and a better neck joint it would have opened up many more options. Summary This is a brilliant looking figure that will display really well in a neutral stance. It has great accessories, that can be held but not necessarily posed in a way that looks natural. Articulation is an issue particularly the weak ankles that make the figure a real risk of shelf diving, even with the stand (assuming you get one). Like Picard, I score the Captain James T. Kirk figure from McFarlane a 3 out of 5. And while I do worry about the future of the line, I do hope McFarlane can stick with this and give us some more key characters. See More McFarlane Star Trek figures