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Riding on the wave of promotional activity that is Deadpool 2, NECA have revealed the packaging for their Collectors Edition 1/4 scale Deadpool figure. This is a re-release of their original 1/4 Deadpool, but is now packed to the brim with additional accessories. These include an unmasked Wade Wilson head, a brain head and a baseball cap. We also get some pizza head toppings, blast effects, Mr-T chain and a stuffed unicorn. There are also the usual Deadpool armaments of Katana's, Sai's, Tactical Knife and a working holster. The packaging is an innovative window box with two folding side panel window sections that display the accessories. These fold in on the box and the whole thing is then presented in white outer sleeve with a striking image of Deadpool. The figure is due for a June/July release and will be around £120 here in the UK.

SH Monsterarts have confirmed the release of this awesome Godzilla Earth figure, to be released in November 2018. This is Godzilla as we find him in the recent Netflix Godzilla Planet of the Monsters. This representation is of the 300 metre high Godzilla, and to show his enormous height you get a smaller figure of the original 50 metre Godzilla to pose with him. The actual figure is still only 7" tall so is not in scale with other SH Monsterart releases. The pack also includes the shuttlecraft from the Netflix show and this can be posed on an included flight stand. In Japan this is exclusive to the Bandai webstore. US and International customers can get this via Bluefin import, and you will be paying circa $120. The shockingly massive Godzilla as seen in the animated "Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters" joins S.H.MonsterArts! To accentuate the 300 meter size of the creature as seen onscreen, an in-scale 50m size Godzilla portrayal and a shuttlecraft is included. The set also includes a stand.

Promotional images released for the SH Figuarts Infinity War Captain America have revealed that Cap will come with Corvus Glaive's spear. The figure is due for a July release, and US / Western collectors will be pleased to know that Bluefin will be bringing this over from the Far East and packing it with one of the explosion effects as a package. The US release will cost around $82 and is up now on Big Bad Toy Store

Pros : There has been an attempt to make the shield a metallic finish Cons : Body shape is all wrong with odd sized legs that akes standing tough. Sloppy paint in areas and a very generic head sculpt When Avengers Assemble hit cinema's in 2012, the 6" figures released at the time by Hasbro were done so outside of the established Legends line and on movie specific card backs. The line up included Thor, Hawkeye, Hulk, Iron-Man, Loki and Captain America. In the US these were exclusive to Walmart, and for UK collectors these were pretty tough to get hold of. By the time we hit Age of Ultron in 2015 Hasbro took the opportunity to re-release a number of these figures within a Best of the MCU wave that hit stores in 2016. The figures were now packed with parts of the Hulkbuster Build-a-Figure, but in the main were identical to their first appearance. The packaging, just uses the generic Avengers logo and therefore avoids the confusion of an Avengers Assemble Cap packed with an Age of Ultron Hulkbuster arm. The rear of the packaging shows a blown up image of the figure and shield above a checklist of the other figures in this best of MCU lie - Iron-Man (Mk43), Hulk, War Machine (Mk2), Black Widow, Hawkeye, Loki and Thor. Thor did not come with a BAF piece. This best of MCU line was only officially released in the UK and Europe and the BAF was a darker red, making it more sought after to many collectors - including those in the US. Out of the box and what appears to be a boring white insert is now revealed to include a subtle grey Avengers logo. For boxed collectors this may have been more visual if the contrast in colours had been greater so it was visible behind the figure. This was essentially the first Chris Evans Captain America sculpted by Hasbro, and the likeness to Evans was not great - and hasn't got much better in subsequent sculpts. If anything this is a more generic "hero" head and is a flat skin tone with no shading or lip colouration. The helmet looks well proportioned and the eyes are painted neatly beneath it. The central "A" is aligned and painted silver, and to either side are silver winged decals. The costume Cap was given in Avengers, the one designed party by Coulson, was not particularly good to start with and the figure is a representation of what is a pretty average movie outfit. It captures the essential elements like the textured sections along the chest and the straps around the shoulders and arms. The mid-section is red & white striped - but it is a bit too slim and makes the figure look skinny with a huge chest planted on top. Cap's legs are a bit bow-legged also and the boots are too thin again round the ankles. The length of the legs looks too long for the truck of the body and while Cap comes in at 6 1/2 inches high, it looks like the legs have been stretched to make hi this tall. The paint job is relatively simple with one tone colouration across the red, white and blue. We don;t have any weathering at all. Areas like the gloves and boots look unfinished as you can see more detail than the paint covers such as straps and buckles. We also have paint bleed issues around the central silver star, the focal point of the costume, which looks sloppy. While the body shape may be a bit off, his articulation is impressive with 18 points overall. Head and torso are ball jointed and give both rotational as well as forward & backward motion. Our Cap's arms start with a ball jointed shoulder with full movement, a bicep swivel, double jointed arms and a wrist joint where the glove meets the sleeve that allows the wrist piece to rotate. Legs have rounded ball jointed hips, another factor that throws out the body shape, with a thigh swivel underneath. The knees are a double joint and we finish with an ankle rocker. While the leg joints are tight and it looks like Cap should stand easily, there is something wrong with the feet and the ratchet in the ankle so that it is tough to get the feet flat to the floor without being too far one way or other to over balance the figure. The right leg even looks longer than the left which makes the issue worse - I'd drop Cap onto a stand for posing in your display. In order to face off against the Chitauri, Cap comes with his shield. This is cast in a softer red slightly metallic plastic. The silver and blue are then painted in, with more sloppy bleed around the centre star. Round the back we have a glued strapping section which is much more complex than any Cap's shield I had seen to date. The reason is that the straps are designed to be flexible and worn like a backpack so Cap can wear his shield on his back - which to be honest is a good look. The straps take some teasing into place to make them look natural around the shoulders. So while we applaud the ability to wear the shield on he back, the downside does kick in when you want Cap to hold his shield. The straps can be adjusted to act as arms/wrist straps - but that of course then leaves a large amount of slack hanging loose from the shield. While it is possible to roll that up and tuck it out of the way, it is an unwieldy tasks and does impede the posing of the shield. We should appreciate this is a 6-year old figure now, and was essentially one of the fore-runners to the MCU Legends we have now. But we should also remember that Hasbro still deemed it fit to repack into Legends packaging just 3 years ago and sell at the same price as the other figures of the time. While the movie costume was not the best, the figure fails in recreating this faithfully - not so much in terms of the costume but more the body shape which is too slim in some areas, to wide in others and with legs that seem too long and are actually differing lengths. When we add in the generic head sculpt, paint issues and unpainted areas like the gloves this is a figure that scores quite low and perhaps is due a do-over at some point if the retrospective releases we are seeing for the 10 year anniversary can continue. I score Avengers Captain America a 2 out of 5.

Pros : The outfit is well sculpted with textured sections and some nice weathering Cons : The figure is undersized vs the Legends line as a whole. The head is poor in both sculpt and paint During the first few Marvel Cinematic Movies, the figures released were few and far between and sized at 3.75" in the main. Hasbro's Legends line began to look at MCU figures as of 2014 as it evolved to the Infinite Series and the first figures were released for Guardians of the Galaxy, followed soon after by a wave based on Captain America Winter Soldier. Within that wave were figures from the movie, and then this little gem, a World War 2 Captain America. While Cap did don the WW2 gear at the end of Winter Soldier courtesy of the Smithsonian, the outfit in the 2014 movie did have some differences to the one we saw in the First Avenger, most notably the red straps on the mid-drift. This figure therefore is accurate as the First Avenger appearance, although the difference is minor for those wanting to use it for a Winter Solder display. The figure was packed in the same scooped sided packaging as the other Winter Soldier movie figures. The key difference was the logo on top of the box front which was just "Captain America" on this release and lost the "Winter Soldier" subtitle seen on the other figures. The wave included build-a-figure parts for a comic book Mandroid, but WW2 cap was devoid of any parts and was not pictured on the rear within the BAF checklist. While here in the UK this figure landed alongside all the others, the packaging for this WW2 Cap seems to indicate he was released ahead of the reveal of the other MCU figures from the wave as they are blanked out on the package. Looking first at the head sculpt, and this is certainly not a brilliant likeness to Chris Evans. It is also pretty messy with the chin strap paint covering a lot of the chin. We also have zero colouring on the lips and the eyes are a bit wonky under the mask. While the face isn't up to much, the helmet is well proportioned and has neat decal application of the front "A" and the two side winged icons. The rest of the outfit is much nicer than the head with a textured pattern within the sculpt of the outfit and loads of detail on the straps, buckles and the belt section. The paint here is crisper and there is weathering across the white areas in particular that does dirty Cap up nicely. The star in the centre of the chest is also neatly painted, and the two shoulder decals even more so. That being said there are still paint errors on the costume. The most notable is the red strap on the stomach which is only partially painted on one side. We also have some bleeding between the grey trim and white sections in certain areas. There is a bigger issue (there is a pun there) with the size of the figure, which actually comes in a touch under 6". While in true 1/12 scale this is precisely where Chris Evans would be, the figure is woefully small vs the other MCU figures - both of the time and those released since. And the most notable issue is that this figure is nearly half an inch smaller than the Winter Soldier figure from the same wave. Cap has 18 points of articulation, starting with a ball jointed and pivot head that can be leaned forward and backward by some distance. There is then a chest joint built into the figure where the costume translates from the blue to the white. This has limited forward movement, but allows rotation to either side and Cap can also lean back quite a way and it is nice to see the paint continues under the joint so this lean doesn't expose any unpainted areas. Arm are ball jointed at the shoulder with a bicep swivel underneath. Elbows are double jointed and wrists jointed. The legs are the same principle with ball joint hips, thigh swivel, double joint knees and ankle rockers. Cap is relatively easy to stand, and unlike a lot of Legends none of the joints feel loose or wobbly. Cap wouldn't be Cap without his shield. And in this release it is the traditional version with the red, blue and silver colour scheme. It is cast out of a softer plastic which can mean some misshapen shields out of the box depending on how it was packed in the factory. Two straps, also in soft plastic, are glued into the back - one loop being larger than the other. The finish to the shield is quite dull and I'd have liked to have seen a glossier finish, or flip the other way to a dirty weathered version. There are also visible mould marks on the front which are frustrating. The shield fits over either hand, with the hands gripping the smaller loop after the first has been taken over the arm and up towards the elbow. The fit is tighter on the right hand, but you will want to keep this clear if you want Cap to be wielding his pistol at the same time. The handgun is a very basic sculpt of a WW2 revolver with very limited detail. It is silver in colour with a black grip. It fits in the right hand neatly, with a flexible trigger finger that can slot into the trigger. It can be forced into the left hand if you wish - although it doesn't look and feel as natural here. If you want the handgun out of the hands, then it does fit into the working holster on the right thigh. The fit is tight but snug and once in place a soft strap goes over the top and clips into place. Thanks to the arm articulation you can even get Cap into a pose where he is drawing the weapon. It is great to have a First Avenger Cap in the Legends line, but this figure does have some shortcomings (another Pun), the height being the main one. The head is also sloppy and looks like it is from an inferior / cheaper figure. The two accessories are OK, but not brilliant as the shield would be better if it was glossier and the gun lacks any detail. The costume is really well sculpted with texture built into the sections in blue, with the straps and buckles also very nice and the white sections nicely weathered. But there are still paint errors such as a half painted red strap and some bleeding around the trims. I score the WW2 Captain America a 2 out of 5 and I hope at some stage in the future we can get an update to this figure in better scale and with a digital print head sculpt.

The Doctor Who Site has revealed exciting details of the B&M store Doctor Who packs for 2018. Over the past couple of years, B&M have commissioned packs of the 5" Doctor Who figures for sale in their stores. Each pack is generally made up of repacks and repaints. This year the bar has been raised significantly. The 1970's pack is made up of a new 4th Doctor in his Weng Chaing "Sherlock Holmes" inspired outfit. This had been developed by Character when the line was in full flow, but never made it to an official release. This version appears to be a 3rd Doctor body with a new cloak section. The Doctor is accompanied by a Brigadier figure based on his look in Spearhead from Space and throughout Pertwee's first series, cleverly this is a re-use of the Captain Jack Harkness body with a Lethbridge Stewart head. Finally we get a repaint of the Auton to make a Terror of the Autons version. The next pack is an 11th Doctor themed pack and includes a repainted 11th Doctor as seen in The Snowman. This is the Doctor figure from the 2014 Impossible Girl set, minus the hat. He is accompanied by Clara from Asylum of the Dalek and Amy from Lets Kill Hitler. While Clara is just a straight up repack from the same "Impossible Girl "set, Amy is a full repaint from her original figure with some impressive printing on her T-Shirt and Coat. Pack three gets us up to date with the 12th Doctor. The highlight here is the Bill Potts figure we saw over Christmas 2017. It seems this might have been destined for Toys R Us stores, and has since been reworked into this line. It is worth noting the T-shirt design has changed since the image we first saw, and this therefore may be just one of other Bill figures on the way - it was noted earlier in 2018 that Amazon were potentially lining these up as exclusives? We get a tweaked Missy figure from Extremis. The final figure is the 12th Doctor in his red jacket. This is another repaint of the original 12th Doctor figure. If we follow the last lot of exclusives the three packs will retail around £16.99, potentially a little higher this year. There is a fourth set with a new 3rd Doctor figure and a repainted TARDIS. The Doctor is wearing his Time Monster outfit, This is the red jacket that was used in the 13 Doctor box set, but with a white cravat instead of the bow tie. The TARDIS is a non electronic version, and int he promo images looks a little too light in the blue, but we will see how this looks in reality when the sets hit stores.

The 6" Black Series Zuckuss figure was originally down to be exclusive to Toys R Us stores, but of course things have changed dramatically with the Toys R Us brand since the Toy Fair 2018 reveals. While the exact route to market Zuckuss will now take is unknown, it seems the figure is getting closer to release as this boxed image indicates. The boxed figure looks superb, including what looks like impressive weathering to the coat/cloak. We await more details.

Pros : Articulation is particularly strong Cons : Decor and Paint Job are soft, as is sculpt in parts. Unmasked head looks odd due to position of face plate. No alternative hand options While it feels like we have had numerous Iron-Man MCU armours in the current Marvel Legends line, it was 2015 when we got the first in what we currently recognise as the Legends packaging with the Mk43. Prior to this the Mk42 and other previous movie armours had been released on Movie specific card backs. The Mk43 was initial released in the Thanos BAF wave. It coincided with the Age of Ultron movie release and both Hulk and Captain America were included within the wave. In this first release you also got a 2nd head with a Tony Stark face exposed. In 2016 the figure was re-released in the UK best of MCU wave, now packed with the Hulkbuster leg, but having lost the alternative head option. The sculpting on the Mk43 is a little sloppy in places with the lines a bit soft in definition. On the helmet this is helped by some black wash into the line of the mouth and round the eyes, but down into the armour everything else is a bit soft and undefined. The figure is cast in a metallic red with the silver and gold colours added as paint applications. Like the head the panels, lines and parts of the suit feel undefined. This may have been improved with more black lining added on key areas. The proportions of the figure are OK, but he does look a touch slim when you consider there is a man inside the suit - he is also quite small compared to other MCU figures. The other issue is the arc reactor which is a simple white sticker. It looks awful and has no depth or definition. The same applies to the repulsor visible on the left hand - another plain sticker. And talking of hands, Tony only comes with the two fitted to the figure. This in itself is an odd choice when the right one is a fist and the right is firing - you would expect Tony to have a pair of each included? The slimmer build does help articulation and Tony gets 18 points of articulation across the figure. The head is a ball joint with a pivot also built into the neck peg to aid forward and backward movement. The torso is jointed under the chest armour and allows for the upper body to rotate and there is a degree of forward movement - and a lot of backward leaning motion if needed. Our arms are ball jointed at each shoulder, and the shoulder armour above this will move as the arm is raised. Its not quite a joint, more of a flexible plastic where the shoulder connects to the body - I am not sure it would last too long with regular movement of the arm. Beneath the ball of the shoulder the upper arm rotates at the bicep and we then have double jointed elbows that bend to and beyond 90 degrees. We end with pivot wrists which will rotate and bend back slightly to give a repulsor firing pose with the left hand. Legs have a rounded hip, which is a ball joint and beneath this we have a thigh swivel built under the thigh armoured panel. Knees are double jointed and the ankles are on rockers. While the joints are ratcheted across most points, they do still feel loose especially the knees. What is a nice touch to the articulation is the building in of the required movement should you want your Mk43 in a flying pose. The head pivots back to be looking upward, the torso does the same and the ankles allow the toes to be pointed out. The alternative head swaps out with a satisfying pop. Like the first head, the second option is also cast in metallic red with the skin tone painted over the top. The likeness to Robert Downey Jr. is OK and considering he is not an easy face to replicate this is not a bad effort. The eyes and beard are neat - although the facial hair a bit too jet black. The raised face plate has had the eye slots painted black to show it is deactivated which is a nice touch. It sits a little bit too low however and covers the eyes of the head sculpt - it makes Tony look like his face plate has got stuck half way and he is leaning his head back in order to see out. The positioning on the War Machine figure from same movie is much better and I am not sure why this position was chosen for Iron Man? There are a lot of things wrong with the Mk43 and while some will see it as an important part of any Age of Ultron display, please be aware of the flaws that come with it. The decor is poor with lots of bleeding and no definition in the panels which in themselves are softly sculpted. The hands are in two different poses so you can only have Tony firing his repulsors with the left hand. The Arc Reactor is applied as a sticker and looks cheap. And that head is spoiled by a weirdly positioned face plate? On the plus side the figure is well articulated, including the option to have him flying with the right type of stand. I score Iron-Man Mk43 a 2 out of 5.

Pros : Excellent articulation. Most joints are nice and tight. The decal application is neat and adds some finer detail to the figure Cons : The overall build is a bit too slim. There are spots of sloppy painting around the head and chest reactor War Machine was a surprise inclusion in the first Avengers Age of Ultron wave, trumping key characters like Widow, Hawkeye and Quicksilver (who is still figureless to this day). He has made two appearances to date in the Legends series, both within a Hulkbuster BAF wave. The first, back in 2015, saw him released with the Hulkbuster head. In this release he came with an alternative mask up Rhodey head option. He would then be repacked in 2016 with the Hulkbuster leg in a best of MCU wave made up purely of Age of Ultron / Avengers figures. In this release he lost the alternative head option. Out of the pack and you can see the amount of detail that has gone into the figure in both the sculpt and the decor. This is the Mk2 War Machine armour, originally seen painted as Iron Patriot in Iron-Man 2 and then in this grey & silvery livery for Age of Ultron. The head sculpt captures that thicker set, wider eyes War Machine mask rather than look like an Iron-Man repaint. We also get clean lines and panel details cast in a metallic grey with silver detailing painted to break up the colour scheme. We have some well positioned and applied decals such as the Lt.Col James Rhodes on the chest, the FF5445 on the shoulder armour and a circular icon on the right wrist with a 5 pointed star. While these details are nice and precise, there are a couple of messier applications - in particular the chest reactor which looks to be painted and therefore looks dirty white with a less than neat red border. The same applies to the eyes on the fully helmeted head where the inner lenses are a plain white with dodgy red border. The overall figure is also quite slim, not like the bulky War Machine we see in Age of Ultron and not really what you'd expect of a man in a mechanical suit. Rhodey comes with the rear cannon, which is supplied as a separate piece in the packaging. This can be attached to a hole on the back of the figure - either aligned to the right or left shoulder. While both orientation work, it is over the right shoulder that this looks best thanks to the way the shoulder cannon is cast and assembled. The cannon will first rotate in the back socket allowing for some positioning over the shoulder. There is then a pivot on the first arm which allows the cannon to be raised or lowered. This is then followed by a pivot allowing the top part to rotate. That gives a full range of movement of the cannon - from firing positions to be folded back and in a stored position. The cannon is cast in a grey plastic with some detailing, but nothing spectacular. There are no paint apps at all applied to the weapon. The main pivot is quite loose too and will have limited longevity and I think floppy cannons will be a problem in time. If you bought the original version, you can swap out the head option on your War Machine. The operation is simple with the first head popping off with limited pressure, and the new one snapping on in its place. This new head is sculpted with the likeness of James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) beneath a raised face plate. While the skin tone is one flat colour and the eyes are a touch cartoonish, the likeness is pretty good and recogniseable as Cheadle. Around the face there are some paint bleed issues where the grey of the suit comes back in. The face plate sits high enough to ensure the face is not obscured. Articulation on War Machine is good, and the slim build of the armour does help this articulation deliver much more than a bulkier War Machine or Iron Man could ever do. Excluding the cannon we have 18 standard points of articulation. There is then another two joints on the cannon, and two further on the shoulder armour. These shoulder pieces allow the ball jointed shoulder to raise up to 90 degrees on both sides, and then the arms can be turned using the bicep swivel and bent past 90 degrees at the elbow via the double jointed elbows. The wrists can rotate and also have a pivoted peg so they can bend to 90 degrees also. There is no waist joint, instead the torso is articulated mid way with a ball joint and a similar ball joint for the head as we saw earlier. Legs then mirror the arms, with ball joint hips followed immediately by a thigh swivel. This then goes down into double jointed knees and finishes with ankle rockers. There are no issues in keeping Rhodey standing on display and most joints are ratcheted. My only gripe with articulation is the inability to point the feet downward into what we would expect in a flying pose. While you can stick Rhodey on a flying stand, it looks a bit awkward with the feet presented flat. The Age of Ultron War Machine is a very nice, well articulated figure that only suffers from a couple of areas of sloppy painting and being a touch too slim. The argument is of course that bulking out Rhodey would then have impacted articulation. The shoulder cannon works well, but may have longevity issues. As a figure that can flesh out an Age of Ultron display or who can be lined up as part of the MCU New Avengers (as seen at the end of Age of Ultron) War Machine Mk2 is a fine addition to your collection and I score him a 4 out of 5.

Over in Pasadena in the US the promotional activity for the Solo movie has revealed what appears to be a new figure for the Star Wars 6" Black Series. Alongside the Range Trooper and Mimban Stormtroopers is this figure of Enfys Nest. It is likely this is the Enfys figure that will be packed in the vehicle set alongside her Swoop Speederbike. It seems fur trimmed cloaks are all the rage, and Enfys comes with a similar trimmed soft-goods cloak to the Range Trooper. Image credit to Daniel Rey Silvas (Instagram)

Happy #SatTOYday! CLICK HERE for this week's issue After the excitement of Infinity War, it was the turn of the other Disney Juggernaut these past two weeks as we celebrated May the 4th. The Disney store themselves launched a compact range of Solo merchandise, and the figure on our cover - the 35th Anniversary Return of the Jedi Darth Vader. Hasbro announced a new Imperial Officer for their Black Series line, and a second set including a Stormtrooper and some FX pieces surfaced for pre-order. In other news, Randy Falk is back on Twitter. And while NECA do seem to have been hit by some production issues in China the news is flowing again, even if the figures are delayed. www.facebook.com/mephitsu www.twitter.com/mephitsu www.issuu.com/mephitsu

Once a company has a Spider-Man figure in its repertoire, it is almost innevitable that the Venom/Black suited version will make an appearance down the line. This is exactly what is happening over at Tamashii Nations where they look to be taking their existing Manga Realization Spider-Man and will put him back out in a very sleek black colour scheme. He will be called the Covert Spider-Man. Black Suite Manga Realization Spider-Man will come with the same accessories as the original - grappling chains, as well as two katana swords. In Japan it will be a Bandai webstore exclusive. We await to see if Bluefin will be distributing this, or a version of this, in the US.