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Over in Japan and the big Far East figure companies are revealing a handful of new wares at the Miyazawa Model Spring Exhibition, 2018. We had already seen an unpainted version of the Revoltech Batman, but now we get a look at the final painted prototype. This Batman is the first DC figure in this stylised format, expanding from the Marvel figures that Revoltech have been producing for a few years. The key to the figure seems to be that moulded articulated dynamic cape and how easy that is going to be to pose. A surprise from Revoltech was the prototype of this Winnie the Pooh figure from the upcoming live action movie Goodbye Christopher Robin. Pooh is articulated, as much as a bear of his stature can be. He looks to be coming with at least 3 head options also. The figure is dated as a 2018 release.

Over in Japan and the big Far East figure companies are revealing a handful of new wares at the Miyazawa Model Spring Exhibition, 2018. Medicom's MAFEX line is one of those showing new items and they have revealed new 1/12 figures for both DC and Marvel. The new DC addition is a very impressive Bruce Wayne figure from the recent Justice League movie. This 1/12 figure has a fantastic likeness to Ben Affleck and looks to come with a Parademon weapon and a batarang. The Marvel offering is comic book based and is a new Spider-Man figure which will join Gwenpool in the comic book MAFEX line. Spider-Man comes with web slinging accessories. Both figures are expected to be a late 2018 / early 2019 release - we await more details and preorders going live.

As the latest trailer for Solo, A Star Wars Story, breaks a number of new 3.75" figures have been unveiled by Hasbro. Beware spoilers....

Hasbro have confirmed Chewbacca is getting a 6" Star Wars Black Series release in line with the Solo (A Star Wars Story) releases this Spring/Summer. Chewie is coming in the standard packaging, but will not be numbered and will be a Target exclusive in the US. He will come with his new two sided bandoleer and a new blaster rifle. His goggles will be removable. Outside of the head and the new accessories, the body looks to be the same as the previous Chewbacca releases. UK / Global customers should be able to get this via the usual independent stockists, with Robot Kingdom already indicating they will open pre-orders shortly. Also unveiled was the packaging for the previously announced Mimban Stormtrooper. This figure will deviate from the current Red/Black Phase 3 packaging to a dirty grey and black packaging which mirrors the heavy weathering the figure carries. He will come with an E11 blaster and a soft goods cloak. This figure is exclusive to Walmart so UK collectors can hold out slim hope that the Walmart team may bring this to the UK via the Asda stores.

While Avengers Infinity War is on the immediate horizon, SH Figuarts are looking one film further and have now announced their first 1/12 figure from the summer release Ant-Man and the Wasp. This new 6" Ant-Man figure will be released in August 2018 In the US, where Bluefin act as the distributors, the set will take on even more epic proportions as Ant-Man will come boxed with a 6" scaled Ant for him to ride. The Ant will be over 9" long and the articulated Ant-Man can sit in the saddle and be posed as though he is riding the Ant.

SH Figuarts have announced two new 1/12 figures from Solo (A Star Wars Story). The first is Chewbacca who comes with his dual bandoleer and revised weapon. There are three head portraits, one with goggles and one without and final version where Chewie is roaring. Figure two is the Mimban Stormtrooper. This heavily weathered trooper comes with two blasters, swap out hand options and a cloak which looks to be sculpted rather than soft goods. Both figures are due June 2018.

Official images of the 2nd wave of Infinity War figures has been released. The wave will include Thor and Black Widow from the movie. Plus movie versions of Ant-man and the Wasp. The wave is rounded out by comic book versions of Malekith and Black Knight. The BAF is Black Dwarf / Cull Obsidian

The new Disney store exclusive Thanos figure can be ordered via the UK Disney Store  website . He is also showing up in stores in limited numbers

Review : Chief Hopper Stranger Things Wave/Series : McFarlane 7" Released : March 2018 (UK) Price : £16.99 - £19.99 Alongside Eleven, McFarlane chose Chief Hopper as the 2nd figure to launch their Stranger Things 7" line. While most of McFarlane's 7" figures in recent years have come window boxed, the Stranger Things figures played to the retro feel of the show and its 80's setting and the figures were sold carded on very retro rounded corner cards. The artwork too was 1980s in styling with the tram line border and the movie poster backdrop. The figures are presented in the blister to the bottom left of the card. Above this is the character name, in this case Chief Hopper, and to the right at the bottom is the Stranger Things logo. The Netflix log sits top and central breaking that tramline border, and just round from this is the McFarlane badge - and this to is a throwback to the early days of McFarlane rather than the more modern logo. Carded figures are designed both for that retro feel, but also to appeal to collectors to keep the figures carded and displayed in their packaging. To that end I do not understand the decision to use the same depth as blister on Hopper as they did on Eleven. That means the figure doesn't actually fit in its normal state - so to make him fit the feet have been bent inwards. The look is awful and at first glance I thought my figure was broken. Would I have picked this up in a store if I didn't know it was a deliberate move? Having done some research I haven't found any other examples of this online, so it may be a batch problem or something that has been done at the factory. We've reached out to McFarlane for clarity. The card reverse also has a retro feel with pictures of the current figures (Hopper and Eleven) and a checklist of the other figures coming. The card we have is a European design and the text is repeated in French and Italian in certain places. The blister has to be ripped to be opened, and inside we have the figure sat into an inner tray. There is one twisty tie round the waist and this isn't your usual tie, this is both elasticated and twisted - so its even harder to remove. Either side of Hopper's head is his revolver and coffee mug. And sat into the back of the insert is a Stranger THings figure stand. Unlike Eleven, Hopper has no issues standing for display or for our photos' We have still however dropped him onto his stand. This is again a clear stand, with a yellow tint. The Stranger Things logo is printed on top and there is one single peg which attaches to Hopper's right foot - there is no peg hole on the left foot. While Eleven was a truly spectacular sculpt, I am less impressed with Hopper and he has certainly lost a lot of the likeness we saw in prototype images. He has also lost an alternative head which was shown early on and is presented with one head with the Sheriff hat fixed in place. Positives on the head sculpt include the eyes and the use of shading to pick out the features. The beard however is too thick and lumpy and the hair and ears are very basic - as though they are from a different (cheaper) figureline all together. The rest of the body, the Sheriff Uniform, is well executed. The shirt is a pale beige with a crisp Police badge and nameblate on either side of the chest. On one shoulder is the US flag, on the other a very clear decal that reads Hawkins Police Department. There is even a pen tucked into his pocket. The colouring is one tone on the shirt, so no weathering. Round the back, disappointingly, is some scratches and damage - an issue I've had on both Stranger Things figures so far. Are McFarlane cutting cost on paint or are the figures/accessories being too tightly packed. The trousers are a darker shade of beige and these are weathered with some darker patches washed in to dirty them up. We finish with Hopper's shoes which are brown with beige soles - painting here is less than tidy with the lines between the sole and shoe very messy in places. Hopper has 13 points of articulation, but while the quantity of joints is good for a sub £20 figure - the quality is pretty poor. I am going to start with the horrific crotch joints. The legs work similar to the T-Joint Diamond use on their Selects. But the way its been executed is awful and the whole crotch looks like it has shattered into various piece. It is bad enough then closed, but open it up to widen the stance and it looks awful. Down from this we have single jointed rotating knees - the joint that they've spun round to make him fit the blister. The ankles also have a joint, but it really will only rotate. Arms are ball jointed at the shoulder, but with a visible peg that shows through at the front. The elbows are done in same way with a visible peg and these bend to about 90 degrees as well as rotating. Like the ankles, the wrists are pegged and rotate The final joint is the head which sits on a ball joint to rotate and pitch up and down. Again this is an ugl y joint when viewed from the side as it sits very high under the ears. Accessory one is a Revolver. This is cast in a slightly softer plastic, but has a good level of detail around the chamber and down the barrel. It is painted in silver with a black grip with silver screw in the centre. It fits into the right hand with a flexible trigger finger which can be angled into the trigger, but only behind it - not so that it is going to pull the trigger to shoot. When not in use the gun fits into the working holster on Hopper's belt. This is a nice tight fit. Hopper also gets his coffee mug. This is cast in a harder plastic and looks ceramic with a good shine to the finish. To hold it you put the slim handle into the left hand and then sort of twist it around until it holds in place. It is not the most natural hold for a mug, but once positioned and thanks to the elbow articulation it does look OK. While these figures are listed as a 7" scale, Hopper actually stands a bit taller at 7 and a quarter inch tall. This makes him look a little tall against NECA figures, but pretty similar to a lot of the Select figures from Marvel or indeed Gotham and Ghostbusters. He scales well to Eleven, and I hope that the scale accuracy is retained for the duration of the series. Pricing is keen on these figures, and you should be able to get Hopper under £20, perhaps lower if you go with buying him and Eleven as a package. For that price I can forgive the limited articulation, but not the ugly joints they've decided to use - they undo a lot of the good work on the looks of the figure. While the uniform is impressive, the head sculpt on Hopper is not as strong as Eleven. There are also quality concerns when you see a figure come straight out of the pack with scratched paint. And I am sorry if you are a MIB collector on this line as those unnaturally bent legs in the blister would drive me mad every time I looked at it. Hopper is the lesser of the two releases to launch this Stranger THings line and I am going to score him 2 out of 5.

Pros : Both Rocket heads are well done. Groot is impressive even at such a small size Cons : Groot does not stand well at all. An additional larger accessory would have been nice to fill out the set Rocket Raccoon and Groot from their 2nd outing in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2, were part of the 2nd wave of Guardians figures in 2017. They were part of the Mantis BAF wave along with other characters from the movie including Gamora, Nebula and a long coated Star Lord. The packaging for the wave was purple themed and included alternative images on the box sides - one for Rocket (left) and one for Baby Groot (right). Differing pakcaging was used when this figure was re-released in UK as part of a "Best of MCU" wave. Here the Guardians were released with Thor Ragnarok figures and the BAF was the Gladiator Hulk. The overall theme on this wave is sky blue. If you pick up this release then Rocket will come with one head option only - mouth open. On the card back and the main image is of the Rocket figure, while Groot in his Ravager outfit is displayed in a circular insert. We get the usual multilingual background text for the characters aside the images of the figures - and beneath all of this the BAF details including an image of Mantis and a checklist of the figures you need to buy to assemble her. Out of the box and the figures, and BAF part, sit in the usual clear tray which itself sits in a purple cardboard sleeve. This sleeve is neatly printed with a Ravagers logo which is sadly not too visible until you've emptied the box of its contents. Starting with Rocket, and he arrives with a snarling head sculpt in place. This is well executed with a much better look than the 2014 Legends Rocket. The paint job is pretty slick with some variation in fur shading and some wash to add depth to the sculpt. The eyes are small, but emotive and the mouth is filled with individual sculpted teeth and a fleshy pink tongue. Rocket is wearing his blue flight suit. This is a flat blue colour darker blue panels around the midsection, grey straps and silver painted clasps. The fur across the arms and legs is less well painted as the head and is a glossier plain brown finish. There is colour variation in the tail which alternates between two shades of brown. The whole figure stands 3" high. Despite his size, Rocket still carries a respectable 17 points of articulation. The head is a ball joint and can rotate fully. It doesn't have a great deal of vertical movement due to its size and the wider neck of Rocket. The arms are fully maneuverable with a ball jointed shoulder, single rotating elbow joint and rotating wrists. The only restriction is on any two handed posing if you wanted to give Rocket a larger weapon to wield - perhaps the one from his 2014 release? There is a torso joint and like the head this rotates, but can;t move forward or backwards too much. Rocket's legs get ball jointed hips, a thigh swivel, single jointed knees and he even has ankle joints of a fashion. These are not usual rockers, but rather a peg via which the foot attaches to the leg. This means they do rotate - watch these though as they can pop off if you turn them too much. The final joint is round the back with the articulated tail. This is a ball joint solution plugged into Rocket's butt. This gives the tail a full range of motion, but most of the time you will be using it down as a third point of contact with the shelf to have Rocket stood upright Rocket does get a 2nd head option. This one is a closed mouth, but it still carries a little snarl with the teeth exposed down the jaw line. With the mouth closed the eyes are opened up a little and again are very well painted considering the size of the head. Swapping the heads is dead easy, no issues here if you want to change them. While I am a fan of Rocket wielding massive oversized guns, this set chooses to go down the handgun route and gives Rocket the two pistols he is using in the movie as he, Yondu and Groot escape the Ravager ship. Each gun is its own distinct sculpt and is then cast in a slightly softer plastic. The paint is applied as silver colour but not fully over the black plastic which adds some character. The guns can be wielded in either hand, but only the right has a trigger finger which can be coaxed to sit in the trigger of whichever gun you choose to use. Onto Groot now and this is him in the Ravagers outfit. This is a single cast piece with no articulation. He stands just an inch and a half high, and despite this he is really nicely painted. You can see clear variations of brown on his head with a blend to green on the top parts of his head. The eyes are well defined. And there is even detail across his red Ravager uniform such as a bronze fastener across the front, a couple of brown straps near the legs and a gold badge on the shoulder. On my figure I do have a splot of ravager red on Groot's foot which is a factory error, but only noticeable in these close up photos. The only other issue Groot presents is the ability to stand. His feet are quite small and not wide enough to support the body. While a solution might have been nice out of the box, it is not difficult to use something like blu tack to hold him up on display. I did try to pose Groot on Rocket's shoulder but that is not accounted for in the way the two figures are designed so sadly Baby Groot will need to be stood alongside Rocket on display and not screaming on his shoulder. When any figure of Rocket's size is released as a single there will be complaints as to the value vs a full size 6" figure. For me I think this set has offset this value argument pretty well by including Groot, a 2nd head, a couple of weapons and quite a considerable piece of Mantis. I would however have liked the set to go one step further and adding one of Rocket's trademark larger guns, or perhaps the bomb from the final battle with Ego. Everything about Rocket is well executed and Groot, despite his size, is in the main well painted and just suffers from being difficult to stand. I award Rocket & Groot a very solid 4 out of 5 rating.

NECA have shared this development photo of their work in progress Ultimate Stripe Gremlin Stripe will follow the generic Gremlin as a 2nd Ultimate release with his own specific accessories. This shot idicates a skateboard accessory pack in is being considered

Diamond Select Toys are bringing us a Select scale Thanos and he has already started showing up at selected Disney Stores and Parks. The figure is a modern comic book version and includes two head options. He stands a little taller than other 7" Select figures, but perhaps not as tall as the Mad Titan should. Pricing seems to be £24.99