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Mezco have opened preorders for their 1/12 Popeye figure. US price is $80 with a $20 none refundable deposit due on pre-order. UK preorders are kicking off around £65 Shipping is estimated between November 2018 and January 2019 "Well blow me down!” Mezco welcomes the ocean’s most renowned spinach-loving sailor, Popeye, into the One:12 Collective. The One:12 Collective Popeye figure includes two masterfully crafted head portraits: a stern stare and a salty glare. Authentically presented in his classic sailor clothing and a removable pea coat, Popeye comes complete with a wide range of accessories including: a functional drawstring duffle bag, a collapsible spy glass, a compass with hinged lid, two spinach cans, three different hats, and two styles of corncob pipes. He’s one tough Gazookus, which hates all Palookas! Created by E.C. Segar and first introduced in 1929, Popeye the Sailorman has become one of the most beloved and recognizable cartoon characters of all time. Known for his constant muttering, squinting, and superhuman strength after gulping down a can of spinach, Popeye will do whatever it takes to rescue his beloved Olive Oyl from the wicked hands of Bluto.

Happy #SatTOYday! CLICK HERE for this week's issue And Happy Easter to all our readers and subscribers. As usual at this time of year we are in the post Toy Fair lull with news about new figures few and far between. In this week's issue we do get a good look at some new figures coming from Medicom in their MAFEX line - and also in Japan we see two exclusives from SH Figuarts coming to Tamashii Comic Con in May 2018. The Avengers Infinity War machine rolls on with another basic 6" figure turning up. Also with Marvel we find Disney Stores are now stocking an unmasked Tom Holland Spider-Man from Homecoming. In reviews we step over the threshold to the Upside Down as we open up our Archive of McFarlane Stranger Things figures... were we impressed or disappointed, read on to find out www.facebook.com/mephitsu www.twitter.com/mephitsu www.issuu.com/mephitsu

Review : Eleven Stranger Things Wave/Series : McFarlane 7" Released : March 2018 (UK) Price : £16.99 - £19.99 McFarlane have been back in the 7" Action Figure game for about 2-years now, but in that time they haven't really found any major hitters in terms of licences aside from The Walking Dead. This may all be set to change with the arrival (finally for the UK) of the long awaited Stranger Things figures. Like most of the McFarlane releases, these are not a wave as such, but are individual releases with us getting two simultaneously to kick off the Stranger Things line. Here we are looking at Eleven. While all the McFarlane 7" figures to date have been window box releases, the Stranger Things figures are blister carded in a nod to the shows retro feel and 1980's setting. The cards are designed with the rounded corners and J-hook us children of the 80's remember so well, with the card art being very reminiscent of the movie posters of the time. Round the back is more 80's retro goodness with section showing off images of the two figures released so far - Eleven and Hopper. To the side of this in a contrasting blue colour is a checklist of upcoming figures of Dustin, Lucas, Mike, Will and the Demogorgon. Only the Demogorgon has an image of he actual figure, the others are head shots of the cast. The final segment of the card is beige and turned over to the legal and copyright details. This card seems to be the European release with a number of the rear text items repeated in French and Italian. Eleven is packed into a blister on an inner tray, and the only way out is by ripping the card (old school style). The inner tray see's Eleven strapped in by two twisty/elastic ties which do take some undoing. The rest of the accessories are held in by tape. Watch out for the blonde wig which sits behind the tray not in it - it falls out very easily and can get lost in the packaging. At this point in my review we normally start looking at sculpt and paint, but not with this one. There is a key issue to address immediately with Eleven and that is with her leg joints and her ability to stand. Straight out of the pack it is clear there is something not right about her lower legs and knee joints. In fact when you close the knees up fully in to what would normally be a neutral position they are horrifically bent unnaturally forward (see images). Couple this with very loose ankle rockers somewhere in the sneakers, and there is zero chance of Eleven standing under her own steam. Thankfully there is a stand included. This looks to be a clear plastic, but up close does have a yellowing to it. The Stranger Things logo is printed onto this in a deep red. There is one foot peg and this goes into Eleven's right foot, the only one with a corresponding peg hole. This fit is not good either and there is still some terrible leaning until you get those knees and ankles balanced. While I was pretty frustrated at this point after fighting to get Eleven stood up, this was soon forgotten when you start to admire both the sculpt and paint job on this figure. Considering that this is a sub £20 item (I bought both Eleven and Hopper for around £35) the facial sculpt is arguably on par with, if not better, than NECA. The likeness to Millie Bobbie Brown is spectacular The eyes in particular are very intense, and while the skin has varying tones and shades which heightens the likeness while also adding depth and shadow. Eleven even gets a tiny blood trickle from her nose. The body and outfit are equally as impressive. Eleven stands a shade over 6" high and comes in her pink dress and blue jacket. The jacket is ruffled and creased and has patches of dirt washed into the blue. Similarly the dress is dirty and stained in the creases. The hands and legs are a plain skin tone and the only spoiler to the look of the figure remains those ugly knee joints with a very old school peg joint clearly visible from both sides. We finish with off white socks and dirty and muddy sneakers. McFarlane are not about high articulation, but they are trying to add enough to each figure to give the figure the poseability it needs. Eleven is advertised as having 12+ points of articulation. 12+ is a stretch, I can get to 11 points ironically with another couple bordering on what could be classed as a joint. We start with a very maneuverable ball jointed head with a good range of motion. We then have a shoulder joint and a single rotating elbow which gives a decent range of arm movements. The hands are simply plugs so there is no pivot, only a rotation at the wrist. The legs start with the floppy ankles we spoke about earlier. There is then that bizarre knee joint which looks to be 10 years out of date and seems to bend the knee the wrong way. Because you also have to have the joint open to have Eleven standing, you expose the ratchet underneath. Above this are the two contentious joints as I think the hips may be a swivel, but they certainly don't do anything else. With that in mind I would not have been adverse to McFarlane skipping the knee joints and adding more joints into say the arms or the torso. Eleven gets a second set of hands in the pack, both designed to hold the accessories she is also packed with. Unlike most modern figures where the peg and hand are connected and they slot into a socket in the arm - the McFarlane joint is a peg in the arm onto which the hand slips by means of a tiny ball joint. While the hands come off easily, they are difficult to add back on as you can't really see what you are doing and if everything is lined up. The spare right hand is bizarre at first look with what looks to be a 6 digit coming off the thumb. This is actually a peg which is used with the radio accessory. This radio is cast in a black plastic with silver paint added to the aerial and a few buttons. I am not sure why a gripping hand was beyond McFarlane? Instead we slot the radio into the hand by lining up a hole on the back with that weird plug. Once in place it looks odd as the grip is still not there and in a lot of poses it looks like she is levitating the radio. The other alternative hand (left) is a gripping hand and is there to hold Eleven's Eggo. The Eggo itself is a simple disc with waffle imprinting. It slots neatly into the gripping left hand. Our final piece is the wig that Eleven wears in the first series to blend in at the school. The hair piece is a faily heavy solid piece and is well painted in shades of blonde with a wash to add darkness to depth. Because it feels so rigid and heavy I was sceptical on the fit, but it did indeed slot over the shaved head of Eleven and sits pretty well. I do however urge caution using the wig as my first instincts were probably correct and after just one fitting on my figure it gouged a load of paint off the side of Eleven's head - frustrating! Why include something that will actually damage the figure? It it can't be engineered to work without damage then don't include it or make it a swap out head option. The Stranger Things Eleven is a stunning figure with an awesome paint job. It then undoes all that hard work with the worst knee joints I've seen for a very long time and an inability to stand for any period of time - even with the stand. The hair piece is also frustrating as it damages the figure it is meant to be designed to fit. The choice of the radio and the peg in the hand is also an odd one and doesn't look great. All in all Eleven will look awesome on display, you just need to keep her upright and that might even mean the radical solution of glueing her lower joints. I score the Stranger Things Eleven a 3 out of 5.

As we saw at Toy Fair 2018, Bandai are now a licence holder for the Pacific Rim licence. They are releasing Jaegers under their Robot Spirits brand at between 5 and 6" in height and to fight the Jaegers will be the Kaiju. These will be released under the SOFVI Spirits line (Soft Vinyl) and we saw the first of these at toy fair - the impressive Raijin Joining Raijin is another Kaiju, the enormous Shrikethorn who will tower over your Jaegers at an impressive 9" in length. As a Soft Vinyl figure the articulation is limited to just four point on the arms, the rest of the body and tail are fixed. This does keep the price down to just 5400 yen in Japan (£36 / $50). Shrikethorn will be released in August 2018 in Japan. Outside of Japan, this will be a Bandai Webstore Premium Exclusive.

Pros : Size and articulation is spectacular. Neatly painted and well designed to fit the figure Cons : Expensive to collect across 7 other figures, particularly if you are an MCU only collector. A flight stand would have been awesome For the full effect for your Vulture Marvel Legend figure, you will need to track down the other 6 parts of the Vulture wing suit. These are spread across the two Spider-Man versions from Homecoming - and then within four other comic book releases of Beetle, Tombstone, Cosmic Spider-Man and Moon Knight. With your 7 parts in place, assembly is straightforward although you will need to make sure you get the correct left and right orientation for the turbines and the wings. The whole piece sits on the flight stand should you wish to display this as a separate item - this is of course film accurate to considering how the Vulture parks this thing in his hideout. You wonder if the stand could have had a bit more imagination put into it to match those scenes? Paint work is pretty basic. The parts are all cast in a hard grey plastic. The green panels are then added, and in the main these are all neat in terms of bleeding or splashes. I got one splash of green on my right wing, but nothing noticeable. Around the back of the central section the repulsor engine is an electric blue that fades outward to show the energy source for the suit. The turbines are cast in a lighter silver plastic and then sit into the housings to add another colour contrast.When you get up close there is a lot of intricate detailing on the wings, particular the inner sections near the turbines. These could have done with a wash or dry brush to bring them out? The flight suit actually weighs in with a very decent amount of articulation and in simple terms there are 12 points where the joints move. From the backpack section the wings pivot on a hinge allowing them to be brought forward or swept back. Behind this on the same hinge the turbine piece pivots independently and within this section the actual turbines themselves sit into the bracket by means of two pins which allows them to rotate within their housing. Further out we get what looks like a peg that connects the inner wing to the outer wing. This allows the end tips to swing up and down allowing the wing to reach full stretch or to be folded down to perhaps save some space. Just next to this peg is another hinge. This final joint allows the wing tips to swing and out The suit slots onto the figure by means of a peg on the back. Once in place Vulture can stand with the suit outstretched, but beware overbalancing one way or another as you move the wings. At their furthest points the wings stretch out to 2 ft across. That makes this arguably the biggest BAF for quite some time. As a flying character one miss is the lack of any flight stand. Vulture comes to life when he is posed in a vertical flying position as we have done here with an aftermarket 12" doll stand I had to hand. I do intent to try some other options, but I suspect the weight and span of the kit makes a lot of the hinged clear stands unsuitable. For those who read the figure review before this segment can now see how that leg articulation comes into its own. It is not about any fighting or action stances on the ground, it is the legs bent and claws out flying poses that really set the Vulture off in a display. The Vulture and his BAF wing suit are a pretty big investment for your MCU collection, both in terms of cash and in terms of shelf space needed. Summing up the wings these are very well executed and Hasbro certainly haven't downsized anything when putting this set together. Had this been a deluxe release for £50+ I think fans would have bought this without hesitation. Making it a BAF makes it a bigger decision, but if you love Vulture and Homecoming it is a purchase you won't regret. The only negative I can throw at the BAF is the lack of a flight stand, and that can be remedied pretty cheaply from the aftermarket. I score the Vulture Flight Wings a solid 4 out of 5. Did you miss our Vulture figure review?

Pros : Well conceived figure, with neat paint job Cons : Feels "half a release" until you track down the wings. Legs are a little slim. No weapons or accessories. The Spider-Man Homecoming wave of Marvel Legends gave us three key figures from the movie, the two Spidey costumes and the key villain from the movie, Vulture. The issue was that Hasbro could not put a full Vulture figure, complete with that enormous flight suit, as a single release. While a deluxe box set might have been an option, Hasbro chose to make the flight suit the Build-a-Figure for the line. That meant that if you wanted a complete Vulture in your collection you had to purchase all 7 figures in the wave, four of which were comic book releases. The Spider-Man packaging is a little off when you look at it as it has a deep red outer box theme, but the figure is then placed against a blue sky backdrop, and the two don't seem to go well together. Vulture is packed into the inner sleeve with the BAF part behind him. The BAF part is the backpack for the suit, and a clear stand for displaying the wing set as a separate piece if you wish. The obvious "miss" to start with is that Vulture only comes with his helmeted head. Considering he spends a good proportion of the film unmasked it might have been nice to get a Michael Keaton head as a swap out option. The helmeted head is well done with a huge clear plastic visor over the eye details which gives a good depth to those glowing green eyes beneath. The outfit for Vulture is essentially a fur collar flight jacket and this collar and jacket top section is well sculpted, although painted a touch glossy for my liking. Around this jacket are sculpted straps with neatly painted bronze metallic clasps and clips. The lower section starts off as flight trousers in a military green and these then turn into metallic vulture legs with the clawed feet. When you view the figure these legs are perhaps a little slim when you consider what this would be physically like in real life with the prosthetics and armour strapped over human sized legs. The metal parts are a touch too dull and one tone and a wash would have gone down a treat. Vulture gets 18 points of articulation, one less than normal as he has not been given the T-jointed chest piece - most likely to keep the torso solid enough to support that huge flight suit. The head is ball jointed and moves a fair bit until the lower sections and piping start to hit the fur collar. The arms are ball jointed at the shoulder with a bicep swivel, double jointed elbows and a wrist pivot. The waist is a swivel joint which can swing the torso to either side, although doing so ruins the look of the waist. The legs start with a ball jointed hip which is very maneuverable. We the get a thigh swivel and move down to double jointed knees. THere is a form of ankle rocker, but this has less range than usual thanks to those huge clawed feet. The posing on the legs come into their own when we you get Vulture in a flight pose, so checkout the flight suit review to see how this works. Vulture feels like half a release as I cannot see how collectors would stop with just the figure and not go after the full flight suit. If you are a completist, this isn't a problem. But ff you are MCU collecting only then you will need to track down some parts, or buy the full 7 figure wave to get the suit - sticking the figures you don't want back on eBay to offset some of the £140+ the wave will have cost you. If we look at Vulture in isolation, he is a 3 out of 5 release. Everything is done well, but not brilliantly. The legs look too slim, there are no weapons or accessories to make him stand out - where is the weapon he had on the Ferry? Or give him an Iron-Man helmet to brood over? Click through for the 2nd part of this review as we take a look at Vulture's Wing Suit BAF

September 2018 will see Medicom release their 1/12 MAFEX Robocop figure. It seems there will then be a follow up to this release, with a Robocop 2 figure arriving in January 2019. The Robocop 2 figure will be coming with alternative expressions for the face and a quantity of damaged armour parts which can be swapped out depending on the look you want for Murphy. He will also come with his trademark weapon and options to have the thigh holster open or closed. Also included are a blast FX and a socket set. The final accessory is Cain's brain

It seems that the John Wick licence for Action Figures has been touted around a number of different companies. After announcements by both Mezco and Diamond Select, it now seems Medicom are also releasing a John Wick figure in their 6" MAFEX line. The MAFEX John Wick will come with two head options, one normal and one bloodied. He will be well armed, with a selection of machine guns and hand guns to use. The figure is scheduled for release in January 2019.

The Tamashii Comic Con takes place in Japan in May, across the 25th to 27th. The event is a showcase of the Tamashii Nations product range including their SH Figuarts line of 1/12 Action Figures. Attendees to the event have two convention exclusives to look forward to. Up first is a brand new Iron-Man figure in their Marvel 1/12 line. This is a version of the Mk3 armour, but painted in Stealth colouring. He will set collectors back 6000 yen (about £40). And for Star Wars fans, we have a Force Awakens C-3PO. He will come with the red arm, and in a special metalized finish. Threepio is a little more expensive at 6500 yen (approx £44). Both figures will be strictly limited, so if you want to have one of these in your collection prepare to spend big on the secondary market - or talk nicely to someone attending the event.

After announcing Eggsy in February, Medicom have now confirmed that the 2nd figure in their MAFEX 1/12 Kingsman line will be Harry Hart, as played by Colin Firth. Harry will come with two version so his umbrella - one open and one closed. He also has a handgun and alternative shoe options, with the 2nd pair having a pair of blades exposed. Eggsy isn't out unti December 2018, and Harry Hart will follow in 2019.

Empire Magazine are offering two FREE Marvel Legends 6" figures to anyone subscribing to a year of Empire Magazine by the 18th of April. The figures will be a random pick from the UK Best of MCU wave which builds the Hulkbuster from Age of Ultron. The figures included are Loki, Hawkeye, Warmachine, Avengers Assemble Captain America, Black Widow, Thor. Hulk and Iron-Man. If you go for a physical subscription that will be £42 for a repeating annual subscription or £46.50 for a one off annual subscription. If the figures are your interest then try the digital subscription which is £26 for 12-months including the figures. So arguably £13 each for figures and a free magazine each month on your tablet. CLICK HERE for the offer via Great Magazines While the random pick is a downside, there are some great figures in that line. And if you don't get exactly what you want there are some great communities, like our friends at Marvel Legends UK where you can look for trades or sell the figure on.

Ghostbusters fans have probably never had it so good in terms of Action Figure availability and options. We've recently had a wider release of the Mattel 6" figures, and have a pretty indepth line of 7" figures from Diamond Select. The next team to throw their hat in the ring is Mezco who have finally confirmed the details of their 6" One:12 Collective Ghostbusters figures The first point to make is that these are up for pre-order as a set only. The four figures will come in a single collectors tin and there is no indication of single releases - although to be honest, who would buy just one or two of the team? Each figure comes with the usual tailored soft goods outfit that One:12 are renowned for. There is also an additional head option for each character, the swap out head being an expressive versions such as Peter's "he slimed me" face. The figures also come with accessories and a utility belt. The belt will hold the specific accessory and a walkie-talkie. Venkman comes with a Bacharach Sniffer 300. Ray with a Ghost Trap and his Ecto Googles. Egon has a PKE meter, with working extendable arms. And while not a true accessory, Winston will come with Slimer who has articulated arms. Other pack in parts include the standard One:12 display stand and alternative hands for the characters. All the hands do appear to be gloved. The set is up for pre-order at $300 and is due to ship sometime between October and December 2018. UK pre-orders are likely to go up soon and I'd be expecting to pay around £250 They ain’t afraid of no ghost! Mezco welcomes everyone’s favorite parapsychologists into the One:12 Collective with a five-figure deluxe set - all four Ghostbusters plus a supernatural bonus figure: Slimer! Each Ghostbuster comes with their own light-up proton pack and is packaged in a special edition, collector-friendly metal tin, perfect for displaying alongside the troop! ​ The One:12 Ghostbusters Deluxe Box Set features all four heroes, each boasting two head portraits: one natural and one scared expression, and also features the likeness of Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson. Each of the 4 paranormal paladins comes with their own proton pack with a light-up feature, perfect for pesky encounters with ectoplasmic entities. Simply press the button on the proton pack to activate! No detail was overlooked when designing the Ghostbusters’ uniforms which feature working zippers, functional pockets, nametags, and the Ghostbusters logo. After losing their cushy positions at Columbia University, Peter Venkman and company decide to become "ghostbusters" and wage a high-tech battle with supernatural forces in order to make ends meet. Upon stumbling across a gateway to another dimension, the Ghostbusters must save New York from complete destruction.