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Pros : The new head is brilliant. Paintwork is crisp. Plenty of articulation. Working knife holsters Cons : Clutching at straws here, but you could argue another head might have been good for those who want a neutral posed group of Guardians Drax the Destroyer made his MCU Legends debut in 2014 as part of the full Guardians wave of figures that would also allow you to build your own Groot. With the sequel in 2017, a new set of Guardians was released across two waves and this saw a new Drax in his updated blue trousers and complete with very big gun. Drax was first released in 2017 as part of the Titus BAF wave, he would then go on to be re-released in the UK as part of the 2018 best of MCU wave. This is the release we are reviewing, the only difference being the BAF part which is now a Hulk Ragnarok leg. From everything I had seen up to actually owning this figure, I had thought it a brand new sculpt considering how much better it looked vs the 2014 release. To my surprise it is a complete re-use, just with a new head sculpt and updated paint apps. The new head really captures Drax in terms of the angry shouting expression - you can almost see him launching himself at the Abilisk at the start of the movie. The facial tattoos are all sculpted and beneath them are the very neatly painted eyes. The only niggle with the head sculpt is the lack of a 2nd version should you want a more neutral Drax for your display. Everything below the head has been released before. However, this time round Hasbro have upped their game on the execution of the decoration which is why it looks and feels like a much better figure. The body art is all sculpted and now is painted more crisply against a more realistic and contrasting blue skin. The blue trousers, while one tone with no weathering, also add a contrast to the skin decor and it makes the whole upper torso pop. The figure finishes with black boots, complete with knife holsters and brushed metal effect straps. Articulation for Drax is impressive, and there is absolutely no issue in posing him in a variety of battle ready posed. With a sufficient action stand you could also replicate that leap into battle with the Abilisk if you wanted. There are 19 points of articulation, most of which are ratcheted and click neatly when moved - although when you pick the figure up there is some looseness in the joints between the ratchets. The core of the body has a ball jointed head, t-joint ratchet torso and a rotating waist - although when you do move the waist the body looks quite peculiar where the two meet. Arms are ball jointed shoulders, rotating biceps, double jointed elbows and pivot rotating wrists. The legs follow the same setup with ball joint hips, thigh swivels, double jointed knees and ankle rockers. Drax is dead easy to stand on his own, both in a neutral position but also in more dynamic positions. Drax is armed with his dual knives, another carryover from the 2014 release. These are cast in a softer plastic but are still crisp in terms of looking like knives with their curling blade and intricate detail in the hilt. They are a dark grey in colour with dry brushing of silver over the top. They fit into both hands, and can be positioned blade up or blade down depending on which of Drax's fighting styles you want on your display. And when not in use these blades do fit into the working holsters either side of the boot. They slot in and hold in position and no not particularly impact the leg movement in any way. Another new addition is the rocket launcher. This is cast in black plastic and has no paint applications of any kind. Drax's arm has to be stretched out to hold this while resting the rounded sectio over the shoulder. Once posed it looks pretty impressive, especially with the screaming head sculpt. The Rocket Launcher is of course from the first Guardians movie, but I guess it is rude to nit pick when we get a new or extra accessory thrown into a release. Hasbro have taken an average figure of Drax from 2014, and by changing the head and some paint apps they've made an infinitely better figure. With the screaming head, the working knife holsters and the impressive articulation I see no reason why we cannot award GOTG2 Drax top marks of 5 out of 5

The basic range of 6" figures for Avengers Infinity War is even larger than we first imagined. As well as all the other figures announced to date, we can now add War Machine to that listing. The figure is a 6" scale limited articulation release which will retail for around £10 here in the UK. This line is currently being stocked by Tesco, Disney Store and Very.

The UK Disney Store have listed an exclusive unmasked Spider-Man Select figure from Homecoming, available right now at £22 plus delivery. The release uses the existing body, hand options and diorama base - but replaces the masked head with an unmasked Tom Holland head. It arrives in the usual Select packaging, but possibly a slimmed down version as we've seen before for Disney release. The packaged shot looks impressive in terms of the likeness to Holland - unfortunately the unpacked shots are not flattering The blurb on the website leads with "Inspired by Avenger's Infinity War" and yet the figure carries the Homecoming logo. As I've previously speculated, I wonder if Disney will lead with a selection of Select 7" figures for Infinity War - all tweaked from prior releases, but not necessarily the actual Infinity War suits. We could therefore get that unmasked Star-Lord? We could also get some re-releases like Winter Soldier or Black Widow. This would be similar to how they did Civil War at Disney Store, albeit they were predominantly comic book releases. Swing into action and adventure with our Spider-Man action figure! The web-slinging hero features multiple points of articulation and comes with 6 extra, changeable hands and a rooftop diorama base. Inspired by Avenger's Infinity War Special collector's edition action figure Film-inspired character face, exclusive to Disney Store Painted character detail Classic costume Figure: H16 x W7 x D3cm approx. Packaging: H33 x W25 x D11.5cm approx. Made from plastic Warning: not suitable for under 36 months due to small parts

Pros : Neat paint job, nice sculpt and a bonus figure for a Spider-Man Homecoming display Cons : Red tones can look a little pink in some lights. Needs swap out hand options and two repulsor blast FX pieces. When you look at Spider-Man Homecoming as a movie event, there were essentially only around 4 or 5 characters that Hasbro could do as figures in their Legends range. While Spider-Man and Vulture took the key slots, it was inevitable that an Iron-Man would make an appearance considering his mentor role in the film. While the Mark 47 suit didn't get a release as a single figure in the Homecoming wave, Hasbro did get it out to collectors by packing it with a tweaked version of the Spider-Man figure in a movie 2-pack. The set was a US exclusive and was presented in the widened version of the Legends packaging. Spider-Man got an unmasked Peter Parker head and a tweaked mask. Iron-Man was a brand new figure, albeit a repaint of the Civil War Mark 46 suit released in 2016. Having had a number of red and gold Iron-Man figures in the Legends line, the Mark 47 is a nice break with its predominantly silver trunk section. For me it is more visual appealing than the Mark 46 on which it is based. The sculpt remains the same as the Mark 46 with crisp lines and sleek panels and armour. The paint is neat and glossy, although the ed does start to look a touch too pink and washed out under certain lights. The Mark 47 suit stands 6.5 inches high, which makes it look and feel like Tony in a suit as opposed to other Iron-Man suit figures which are often on the small size. The same level of detail we saw on the head continues into the body with crisp lines, panels and sleek lines bringing all the panels together, This is painted neatly with no bleeds or spotting. The only criticism would be the silver areas which are one tone and might have benefited from either a dark wash, or some slightly varying shades to differentiate the sections from each other. The hands are an odd setup, with one clenched as a fist and the other an open palm. The Mark 46 got options for both on each hand, while here you do not have such a choice. As an armoured and bulky figure, articulation will always suffer a little. The Mark 47 has 16 points of articulation, a couple less than other contemporary figures. The head is ball jointed and very mobile with some nice upward motion should you want a flying pose for your suit. The torso is jointed under the arc reactor and this is also very mobile with some good backward movement, it is also nice to see as the torso is leaned backward the section under the torso is painted red and that the lines of the figure are therefore not lost when posing. The arms are made up of a shoulder joint, which is restricted by the shoulder panels. You can raise the arm to about 45 degrees and then rotate it round the body. Further rotation is achieved by the bicep swivel under the shoulder. You do get double jointed elbows, and these allow the forearm to bend past 90 degrees, but not quite enough to fold back on itself. There is a similar range on the wrists which are pegged and pivoted. While these rotate, it is tough to get the hand to bend to 90 degrees to the forearm - this will have an impact later on in the review. The hip joints are very pronounced ball joints, very visible due to the Iron-Man construction. There is no thigh swivel, with the legs able to be turned at the hip. There are double jointed knees and the legs finish up with ankle rockers. This all means Iron-Man can do some nice action poses, but not get near the superhero landing you have seen him do in many of his movies. All the joints mentioned in both the legs and in the arms are nice and tight with clear ratchet operation. Iron-Man stands perfectly in a number of stances. While this is a Mark 46 repaint, it does bring something new to the party with an alternative head option. While a proper MCU Tony Stark head would have been preferential, the next best thing is the empty sentry head as we see in the early part of Homecoming when the suit rescues Peter from the lake after his first tussle with Vulture. The head swaps on and off easily and the alternative is painted as well as the original head, with some other nice touches like the eye slots in the mask being a plain black to indicate they are no longer engaged. The one disappointment is similar to the body where the inner is a simple grey tone with no definition despite sculpted detail within that a wash or some other paint apps might have enhanced. Mark 47 also comes with a blast FX piece. These are also re-used from the Civil War Mark 46 suit, but in that release we got two of them. Here we only get the one. The FX piece slots into the left hand which has a socket int he centre of the palm. the idea is that his reflects a repulsor blast. But remember that arm articulation from earlier, and you will struggle to get the arm and the wrist in particular into a firing pose that looks natural. Had there been two, like the Mark 46, then you could have used them in a vertical flying pose. The piece itself is OK and looks half decent with a translucent blue colouring and some white accents of paint to make it appear more dynamic. It slots easily into the hand and holds in place without concern. In summing up, the Mark 47 is a figure that has a lot of plus points, but also a lot of missed opportunities. Had it been a single release then I am sure it would have got alternative hands and two FX pieces, but by packing it with an already released Spider-Man (albeit with Peter Parker head) it has lost some of its opportunities to shine and it ends up feeling a little short changed. To flesh out your Homecoming display, it works, but the fact it is a two pack will gall some collectors. And the circulation of the set outside of the US has made it very difficult for overseas collectors. Give this a Tony Stark MCU head, two lots of hands and two repulsor blasts and it would have pushed a 5 out of 5 triumph. As it stands the set comes in with a 3 out of 5, and the Mark 47 gets the same mid-table score.

Happy #SatTOYday! CLICK HERE for this week's issue If you are trying to avoid any spoilers for Avengers Infinity War, then this issue is probably not for you.... While most of the Toy Companies took a break after Toy Fair, those supporting Infinity War product released a wealth of images and details as we hit the embargo date of the 3rd of March. We get a better look at the Hasbro 6" Hero line as well as more Legends. And over in the Far East, SH Figuarts have a pretty large offering themselves for the movie. In reviews we take a look at Vigo the Carpathian from the Diamond Select Ghostbuster line. We are going to be taking an extra weeks break before issue 76 so we can get back into line after doing two issues back to back for Toy Fair. We will see you in 3-weeks for our Easter Weekend issue. www.facebook.com/mephitsu www.twitter.com/mephitsu www.issuu.com/mephitsu

Review : Vigo the Carpathian Ghostbusters Select (Diamond Select Toys) Wave/Series : Series 6 (Ghostbusters II) Released : February 2018 £24.99 Pros : Costume is nicely painted and sculpted Cons : Vigo stands too short. Costume is too wide at shoulders. Articulation is poor, he can't achieve that iconic hands on hips we see in the movie When Diamond announced the plan to release Ghostbusters II figures the one figure I, and everyone else, immediately started to think about was the movies main protagonist, Vigo the Carpathian. Diamond soon confirmed that Vigo was to be released, and he would be part of Series 6 - the first wave of the GB2 products in early 2018. To date, Vigo had only had one figure in the Mattel collectors line. Having a new 7" version would be awesome. The Ghostbusters Select packaging has undergone a few tweaks for the GB2 line. We see a new yellow and black hazard stripe trim around the base, and on the spine we have the 15th anniversary badge for Select figures. Of course we also get the logo updated to the Ghostbusters II logo. Another big change, and one that will cause some concern for boxed collectors, is the decision to drop the movie still images from the art side spine and replace it with a close up of the figure. The same happened in the Gotham line, and for anyone collecting and displaying by the spine art may see this as a frustration. The card reverse has been updated to include a simple black background, split by a proton beam image. We have a picture of Vigo in the centre and atop this is an overview of Vigo and his role it he move. To the side we get the "also available" figures of Ray and Louis - and to the side of them an image of the diorama we are now collecting across Series 6 through 10 - the Ghostbusters firehouse. Vigo slides out from the main packaging in the large inner tray. He has no accessories or swap out parts and is strapped in with three twisty ties. Behind him, and thankfully filling out the packaging, are the diorama pieces. The head sculpt for Vigo is essentially a job well done. It looks best from certain angles, particularly head on. There is some good work done on the skin tone and shading around those protruding cheeks and chi. The lips are a tad too thick and this isn't helped by the colour and the fact the figure we have has some bleed from the lip paint to the skin, making it look a little like he has smudged some lipstick. The hair is not bad, but is perhaps too far receded vs what we see int he movie. It is painted in a straw colour with a darker brown washed through to pick up some depth. It does appear to be floating at the bottom over the shoulder rather than sitting naturally. Vigo's 16th Century outfit is also fairly well executed, albeit with some gripes. The colouring is a nice leather brown with painted stud work and panels in black with silver accents as needed. The issue is the separate shoulder piece which is far too wide. While it does allow the arms to move it is a size or two too big for the body and even with the arms out to the side, it looks like it is swamping him. The legs are plain but with a lot of sculpting to make it look like bunched and creased fabric that is then tucked into those knee high leather studded boots. But here is the real kicker with Vigo.... he is far too short. He weighs in at a measly 6 and 3/4 inches high, and while we never get a sense of his true height in the film, his presence and persona would for me indicate someone who stood taller than many and that would overshadow any of the other Ghostbusters figures. In reality and when you compare the figures from Series 6, Ray is a good bit taller. If we apply what we do know, actor Norbert Grupe was 1.9m tall, that is 6ft 3 inches give or take. In 1/10 scale that would make a Vigo figure needing to come in at 7 1/2 inches high. That is frankly disappointing and means the figure is a good 3/4 inches short. Articulation is pretty limited for Vigo. While there are 15 joints, many are frozen in position or move very little. We start with the head which will rotate but even with a visible pivot in the ball joint there is no up or down motion - and that is a shame as Vigo is portrayed looking down on his minions. The torso joint is neatly hidden under the chest piece and this too will rotate but unlike the head this gives plenty of leaning back motion and a touch of lean forward. There is a joint in the waist and this moves slightly to either side. The arms are the biggest issue for me. They have a ball joint shoulder which will move fully out to the side, but can't go above the head due to shoulder panels. The elbows are then a single rotating joint that don't even go to 90 degrees. We then end with a pivot wrist which rotates. Both wrists look to also be pivoted, but everytime I try and move mine the hand simply flies out of the arm socket. And here is my problem, this arm articulation is not sufficient to get the one single pose that Vigo had through the majority of the movie. I want my Carpathian to have his hands on his hips replicating that painting pose. Without double jointed elbows that is never going to happen, and the nearest you can get is the slightly awkward pose we see in the centre image above. The legs have a T-joint hip and a single joint knee. While the hips move OK, I don't need Vigo to do the splits or sit down. The knees are incredibly tight and treat these with care as mine already show signs of stress marks in the plastic. While Vigo comes with zero accessories or swap out parts, he does come with a couple of parts for the Diorama. The first is the GB2 hanging sign, and it is only when you see how big this is that you comprehend how big the final diorama will be. The second part, that arrives in a baggie, is one of the side columns. The column has a number of different paint apps and these look brilliant, particularly the sandstone effect and how the yellow actually looks like painted concrete. Be careful that inside the pillar is a further baggie or what will be connectors. Keep these safe as I suspect they will be critical to the build when we finally have all the parts. The quality of the diorama parts seems OK, and unlike the parts I received in the other Series 6 figures there is no obvious damage or scratching. Perhaps all of the parts should be protected by an outer bag. I can't help but be disappointed with Vigo overall. After promising so much, you end up with an undersized Carpathian who is shorter than the other Ghostbusters - who can't look down and who's articulation is restricted so he can't replicate that pose from the painting. If costs were an issue then I would have rather had Diamond give us a fixed set of legs and then used the money saved here to give us double jointed arms an an extra inch in height. While you can play with size and scale by standing Vigo on a plinth in your display, the posing is something we can't really fix as collectors and when you go with the neutral arms by the pose size it makes that shoulder section look two sizes too big. With these issues and disappointments I am going to score Vigo a 3 out of 5. And he only scrapes this purely on the basis that Diamond were brave enough to include this figure at all in the Ghostbusters II series.

Pros : Very impressive head sculpt up close. The bionic arm is done really well Cons : Not exactly the Bucky we saw in Civil War. Can't quite hold his knife correctly. His feet look too big for the body The main Captain America Civil War wave of Marvel Legends was supplemented by two exclusives at Walmart stores in the US and subsequently Asda stores in the UK. These figures of The Winter Soldier and Falcon used the same packaging as the main wave, but included no BAF pieces. They had no exclusivity marking, and for UK collectors they turned up in The Entertainer stores in 2017 after Asda had sold through. While the figure is labeled as a Civil War release, the blurb on the back of Winter Soldier is quite generic and as you will see as we work through the review this figure could just as well be at home within a Winter Soldier display. Out of the pack and what initially looked to be a very plain white backing card is revealed to hold a feint image of Cap's shield. FOr visual impact it might have been nice to see this in a red or blue hue to make the figure pop in the box. Bucky was released before the advent of Face Print Technology, but still carries an impressive likeness to Sebastian Stan. They have done a great job of capturing his eyes and that stern look. The stubble is also done well as is the hair which is dynamically sculpted, not just laying flat. The costume is quite plain after this, but the metal arm is really nice with hits red Soviet star and ribbed segmented sections. It is also well proportioned (the Select version of this figure had an undersized arm) and painted to in a metallic silver with black in the panel lines. While the arm is well proportioned, the feet are less so - being particularly large and blocky for a 6" figure. The whole body is a predominantly a re-use from the original Winter Soldier release, although the chest has been updated and the paint apps changed. While this undoubtedly kept costs low, it means the figure is not particularly accurate vs the costume Bucky wore in Civil War. In Civil War Bucky wore the coat in both the Airport scenes and later when he and Cap fought Iron-Man - so while this look with the chest straps and holster may well have been under the coat, it makes this actually closer to a Winter Soldier release. Everything on the outfit is painted in a single colour, mainly black, with no washes or weathering. Articulation comes in at 19 points and starts with the ball jointed head which has a full range of movement. The torso also has a ratchet t-piece to allow the torso to lean forward and backward, in addition we can rotate the waist. The arms are ball jointed shoulders with a bicep swivel underneath to allow the arm to rotate. The elbows are double jointed on both arms allowing them to fold back almost on themselves. The wrists are then pivoted as well as rotating. Legs are ball jointed hips, thigh swivel, double jointed knees and ankle rockers. Leg posing is very easy and those larger feet do add something in keeping him standing in these more action orientated poses. All the joints are nice and tight and you can feel a ratchet within each joint. Bucky comes with a hand gun and a knife. These are an improvement on that garish gun from the Winter Soldier release, but as with the costume are not really reflective of what Bucky used in Civil War. I'd have much rather seen that larger rifle that Select included in their version. Both weapons are done pretty well and have paint apps on the handles and some dry-brushing of silver on the knife blade. The other issue with the weapons is the fact the hands on this figure (being reused) were not made for either of them. The gun can just about be slotted into the hand and a trigger finger coaxed into position - but it was shaped to hold a different gun and the grip is not tight. It can also be put into the left hand with some teasing. The knife wont fit in either hand and the best bet is to prop it in the metal left hand. Bucky comes with a pistol holster on his chest, but this is not designed to work and instead there is a pistol already moulded into place. The knife also does not have a home, but it can be tucked into the separate belt piece if you wish. In summing up, the Winter Soldier / Bucky figure from Civil War is more akin to a Winter Soldier release in terms of outfit and accessories. However, the majority of the figure is done well with an impressive head sculpt and paint job and the metal arm being well done. Articulation too is impressive and there is plenty you can do with Bucky from a posing perspective. If you want a better Winter Soldier for your Winter Soldier display then this does the job, albeit without the masked head. Or if you ignore the costume discrepancies and ditch the accessories and this Bucky will also do the job in a Civil War display. I score him a 4 out of 5.

Another Star Wars Black Series reveal has been released, this time for the 6" Dewback and Sandtrooper. The set will be arriving later this year, and uses a similar packaging design to the vehicle line with the figure displayed in a window, but the main Dewback within an enclosed box. The Sandtrooper will come with a White Pauldron, the same as was released in that Imperial 4-pack from 2015. He will be armed with a DLT-19 Blaster Rifle and the larger staff that the Dewback riders employ. The Dewback itself has a saddle, complete with surivival blanket and various pouches. It also has a set of flexible reigns that connect to that articulated jaw. UK retailers are starting to talk price on this item at circa £65-£70, which would be consistent with the launch price of the Vehicle sets last year.

Review : "Geared Up" Louis Tully Ghostbusters Select (Diamond Select Toys) Wave/Series : Series 6 (Ghostbusters II) Released : February 2018 £24.99 Pros : The body is not a re-use and has been resculpted in Tully's smaller frame. Cons : Glasses are too bulky and attached wonky. The cable quality between backpack and gun is poor and snaps easily. After 5 waves and a total of 15 figures based on the original 1984 Ghostbusters movie, Diamond Select have moved to the 1989 sequel for the next 3 waves of the 7" figures. We have 9 figures planned for the Ghostbusters 2 line which includes versions of the main cast along with Janosz, Vigo the Carpathian and the figure we are reviewing here, "Geared Up" Louis Tully. The packaging remains familiar to fans from the front with the green theme that fades to a dark card-back. There is a new yellow & black hatched trim added to the bottom of the name plate along with the 15 years of Select figures logo. We of course also see the Ghostbusters logo changing to the Ghostbusters II logo. The side panel, a feature of all Select figures, remains in place but has moved from a movie still to a blown up image of the figure. This is the same change that Diamond have taken with the latest Gotham series and for me it looses the impact of the side spine as a display piece and also creates a significant difference between the first 5 series, and this 6th series. The card back has moved to predominantly black with more of that hazard trim. We see an image of the figure which is obviously an early image as it shows the yellow hosing on Louis' leg which is actually clear on the figure. We see the "also available" figures in Series 6 of Ray Stantz and Vigo and there is a final image of the new build-a-diorama - this time we get the frontage of the Ghostbusters firehouse which will be included across the next 5 series of figures. Louis is strapped into the inner plastic tray with twisty ties. He is surrounded by a selection of alternative hands, a walkie-talkie, a ghost-trap and the FX proton stream piece. Behind the main tray is a second tray containing the diorama piece. This is Louis Tully's (Rick Moranis) second appearance in the 7" Select line. This Ghostbusters II version is a revised head sculpt and is a much better Moranis likeness than the original version. The paint is a basic skin tone and then the eyes and lips are painted over the top of this. The hair is a single tone brown colouring with a very patchy lighter colour across the top - although this effect makes Louis look like he is thinning on top rather than adding definition to the hair. Another paint issue is the earmuffs which are black, in the movie they were a greyer tone - nitpicking I know. The head has a bigger issue however in relation to Louis' glasses. These remain too thick, an issue we had on the first figure and also on Egon, but they are also glued on crooked so it looks like Louis has just had his glasses knocked sideways off his face. While the attention to detail on the head is not up to scratch, you an see some other real gems of detail round the figure such as the GB2 logo on the shoulder and the various safety warnings on the proton pack. We even have the name plate as Spengler, which is film accurate as Louis took one of Egon's spare uniforms to go out and tackle the ooze at the museum. I had expected the body to be reused from one of the other Ghostbusters figures, but thankfully the whole body has been redone to match the smaller frame of Louis Tully. It is however most likely a resized sculpt from the original Egon than a special sculpt for Louis. Had it been specifically sculpted we would have seen a baggier uniform and upturned collars. Louis stands just about 6" tall, making him quite a bit smaller than his original figure, which is obviously odd, and a good head shorter than the other Ghostbusters figures The only considerable change between the uniform Louis is wearing vs the original 1984 based figures is the shoulder logo and that yellow pipe changing to a clear one on the leg. Articulation weighs in at the standard 16 points. Head and torso are ball jointed with a good range of movement. The legs use a t-joint hip with a thigh swivel just under neath. The knees are then double jointed and the ankles are on rockers. While this on paper is a good range of leg movement, the amount of packs and parts on the belt will stop you moving the hips by much and the knees therefore will only allow some wider action stances. Like nearly every Select Ghostbusters to date, Louis is awful to stand. We've employed a Protech Vintage Star Wars stand to keep Louis upright in our reviews and into our display. The arms are a combination of the ball jointed shoulders, rotating elbows and a pivot wrist. The elbows would have been better being a double joint as they can only just and so bend enough to hold the proton thrower in two hands. The hands include a similar suite of options as we are familiar with from earlier figures. As well as the skin tone hands that Louis comes fitted with there is a a second pair of skin tone with slightly wider grip, and two pairs of gloved hands. The gloves employ the separate rubber sleeve piece so the gloves can cleverly be used as long sleeved or short sleeved. The black gloves are accurate to the movie scene so we will keep these in place now. Louis carries the same sizes Proton Pack and thrower as has been included on the other figures. While it is a individual piece, it is not removable as such. It connects to the thrower by means of a thin pipe. Sadly there has been some quality reductions in the materials for the piping which snapped on mine within a few minutes. The same is also happening on the GB2 Ray. The rear of the pack is painted in a similar style to the others in the line, although the wiring is significantly brighter in the yellow and red colouring. The FX piece slots into the end of the thrower and holds in place very well. This is still too matt in colour for me and needs to be translucent and glossy to get near what we see on screen. Other accessories included are the Walkie Talkie. This is a simple cast piece in black plastic that can be held in the hand or clipped into the belt. As we mentioned earlier, the lack of a double jointed elbow does rob you of having Louis posed with the Walkie Talkie to his mouth. Louis also gets a Ghost Trap. This is the same trap as was included with Winston. While Louis never used this in the movie, it is a good addition to supplement the line as we've only had one trap so far to share between all the Ghostbusters figures. The trap is made up of a main trap piece and a foot pedal, connected by another thin pipe. The rear of the trap is socketed and this matches the peg on the belt so the main part of the trap can be mounted. This does leave you with having to do something with the pedal and the best I have found is to push it between the figure and the back pack Louis comes with one of the parts of the main doors of the Firehouse, with a smaller door inset into it. At such an early stage it is difficult to envisage the scale and quality of this thing - but it is disappointing that the door is already marked across the centre out of the pack. Louis is not the most exciting of figures to help launch the Ghostbusters 2 line, but I accept he does warrant as much of a part in the line as Janosz. The figure seems to be scaled down to make Louis smaller, but misses opportunities to make the suit look baggy. There are some bigger quality issues like the glasses being glued on crooked and the proton stream that straps. And the first diorama piece of my new 15 piece diorama is already scratched straight out of the box. Diamond will need to up their quality if they are going to keep people interested in this line. I would seek replacements for this figure and the diorama, but the supplier I purchased from has sold out. I will reach out to Diamond's service and see what we can do? I score Louis Tully, Geared Up, a very disappointing 2 out of 5.

Images have been circulating online for the Gamorrean Guard and Commander Wolffe Black Series figures due later this year. While Wolffe is in standard packaging, it looks like the Gamorrean Guard will be in a wider pack to incorporate his considerable bulk and various weaponry. Both will however continue in the Phase 3 packaging with red spine.

Pros : Gorgeous head sculpts, fantastic paint applications, cloak works well Cons : Joints are a little loose making Hela difficult to stand and for her to stay standing Hela, played by Cate Blanchett, was for me the stand-out Marvel Cinematic villain for some years. Her figure was also an instant hit as when released, selling out quickly as the waves hit stores and becoming a chase figure for many. She was initially packed within the Thor Ragnarok wave and this included Hulk's arm and hammer. There was a repack for the UK at least within a Best of Wave that arrived in February 2018. The best of wave was made up of MCU figures only from both Ragrarok and Guardians 2, the BAF remained the Gladiator Hulk. The version of Hela within this wave lost the unmasked head and was now packed with Hulk's head and helmet. 2017 saw the introduction of the Face Printing Technology for Marvel Legends. While it is more obvious on the unmasked head of Hela that we will look at shortly, you can see elements of it in the masked head with some key lines and features around the nose and mouth and a more blended lip shade. The headpiece is of course the star and is brilliantly designed so that it retains the sheer scale of the piece while never overbalancing the figure. It is cast in black plastic and while it is a little soft it does not show any issues of misshaping. Hela stands an impressive 7" tall. This is consistent with how Hasbro have tackled the Asgardian characters before her. She is probably too tall if we are going to get into the reality of what we see on film, but I am happy to go with this licence with her height. It also makes her compatible for Marvel Select collectors - another reason perhaps why she is harder to find. The costume is a good representation of what we see on screen. It is predominantly a matt black, with a very impressive metallic green across the costume as a trime. The painting of this is neat and there are no issues with bleed. My only paint gripe is with her shoulders which are skin toned, and yet show signs of being darker where the skin tone has painted over the black - it does make them look a tad messy. Hela comes with her cloak, which is removable depending on what look you want her to have. This slots over the shoulders with a plug that goes into a socket between the shoulder blades. This is easy to locate with the masked head, a little trickier with the unmasked head where the hair is down and covering the shoulders - here you would be as well taking off the head, seating the cloak then putting the head back. The cloak itself is a softer plastic and is cast with the usual flowing waves as it meets the floor. It is very much a single tone green throughout, with just the very top panels around the shoulders using a similar metallic green to the rest of the outfit. Swapping out the head is easy, and the ball joint slots on and off either head nice and easy. With the various parts to the masked head you should be mindful of not bending or stressing any of the horned pieces when removing this from the body. The unmasked head is truly a thing of beauty and shows exactly what the Face Print Technology can do. While it is a brilliant likeness to Cate Blanchett, it also has a bunch of detail you wouldn't see on a traditional figure. Checkout those veins in the forehead and the blending of the makeup around the eyes... fantastic! Hela comes with her sword. This is cast in a softer plastic, so can be warped out of the pack. It does carry a lot of detail up close including some ornate carving. Sadly it has no paint treatment so looks plain at a distance, would have been nice to dry brush it with a silver tone to bring out the depth of the sculpt. Hela can only hold this in her right hand Hela has 16 points of articulation. We've seen the ball joint in the head which allows full movement of the masked head, the unmasked is a touch restricted by the hair. The torso has a more traditional ball joint rather than the more maneuverable T-joint. Arms are ball jointed shoulders with single joint elbows and finally pegged and pivot wrists. Without the double elbow joints the arms are a little restricted, but Hela will recreate a lot of her static poses from the movie. The legs are also ball jointed at the hip, followed by a thigh swivel. The knees do keep the double joints and then we end with ankle rockers. The legs are very loose in terms of the joints and Hela is difficult to stand and stay standing, particularly when the cloak is in position as it impacts the centre of gravity. Aside from some downgraded articulation vs other Legend figures and some loose joints, there is not much else to criticise with this figure. I'd recommend the first release rather than the "best of" wave release as the unmasked head is truly spectacular. Hela will likely need a stand to keep her posed, but once on display she is a focal point and it is a pity she didn't get some allies or minions to display with her. I score Hela a 4 out of 5.

Pros : Menacing head sculpt. Articulation is spectacular Cons : Is a BAF so harder to obtain. There is some paint variations between the BAF parts that is very noticeable Ultron was the third Marvel Cinematic Universe Build-A-Figure, released in 2015 within a wave of comic book figures that was partially themed as an Ant-Man wave to celebrate the release of that MCU movie. Of course Ant-Man was not a true representation of the movie look, being more akin to the Disney XD cartoon version. For collectors of Marvel Legends as a whole, this way Ultron was laid out in the wave was not an issue - for MCU collectors they had to fork out around £120 to obtain Ultron initially, although there is always the option to resell the figures they didn't want. At the time of writing it is not overly difficult to purchase a complete Ultron for circa £40 - £50 6 parts were required to build Ultron and once collected they were easy to assemble by means of pop in and clip joints. While it wasn't hard to work out what went where, Hasbro also included a small paper insert (in UK releases at least) to show how Ultron should be built. Ultron Prime is a perfect example of a BAF, standing a massive 8" tall and dominating any shelf he is placed upon. Here we can see him against the War Machine from the same movie. The head is a spectacular sculpt and captures the look of Ultron Prime perfectly with that almost robotic insane smirk and those deep set red eyes. It is coloured in a decent silver metallic finish, with the inset areas such as the cheeks painted a matt black. The silver does blend to a matt grey around the back of the head. Moving down to the body and the sculpt continues to impress with the chest area and the upper arms. There are plenty of panels and mechanical tendons on show. The trunk of the body is also coloured in the bright metallic silver with some smaller red highlighted panels down the neck and round the lower and side of the chest. Like the head we see a blending to a matt grey around the side and back of the torso and similarly down the arms. This is obviously a deliberate effect, but does end up making these parts look unpainted. This worsens where the upper torso meet the groin area. There is no variation here, just a straight line change from silver gloss to grey. It does look like you've used two different finishes when assembling your BAF - yet of course the Torso and Join all came together pre-assembled with the Wasp figure. Articulation for Ultron is 19 points, and he is extremely maneuverable for a big BAF figure. The head is a fully mobile ball joint allowing total rotation and some impressive forward and backward movement to the point he can put his chin on his chest. This allows some nice poses having him look down at other characters. The only thing it doesn't do well is be able to be cocked to one side as we see him do a few times in the movie. The torso has a joint midway down and this is a ratcheted T-joint that allows forward and backward leaning. Again this has a big range of mobility and while the leaning back looks a bit odd, leaning him forward is another impressive pose as he looms over his adversaries. The waist is also jointed and can rotate. But by doing so you will lose the lines of the figure sculpt and further expose that ugly joint. The arms are ball jointed shoulders with a full range of movement up and out. There is a bicep swivel just under these to rotate the arms, and the elbows are then double jointed and can bend back well past 90 degrees. We finish with a rotating pivot wrist. Legs are a similar construction with ball jointed hips and then thigh swivels which are disguised by the large thigh panels. The knees too are double jointed and there are rockers on the ankles While there is all this movement. the sculpt of the hip does clash with the groin area. Ultron will therefore never kneel (not that he would) but you can get some good wider action stances for display. Nearly all the joints are ratchet joints so Ultron does hold the pose you put him in and he is not difficult to stand and for him to stay standing. As the big bad of the 2015 Avengers sequel Ultron is a must for MCU collectors. Being a BAF makes him trickier (or more expensive) to obtain and that is a shame, but I think Hasbro have learned in the past 3-years and are getting better at balancing the MCU and comic book releases and associated BAF's The faults are purely with the paint work and the fact areas do look unpainted and there is that distinct difference between upper torso and lower groin. Even just a black wash all over might have pulled it together I score Ultron Prime BAF a solid 4 out of 5.