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Check out this image of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Legends 2-pack of Erik Killmonger and Agent Ross from Black Panther. Now checkout the spare pair of legs in the centre of the packaging and the build-a-figure logo top right. And is it me or does that say "Stan Lee" We await more details, but adding in BAF parts to the 2-packs certainly adds extra value and it is about time that Stan was imortalised in the Legends 6" line.

Boxed images have been revealed for the majority of the first Solo wave of Black Series figures, wave 16. For Solo (A Star Wars Story) we get a good look at packaged Han Solo, Lando and The Range Trooper from the new movie. We also see the other two figures of the Jawa and Death Squad Commander who are repacked from the 2017 40th Anniversary carded wave. While the Jawa looks to be a simple repack, the Death Squad Commander has been demoted to Death Star Trooper - but seems to have got himself an updated head with what looks to be the new face print technology.

Several retailers have put up pre-order information for a 2nd Avengers wave of Marvel Legends in 2018. The wave is to include the Black Knight comic book figure announced at London Comic Con as well as Ant-Man and the Wasp movie figures we saw at Toy Fair. We also know from Toy Fair that a repainted Malekith is also included, although Hasbro never made a promo image available. The listings are now confirming that the wave will be completed by figures of Thor and Black Widow from Infinity War. The build a figure will be the 2nd member of Thanos' Black Order announced - Cull Obsidian / Black Dwarf. The wave is due to ship sometime in July 2018 in the UK, potentially a month or so earlier in US

Mattel's DC Multiverse 6" figures were very quiet across the Toy Fair 2018 coverage. Thank fully there is a superb article at ScienceFiction.com that breaks down the DC Multiverse releases. The majority of the Multiverse releases are comic book releases. But for film fans take a look at two gems that are movie based in the 6" line. The first is an early unpainted prototype of Penguin from the Batman Returns which looks brilliant. Fast forward to Batman Forever, and there is a Val Kilmer Batman. These bode well for a nice set of classic Batman (and potentially Superman) figures based on the classic movies.

The Mezco team have shared a wealth of their own images and shots from Toy Fair 2018 which gives us a much better look at their offerings from New York. Black Panther, Thor, Hulk and the two Spider-Man Homecoming figures had been announced prior to Toy Fair 2018, and the Daredevil in his red/black suit was seen last year. While Punisher was a natural next release from the Netflix arm of the MCU, we hadn't expected another new Daredevil - now in his Season 1 early black suit. Going back to Thor, Ragnarok and Hulk and Thor were displayed overlooked by a brand new Hela figure. Something doesn't quite look right about Hela - perhaps the head is a touch big or perhaps it is the soft goods suit. For comic book fans we got another look at Doctor Strange and then had figures confirmed for Cable and Blade. The DC reveals were a lot slimmer than Marvel with a new John Stewart Green Lantern along with a look at the DC Movie Flash. Other figures on display have been announced or have been seen before including the Joker, Darkseid and the various Batman figures. Horror figures from Mezco look to be giving fans an alternative from NECA who appear to have cornered the market to date. These 6" versions from classic licences include Jason from Friday the 13th and Michael Myers - who NECA can't do at the moment due to licence issues. We saw more of the two zombies from Day of the Dead, who look great. And finally checkout Ash from Evil Dead, completed with his trusty chainsaw. Amongst the "others" we saw the John Wick figure announced just before Toy Fair. We got another chance to see the Ghostbusters as well as the Diabolik and Popeye figures. Finally Mezco are giving us two King Kong figures. 2018 will see the smaller 7" release, or you can wait for 2019 and pickup the fearsome 18" version who is truly a monster.

As New York Toy Fair comes to a close, it is time to reflect on the goodies that have been announced over the past week in New York. I start with NECA who were arguably the most communicative and interactive of all the companies at the show with a very well set up booth and also regular updates of the products they were showing on Twitter and Facebook. The theme for this year was very much horror with the two new awesome looking Pennywise 7" figures as well as Friday the 13th and Ash vs the Evil Dead. The Ultimate Gremlin looked very nice, even in his unpainted prototype state, and he will be one figure going on my 2018 (maybe 2019) shopping list. It was unusual to see the Alien licence very subdued with only the Kenner inspired Series 13 revealed and for that we nearly a years wait until it arrives on store shelves. Predator, also once a line with a large volume of releases, was similar - but we did get two new Ultimate releases confirmed and the news that there will be a 7" Ultimate for the new 2018 movie. While NECA stayed forefront of the news across the 4-days of the show, the team at Mezco may have peaked too early with their pre-show reveals. While they were sending out subscriber emails and a nice video walkthrough of their booth - the coverage from the main news sites seemed to be across day one only before petering out. In terms of product the new King Kong stuff looks awesome, and I do like the One:12 Punisher. Other figures like Hela and Blade didn't quite do it for me - not sure if its the body shape or the tailoring of the outfit. Sadly my budget is never going to stretch to a One:12 collection so this is certainly one line I will simply window-shop. McFarlane were also a little anonymous at the show after a bunch of teases - and after all that work there seemed to be no real joining up of the teaser videos to stuff at the show. What we saw in the end were a handful of new products with the highlight being the rapidly expanding Stranger Things licence and that Ghostbusters 4-pack. It was unusual not to see much in terms of The Walking Dead, and Star Trek was not expanded upon despite Kirk & Picard being imminent, so as yet nothing else for Trek fans to look forward to. The oddest item I have seen across all the coverage is from SD Toys with the figure/statues of Al Pacino from Scarface and a Chuck Norris. It will be interesting if, and how these proceed. Mattel is not a company I spend too much time looking at, but this year their new Jurassic World 2 toys were generating a lot of interest. The range is very joined up for the 2018 sequel and includes 3.75" action figures as well as a host of well scaled and proportioned dinosaurs. The Jurassic World range is certainly top of Mini-Meph's list for 2018, particularly that Mosasaurus. Diamond Select had a show of two halves. Ghostbusters and Pacific Rim product were generally well received and we got previews of quite a few new items in these two lines to last us through next 12-months. This of course included the Real Ghostbusters figures. While many liked these, they are clearly repainted movie bodies and don't quite look authentic to me. They also (kind of) announced a John Wick licence with 7" Select figures in the works. The reality of these John Wick figures hitting retail will have to be taken with a pinch of salt considering how long we've waited for the Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill figures and how other projects like Pirates of Carribean have been cancelled.. Marvel Select fans had a lot of new statues to look at, but the only new action figure was a comic book Beast - designed and sculpted by Jean St. Jean. This was announced via Shartimus Prime's Youtube channel and the images used were not flattering which caused an uproar initially. The actual figure at the show was received better and images have been shared since to try and abate fan anger. The other issue for Marvel Select collectors was the lack of any Infinity War product. While Hasbro was laying out new figure after new figure and actually have Infinity War product on shelves - Diamond have still not confirmed who, or how many figures they will release for Infinity War - and are unlikely to do so until March at least. So we finish with Hasbro who pretty much blew everyone away with their 3.75" scale Sail Barge for Star Wars. While this is essentially a crowdfunding piece it generated a lot of interest and publicity and sits over 30% sign up with over a month until the deadline. While UK and other overseas collectors have had some level of assurance the Barge will get a release overseas, the fact they cannot contribute and therefore contribute to making this a reality feels an oversite on Hasbro's behalf an has caused some frustration. New Star Wars Black Series figures pleased many fans with Gamorrean Guard and Zuckuss being shown - that was short lived for overseas customers when these key characters were confirmed as US retailer exclusives. Poor show Hasbro! We hope that independent retailers in the UK and beyond will be permitted to sell the exclusives outside of UK, and we would also hope that the pricing when these do come to market are comparable to the current retail price of a single figure and not a hugely inflated price like we saw with some of The Last Jedi sets from last year. I will end on Hasbro's Marvel Legend presentation of new figures, which was extensive. While the comic book figures are not my cup of tea, I am very very interested in the 10 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe figures shown - particularly figures like Ant-Man and Ronan who have not appeared in figure form before at this scale. While I have been an ardent Marvel Select collector for a while, the lack of news and drop in contents (alternative sculpts being shown then withdrawn) from Marvel Select (Diamond) has got me looking seriously at the Legends MCU offerings. Toy Fair 2018 overall left me feeling a bit nonplussed. Previous shows have left me overwhelmed by what's coming and wondering how I will pay for it all. That certainly wasn't the case this year, and that of course may signify the slowdown in the action figure market we have been reading about. I will of course be all in for the Star Wars Black Series 6" figures, although I remain frustrated with the exclusivity on these. Other items I am excited about are the Ultimate Gremlin (NECA), McFarlane Stranger Things and the new MCU figures from Marvel Legends. - Mephitsu Please let us know your Toy Fair 2018 thoughts. What figures are on your shopping list? Join us below using hour Disqus function or on social channels Facebook and Twitter.

As well as the awesome 10 years of the MCU figures shown by Hasbro in their Marvel Legends line, there was a slew of comic book based releases. The announcements completed waves we knew so much about already, and also shared brand new ones. They break down as follows Deadpool Wave Everyone's favourite merc with the mouth is back in his 2nd movie outing this year, and while the Disney/Fox deal doesn't look advanced enough to allow Hasbro to produce actual movie figures, they are going to maximise the hype the movie will bring with another Deadpool wave. Already confirmed ahead of the show was the X-Men Deadpool, Omega Red and Lady Deadpool. It was confirmed that Headpool will be included alongside Lady Deadpool. Joining the wave were "pant-less" Deadpool and Bishop. The build a figure is a very impressive Sauron. One slot does remain in this wave, and the strong indication is that this will be an X-23 Venom Wave Another movie for 2018 that isn't technically attached to the MCU is Venom. Like Deadpool, Hasbro won't be making direct movie figures (as far as we know) but they are putting out a Venom comic book wave to coincide with the movie release. Venom and Carnage were announced pre Toy Fair 2018, however it was confirmed at the show that both will get alternative head sculpts The other figures in the wave are Scream, Poison - the recent addition to the Venom-verse and Spider-ham who will come with alternative Pork Grind head X-Men Wave The majority of this wave had already been announced in 2017. The two new figures confirmed to complete the wave were the Uncanny X-Men Magneto and a classic Sabertooth, ready to battle the Tiger Stripe Wolverine also included in the wave. The rest of the wave is made up of Psylocke, Multiple Man and Gladiator. The Build a Figure is a classic Apocalypse Avengers Wave When the Black Knight was announced in October 2017 at the MCM London Comic-Con it was not clear where he would fit in terms of a release. An Avengers wave was mentioned at the time, and not long afterwards Hasbro did confirm that he would be part of a 2nd Avengers wave in 2018. Joining Black Knight in the wave will be the movie figures for Ant-Man and the Wasp. Assuming there is no big costume change, these will work for both Infinity War and the Ant-Man & The Wasp movie later in the year. The fourth figure will be a repaint of the Malekith figure, as yet there is no promotional image for this figure. Shortly after Toy Fair, pre-orders started to go up for this 2nd wave of Avengers 2018 figures confirming the other two figures as Black Widow and Thor with Black Dwarf (Cull Obsidian) from Thanos' Black Order as the Build-a-figure. There are no images of these three at present. Spider-Man Wave From right to left we have a House of M Spider-Man. Updated classic comic book Electra. Scarlett Spider which is apparently on a brand new buck body and comes with arm stingers. Cloak and Dagger, where Cloak can be stood on his own or combined with the Dagger body, Dagger will come with an fx piece to simulate her light dagger firing ability. We get a brand new Doctor Octopus, and another new buck body is in use here. Daredevil is technically a repaint, now in the colours of his most recent comic book run - black suit with red trim. And the build a figure for the 6-figure wave is SP//DR the Mechanical Spider Suit piloted by Penny Parker in one of the alternative Spider-verse Earths. Ultimate Riders Following on from the release of the first Ultimate Rider sets - Black Widow and Ghost Rider - the next figure and motorbike release will be Wolverine in his classic white vest and jeans. Exclusives Walgreens will continue their Fantastic Four themed exclusive releases by adding Thing this year to complete the FF4 and he will be followed by a Silver Surfer. Thing will come with two head options while Surfer has "glittering" effect paint work? Toys R Us will be getting a comic based Ant-Man 2 pack containing classic Ant-Man and his daughter in her Stinger Suit. They are also getting a Days of Future Past set containing Wolverine and a Sentinel. This was not shown at the show, but the Sentinel is apparently going to re-use 2011 Marvel Universe 14" Sentinel sculpt, which at the time was for the 3.75" line of figures. And our final comic book exclusive, as previously announced, is a tweak of the comic Thanos build a figure who will be single packed as a Walmart US exclusive.

It looks like fans of Aliens and Predators can look forward to Figma releasing product from the two classic licences in the near future. Revealed at the Winter Wonderland Festival were prototypes of the first 6" figures including a Predator and an Alien. The Alien is a standard Big Chap as seen in the 1979 Alien movie. The Predator looks a little more stylised ad comes with masked and unmasked heads.

McFarlane have shared a few of their own photo's of their Toy Fair booth. We get our first look at the actual Call of Duty figures, these look as impressive as their promo images - but articulation is a concern The Destiny line is getting bigger with a 3rd wave announced. Figures in the 3rd wave include Crucible Hunter, Parade Armour Titan and the Iron Banner Warlock. There is also a new 10" figure of Lord Shaxx In the video game licence we have new Borderlands figures with a look at the new Tiny Tina figure. And over in The Walking Dead section we find a new 3 pack of the "allies", Daryl, Rick and Jesus.

While not Action Figures as such, we thought these images captured by Ultrazilla in the SD Toys booth were pretty cool. After all who wouldn't want a Chuck Norris or Scarface Tony Montana diorama figure display. The pieces had no RRP or release date and are likely early in the solicitiation process to retailers.

While there was nothing on display to see at Toy Fair 2018, it was confirmed by Diamond Select Toys that they had acquired the licence to produce action figures from the John Wick movie. In a later tweet, Diamond confirmed the figures would be in the 7" Select format. "Just announced. No press release (yet) or pictures. 7 inch scale, Select scale" Diamond Select on Twitter THis is the second confirmation of John Wick figure after the Mezco One:12 announcement. With nothing on display we would assume this product from Diamond is very early in development and will be a 2019 release at the earliest.

There was more Pacific Rim goodness over at the Bluefin booth, the US distibuter for Bandai / Tamashii Nations. The Bandai Pacific Rim product are closer to a 5" - 6" scale and are not under the SH Monsterarts brand, but rather the Robot Spirits line. The packaging still holds some Far East influence, but has obviously been tweaked for the US market, Figures from Uprising include Gipsy Avenger, Bracer Pheonix, Titan Redeemer and Obsidian Fury. There are also Jaegers from the first movie including Crimsony Typhoon and what appears to be a Gipsy Danger from the first movie, complete with the enormous boat they use as a weapon. Also being released is a boxed Kaiju figure. Image credit to Ultrazilla Toys