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Review : Hugo Strange Gotham Select (Diamond Select Toys) Wave/Series : Series 4 Released : September 2017 £22.99 Pros : Nicely textured suit. The treatment chair is brilliant Cons : head too small, hands too big, whole body is out of proportion. Glasses poorly done The 4th Series of Gotham is the Wrath of the Villains series and includes characters from the 2nd half arc of the 2nd series. While this is the first series to give us more traditional villains in their super-villain outfits - Azrael and Mr Freeze - the 3rd inclusion returns us to the standard for Gotham of a man in a suit. Hugo Strange is the mastermind behind the Wrath of the Villains arc and it is his work at Indian Hills that resurrects and releases the various villains upon Gotham. As with all Select figure releases, Hugo Strange comes in the extra large blister packaging with wrap around side spine. The predominant colouring is dark, with the Gotham Cityscape as the backdrop. The Gotham logo is written up the spine with the "Wrath of the Villains" subtitle underneath. The triangular insert that expands onto the blister contains an actual shot of the figures head and confirms the character name as Hugo Strange, the title of Doctor has been dropped which does make sense so not to confuse this Dr Strange with the Marvel version in any listings. The side panel also features an image of the figure rather than the normal image from the show, and this will potentially frustrate boxed collectors as the first three waves did run with the wide panel showing the actor from the show, and not the figure. Round the back we have quite an in-depth write up of Hugo Strange and how he fits into the Gotham backstory via his relationship with Thomas Wayne. Another image of the figure sits to the side of this and below that shots of the other figures in the wave as well as an image of the diorama that you can build by picking up both Freeze and Azrael together. The inner packaging is made up of the outer tray containing Strange and his paperwork and books. Beneath this is a second tray carrying the treatment chair from Indian Hills. All the main parts are strapped in place with twisty ties. Looking at the figure first, and the head sculpt has an immediate issue of being too small for the body. While it is a passing resemblance to BD Wong, the proportions are all wrong. In fact they are so wrong that the head size is comparable to a 6" scale figure than the 7" scale where the Select figures sit. Aside from the size there are other issues sadly. The paint job is one tone across the whole head with a beard section painted on - there is no sculpting to the beard - the lines on said beard are too harsh and angular and it looks more like a chin strap for a non-existent helmet than the trimmed beard that Strange sports. The lips and eyes are well painted, but the glasses over the top couldn't be any thicker if they tried. While I know it is hard to glasses at this scale, these are far too thick and don't carry the tinted red lenses we see int he show. Other companies are doing glasses far much successfully, you only have to take a look for example at the ones Hasbro put on the recent Maz Kanata. The other option would have been to make them part of the head, sculpting the whole thing as one and then painting it - the way NECA tackled the Terminator with sunglasses - although there would still have been an issue with the lenses. Interestingly, if you buy the basic US Toys R Us version of Strange - the glasses are not even included, and therefore looks better. While the head disappoints, the body is a triumph. There is no re-use here, Strange gets a full new 3 piece suit with actually sculpted pin striping on the arms, legs and suit jacket and waistcoat. This is then painted in grey with a dark wash over top to fill in the ridges and create the pin stripes. Beneath this is a cream shirt with a red tie - and only here do we see some paint issues with the cream bleeding onto the skin, shirt and suit around it. While the head was too small, the hands look far too large - and the same could be said of the feet, but they are less noticeable. While he is a man in a suit, Diamond have provided Strange with the full 16 points of articulation they give to each Select figure. This gives Hugo a massive range of motion. The head can turn on its ball joint as well as looking up and down by some distance. There is then a similar ball joint mid-torso to allow for some forward and backward leaning. Arms are ball jointed at the shoulder, moving out dead straight and then rotating above the head. These are then supported by very mobile elbows that bend to just over 90 degrees as well as rotating. The huge hands are a pivot joint so also rotate as well as bending in or out from the wrist. Hugo's legs start with the T-joint hip, which is a little ugly when used. There is then a thigh swivel and double jointed knees. The legs end with a rigid ankle pivot so getting Hugo to stand is dead easy. Hugo also sits very well, both in his own chair as we will see in a little while but also on a similar scale stool or chair. For those wanting a larger diorama then the X-Files Select chair & desk might be a good addition to your Hugo Strange office. Moving onto accessories, and there has been some thought that has gone into these by Diamond. The first two are certificates of sanity that we see handed out to Penguin and laterly Ed Nygma in the show. At first I thought these were laminated, but that is just a protective cover over the top of them in the packaging. Once out they are simply printed cardboard - so while they look nice, their longevity will be in question. Hugo then gets two books - one red and one green. Each has a title, although my eyesight cant make out what they are meant to be, and there is sculpted page detailing down the sides. These would look awesome in that office environment we mentioned earlier laid on the desk. There is then a third book which is much more ornate than the other two. This is the history of St Dumas and links directly to the Azrael story arc. This book is actually hinged by means of a metal pin so it can be opened. Inside the two pages are more legible with the left talking about the history of St. Dumas and the right page showing an illustration simply headed Azrael. Hugo's hands are designed as such that there is a slender bap between the forefinger and thumb for him to hold the accessories if you wish. The arm articulation is also poseable enough to have Hugo reading the book of Dumas. Moving onto the treatment chair from Indian Hills and this arrives in two separate parts - the chair and the base. Assembly instructions are not included, but the process is simple and DIamond have shaped the base to the socket so it slots in the right way. The octagonal base of the chair is textured with the green tile effect from the treatment room. These are painted in gloss dark green with grey grouting. The chair itself is silver predominantly with black padding to the back and head rest, and down the arm and leg rests. The headrest is poseable so can be moved forward and backward to line up to the head of the figure sitting in the chair. Sadly the chairs leg rest and arm rests don't include this option. While the legs are not such a big problem, the arms rests sit on flimsy plastic sections which make lining up the arms to the rest more difficult. Strange can sit in his chair if he wishes, although he would usually be positioned standing around the treatment chair getting ready to administer his programme to his patients. The base will allow this, but there are no peg holes to line up with the feet of Hugo. The chair is of course for treating patients at Indian Hills, and both Freeze and Galavan (Azrael) came through this treatment. Sadly neither can sit comfortably in the chair. And when we put Strange with his fellow Series 4 figures, the disparity in his head and hands vs his body are even more pronounced. Hugo Strange is a figure made up of a number of good, and sometimes excellent, parts. Sadly some of them are just not scalable to each other and when brought together Hugo looks awkward and disproportionate - more so when put alongside other Gotham releases. The suit is brilliantly done, and the treatment chair is very nice. The books and certificate are also a nice touch. The glasses should have been done better or left off altogether like the basic release. And that head needed to be a good 5-10% bigger. I score Hugo Strange a 3 out of 5, saved from being a 2 by the chair diorama and the books.

UltimateToyCollector has shared images of some new basic range Avengers Infinity War figures that have started to turn up at Target stores over in the US. The five figures are Captain America, Iron-Man, Thor, Star-Lord and Black Widow. Each is presented on a blister card which retains the angular shaping from the Black Panther wave. Each has an accessory included as well as an Infinity Stone. The Infinity Stone can be clipped onto the weapon - or can be used in the new Hero Vision game that Hasbro are releasing. Considering there are six infinity stones, there may be another figure still to find in this line if Hasbro are going for accuracy. These are the limited articulation figures, which started with Spider-Man homecoming and have since been released for Black Panther. While the Spider-Man figures were around 5" in scale, the Black Panther figures are closer to 6" and these look to be a similar size. The issue is always one of scale between figures as these are often made to a set size. That means while Iron-Man and Cap will be tiny compared to Legends, Black Widow may fit in (as does Shuri in the current Panther line). The US price on these is $9.99 and these will hit UK stores at around the £10 mark.

Another pre-Toy Fair NECA announcement and another 8" retro style horror figure. This new Freddy Krueger is based on his appearance, wearing a tuxedo, from Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3 (Dream Warriors). Like all the 8" retro figures by NECA, he will come with a sculpted head and hands on a standard body and soft goods tailored clothing - including bow tie and pocket square. Also included is a small model of the Elm Street house, and this actually lights up. Freddy will come in clamshell packaging which can be resealed if needed. It will feature some special custom artwork from Nathan Thomas Milliner. NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET PART 3 - 8” CLOTHED ACTION FIGURE - TUXEDO FREDDY From the cult classic A Nightmare on Elm Street movies, this clothed action figure is based on Freddy’s tuxedo appearance in Dream Warriors! Freddy stands 8” tall and is fully poseable. He’s dressed in a fabric tuxedo with red and green striped bow tie and pocket square, and comes with a replica model of the #ElmStreet house that lights up. Blister packaging with resealable protective clamshell features custom artwork created by Nathan Thomas Milliner just for this release!

Saban Brands, the company behind the Power Rangers brand, and Bandai US are to part company in 2019. Bandai has held the master toy licence for Power Rangers since its inception in 1993, and this mutual agreement brings that 25 year partnership to an end. The split was announced in a joint statement "After a successful 25-year partnership building the iconic action franchise, Power Rangers, Saban Brands and Bandai have mutually agreed not to renew their global Power Rangers master toy license agreement, effective April 2019" Between now and 2019, Bandai will continue to produce and release items under the current Ninja Steel banner and product to celebrate the Power Rangers 25th anniversary. From 2019 the licence will move to Hasbro who will therefore control four of arguably the biggest licences on toy store shelves - Star Wars, Marvel, Transformers and Power Rangers. "We’re particularly excited to partner together to help reignite and drive this brand for the next 25 years and more,” Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner tells Heat Vision about the deal. “It’s a partnership that is very collaborative and feels very good to us to be in business with Saban and to help power Power Rangers.”

Tamashii Nations have announced the next Godzilla figure to be released in their SH Monsterarts line. The frozen Shin Godzilla recreates his final moments from the 2016 Shin Godzilla movie. This frozen version of the fourth form is sculpted with wonderful detail particularly the tail where Godzilla''s 5th form began to emerge. The figure will stand approx 6" high, in scale with other Monsterarts releases and is due for release in July 2018. The price tag is 14,040 yen which is equivalent to £93. The figure is down to be a webstore exclusive in Japan, but will likely get a wider western release through Bluefin.

DC Collectibles has put out quite a large press release of new product ahead of New York Toy Fair 2018. While a lot of the content is statue based, there are some action figure goodies for us to look at. DCC have said this is not all they have instore and are holding some more items back for a full reveal at the Toy Fair itself. We've already shared the Watchmen figures from Doomsday Clock. And alongside these we will be getting a 6.75" two pack from the DC Bombshells line of Nurse Harley Quinn and the Joker. This set is very stylised to fit in with the Bombshell theme and is in the slightly smaller 6.75" scale. Harley will be provided with two head sculpts. The other new figures revealed are in the 7" DC Essentials line, with new figures of Black Manta and Braniac.

DC Collectibles have announced three new 2-packs of 1/10 scale 7" figures based on the DC Doomsday Clock series, which is itself a sequel for the Watchman comic. These sets herald the first appearance of the comic book Watchmen in figure form. We have six figures split across three sets, Doctor Manhattan and Ozymandias, Rorschach and Mime, The Comedian and Marionette. Each figure comes with appropriate accessories. The US retail price will be $50 a set and pre-orders will open shortly.

McFarlane have announced that they will be releasing 7" figures from the Call of Duty video game series by Activision. The first two figures will be from the Modern Warfare titles and have been unveiled as John "Soap" McTavish and Simon "Ghost" Riley. More figures are planned and will span the full Call of Duty roster of games. The US price is a very reasonable $19.99, and based on current UK pricing for McFarlane 7" figures expect to be paying £18 - £20 when these arrive on shelves in Autumn 2018.

NECA are getting into the Toy Fair spirit with some early reveals... A complete surprise release from NECA is the announcement of this 8" Captain Blake figure from John Carpenters 1980's horror classic, The Fog. Captain Blake is an 8" release from NECA which means he is a sculpted head on a standard body that is then dressed with real soft goods tailored clothing. Blake is armed with his cutlass. He will be packed in a resealable clamshell which according to the NECA blurb "features new artwork created just for this release". Bolt your doors… lock your windows… there’s something in the fog! From John Carpenter’s 1980 horror film The Fog, the vengeful ghost of Captain Blake joins NECA’s clothed action figure line. Blake is dressed in tattered fabric uniform and comes with a sword accessory that fits in a sheath at his belt. Blister packaging with resealable protective clamshell features new artwork created just for this release.

NECA are getting into the Toy Fair spirit with some early reveals... The first is the Re-Animator 8" action figure we were teased with in 2017. The figure is based on Herbert West as seen in the 1985 classic horror movie. He will come with a bottle of his reanimation reagent and a syringe with which to administer it. We also get a bloody shovel, a rather disturbing Rufus the cat and a tray containing a severed head. This is an 8" release from NECA, so this is a sculpted head on a standard body with tailored soft goods outfit. The figure is due to ship in August 2018 and will likely be priced around the £30 mark here in the UK. RE-ANIMATOR - 8” CLOTHED ACTION FIGURE - HERBERT WEST Herbert West has a good head on his shoulders… and another one on his desk... From Re-Animator, the movie based on H. P. Lovecraft’s classic tale of terror, #NECA presents the mad scientist Herbert West in action figure form! The 1985 movie has achieved cult status for its dark and hilarious mix of science fiction, horror and comedy, and starred Jeffrey Combs as a medical student who will stop at nothing to perfect his reanimation serum. As a clothed action figure, Herbert stands 8” tall and is dressed in his lab coat. He comes with a bottle of reanimation reagent, syringe, bloody shovel, Rufus the cat, and a tray containing the severed head of the last guy who tried to steal his invention. Shipping Date: August 2018

New York Toy Fair 2018 commences on Saturday the 17th of February, and for the 4th year running we will be sharing all the key news and reveals alongside our own commentary and thoughts on the new toys being presented. As a UK based site we will not be attending the show. Our coverage will come via attendees and social media, and we endeavour to credit any site or person who's photos or details we use in our blog. In recent years the Toy Companies themselves have shared a lot of promotional details on the day of the show, and we will bring you these as well. Our focus coverage will be on our key area of 6-8" figures based on TV and Movie properties, but we will share other lines that we think are cool or of interest. Our coverage this year is sponsored by Kapow Toys as we celebrate 6-months of working with Kapow as a site partner. We will also be condensing all the news into a special #SatTOYday newsletter which we will aim to publish after the show once all the news ha been wrapped up. In terms of timings the doors open on Saturday 17th at 9am New York Time, that means it will be at least 2pm in the UK before we see any main details. With any show the first day is always the busiest so our feed will be hectic as news comes out. The Hasbro Preview Event is scheduled to take place at 1.30pm (ET) so we would expect the bulk of the Hasbro reveals for Star Wars and Marvel to start around 6.30pm UK time on Saturday Other manufacturers we will focus on are Diamond Select, NECA, Mattel, McFarlane and Bluefin (for Bandai imports). You can follow our coverage in a number of ways, and of course we would love to hear your thoughts so please share your views on all the juicy news coming out of New York. Via the website on our dedicated Toy Fair page Via Facebook Via Twitter Via Instagram

Nerdist.com has revealed a pretty big addition to the Diamond Select Pacific Rim line, this enormous Kaiju from Uprising. The Kaiju, codenamed Hakuja, measures 12" from head to tail and is in scale to the Jaegers being released in the same line. The figure is too big to be packed in standard Select packaging, so this giant will be a special box release. US retail is $45, expect £40 or so when this hits UK preorders. Click through either image for the full story at Nerdist.com