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We have had some debate recently on how I classify points of articulation on an Action Figure. There are essentially two schools of thoughts out there. The first counts each range of movement, and this results in a higher POA count and is often used by the manufacturers (NECA and Hasbro as examples) to make statements like "with 32 points of articulation". For example a ball jointed shoulder that moves out ot side and to front is classed as 2 points. Here at the Mephitsu Archives we will use the simpler second method where we count the places on the body where there is a joint. That means no matter how many ways a joint moves, it still counts as one point. We feel this method is easier to understand and compare between ranges. An example of a 16 point POA figure can be seen below. All reviews at the Mephitsu Archives will use this type of POA count, but we will always then expand on the range of movement each joint gives.

Diamond have confirmed the full line up for the 2nd series of Kingdom Hearts Select figures. First up is Pete who will be accompanied by Chip & Dale as well as a Soldier. We then have Aqua with the Rainfell Keyblade and Goofy as seen in Birth by Sleep. The final set is made up of Roxas with Oathkeeper keyblade, Donald with Mage's Staff and another Goofy who will be packed with a shield. The Series 2 figures are due for release in Spring 2018 and will retail at $24.99 in the US. Kingdom Hearts Select Action Figures Series 2 Asst. A Diamond Select Toys Release! It's time to return to the Kingdom! The second series of Kingdom Hearts Select Action Figures brings fans new, beloved Disney characters as well as characters created for the Kingdom Hearts series of games! Three sets of figures arrive in Series 2, including Roxas with Donald Duck and Goofy, Pete with Chip and Dale and a Soldier, and Aqua with Goofy in his Birth By Sleep Outfit! Action figures range from 2 to 7 inches tall and feature multiple points of articulation. Each set comes packaged in the display-ready Select action figure packaging with side-panel artwork. Sculpted by Oluf W. Hartvigsen! Action Figures SRP: $24.99/ea.

Diamond Select's first wave of Pacific Rim Uprising figures are not due on store shelves until April 2018, but they have already announced a second series of 3 new Jaegers to follow later in the year. This second wave will be made up of Obsidian Fury armed with blades on each arm, Guardian Bravo with the enormous mace in his left hand and Titan Redeemer who is armed with a whip. The figures will include swap out parts under the Select banner and come in the standard Select packaging with side panel artwork. The figures will stand between 7" and 8" tall. The figures will retail around $23 in the US and between £22 and £25 in the UK.

Diamond Select Toys have revealed the final packaged images of their Marvel Select Spider-Gwen. The figure should be in stores imminently.

While not as extensive as Figuarts or MAFEX, Yamaguchi have been pushing out some very impressive Marvel figures of late including Deadpool. Wolverine, Spider Gwen and most recently, Captain America. It seems that their 8th figure is this very nice looking Carnage in 2018. He will be released in May 2018 and will come with a staggering 40 points of articulation as well as a wealth of symbiote parts and swap out options. While not as bulky as the Venom release, Carnage will stand 6" high and we would expect the Carnage figure to be a similar price of around $85 / £70

Discount Supermarket Lidl have just put on sale some Star Wars goodies as part of their 17th December Kids Xmas promotion. Of most excitement for those of you (like me) who have snapped up the 6" Hero Budget scale figures is that Lidl have the full set of 2016 releases WITH the inclusion of the Deathtrooper, a figure only released in Canada to date. There are six figures in total at Lidl, selling at £5.99 each (£1 cheaper than the current Aldi offer). The figures are Finn, Rey (Starkiller Base), Kylo Ren, First Order Stormtrooper, Darth Vader and the aforementioned Death Trooper. You can check out reviews of most of these here. The Revel Build & Play kits are £9.99 each and include the Millennium Falcon and Poe's X-Wing from The Force Awakens, and the AT-ACT from Rogue One. Build your favourite Star Wars model with this easy-to-assemble kit With realistic sounds and lights Batteries included Secret Santa Idea Suitable for ages 6 and over Choose from: Poe’s X-Wing Fighter ™, scale 1:78 Millennium Falcon ™, scale 1:164 At-Act Walker ™, scale 1:100

Review : First Order Stormtrooper Star Wars 6-Inch Hero Series Wave/Series : Aldi Exclusive (UK) / Walgreens in US Released : December 2017 Price : £6.99 Pro's : Not too bad looking at a distance for fleshing out background squads Con's : Too short, articulation is limited and no real posing other than a neutral stance As well as producing the successful 6" Black Series range of Star Wars figures, Hasbro do produce and distribute a budget series of 6" figures. These limited articulation figures share similar qualities to the 12" Hero series. They were predominantly made for the Far East market as well as discount stores in the US and of course the UK, where Aldi stores have become the retailer of choice. These first hit UK stores in 2015 in line with The Force Awakens release. The first set of figures included Stormtroopers, Snowtroopers, Finn, Kylo Ren and a Darth Vader. A second set was released in December 2016 as part of the Rogue One merchandising, but didn't contain any Rogue One figures - instead we got figures of Rey (Force Awakens), Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker, Darth Maul, Han Solo and Kanan Jarrus. The only Rogue One figure we are aware of is a Deathtrooper which has only been circulated in Canada. In 2017 we have a new set, this time just the four figures, and these went on sale in Aldi on the 10th of December for the £6.99 price tag which is unchanged since 2015. In the US these have been on sale in Walgreens since September. The 2017 set includes re-releases of Rey and the Stormtrooper. We then get two new figures - Captain Phasma and C-3PO. Like the previous two years, the figures are packed in a small window box. It uses the white backdrop and red highlighting as is used for all The Last Jedi product - but there is no direct reference to The Last Jedi. All four characters are due to appear in the movie. The box front includes a half window, through which we see the top half of The Stormtrooper against a red card backdrop. Under this sits a large red Star Wars logo and then a black section wraps the bottom of the packaging. This carries the character name as well as the age rating and the Disney and Hasbro logo's. The left hand spine of the box carries a further red Star Wars logo and a nice illustration of the Trooper. While a nice picture, it is not as dynamic or eye catching as the illustrations that were included on the 2016 releases. The other spine is made up with various notifications and safety markings. This is the same on the bottom half of the box back. Above this is a red section which contains some basic text about the Stormtrooper, this is taken word-for-word from the rear bio on the 2015 Black Series release. The box top has a hanging tab attached. This appears to be factory installed rather than at the retailer - particularly as Aldi and Walgreens both merchandise these on shelves or in baskets and not on pegs. The figure is accessed by the top flap which is taped down at either side. The figure slides out attached to a three sided backing card. The ties round the figure are elasticated rather than being twisty ties. There is a printed safety notice which sits behind the figure. In hand the figure is a good representation of a First Order Stormtrooper. The helmet and armour are well proportioned and the lines are sleek and curved. The colouring is a little "off white" and there are some painted details missed around the chest section and round the belt. The gun is cast into the hand and is a plain black plastic. The black makes the detail less obvious, but there is a pretty good amount in the blaster sculpt and it just needed an extra couple of paint apps to bring it out. For those like me who saw this and thought here is a £7 army builder to bolster my Black Series, I am sorry to tell you that this chap is "a little short to be a Stormtrooper". He comes in a head shorter than the Black Series equivalent and when lined up with his more expensive big brother you can see where the paint detail has been missed. It is good to see though that the white of the armour is a closer match in 2017 to the Black Series, when this figure was first release in 2015 it had a definate yellowing to the plastic straight out of the box. Articulation is a very basic 4 points. The head rotates on a basic peg and can be moved to look either side. The arms can be raised or lowered by means of a similar basic peg joint at the shoulder. The waist is jointed between the upper and lower belt and this allows the torso to be turned. The legs themselves are fixed, but they are cast to stand well so we have no obvious stability issues. For £7 this is not a bad effort for a Stormtrooper, and while you wouldn't have these front and foremost in a 6" display they can be strategically positioned towards the back of a display to swell the ranks. It is a pity that these figures are being produced to a set size regardless of character... had we had some scale differentiation between characters then this line would be a lot more sought after. As it stands it remains quite niche. Articulation will never be a strong point of this line, it is how the price is kept so low. And the same applies to the paint application. The figure does have a good sculpt going for it and for that I score it a 2 out of 5.

Review : Rey, Starkiller Base Star Wars 6-Inch Hero Series Wave/Series : Aldi Exclusive (UK) / Walgreens in US Released : December 2017 Price : £6.99 Pro's : Good sculpt. Decent likeness to Daisy Ridley. Nicely coloured lightsaber blade Con's : Very limited articulation. Hollow and lightweight. As well as producing the successful 6" Black Series range of Star Wars figures, Hasbro do produce and distribute a budget series of 6" figures. These limited articulation figures share similar qualities to the 12" Hero series. They were predominantly made for the Far East market as well as discount stores in the US and of course the UK, where Aldi stores have become the retailer of choice. These first hit UK stores in 2015 in line with The Force Awakens release. The first set of figures included Stormtroopers, Snowtroopers, Finn, Kylo Ren and a Darth Vader. A second set was released in December 2016 as part of the Rogue One merchandising, but didn't contain any Rogue One figures - instead we got figures of Rey (Force Awakens), Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker, Darth Maul, Han Solo and Kanan Jarrus. The only Rogue One figure we are aware of is a Deathtrooper which has only been circulated in Canada. In 2017 we have a new set, this time just the four figures, and these went on sale in Aldi on the 10th of December for the £6.99 price tag which is unchanged since 2015. In the US these have been on sale in Walgreens since September. The 2017 set includes re-releases of Rey and the Stormtrooper. We then get two new figures - Captain Phasma and C-3PO. Like the previous two years, the figures are packed in a small window box. It uses the white backdrop and red highlighting as is used for all The Last Jedi product - but there is no direct reference to The Last Jedi. All four characters are due to appear in the movie. The box front includes a half window, through which we see the top half of Rey against a red card backdrop. Under this sits a large red Star Wars logo and then a black section wraps the bottom of the packaging. This carries the character name as well as the age rating and the Disney and Hasbro logo's. This release is specified as Rey with the subtitle Starkiller Base, putting this as a Force Awakens appearance figure. The left hand spine of the box carries a further red Star Wars logo and a nice illustration of Rey from The Force Awakens. While a nice picture, it is not as dynamic or eye catching as the illustrations that were included on the 2016 releases. The other spine is made up with various notifications and safety markings. This is the same on the bottom half of the box back. Above this is a red section which contains some basic text about Rey. The text is taken directly from the Black Series 2015 released packaging. The box top has a hanging tab attached. This appears to be factory installed rather than at the retailer - particularly as Aldi and Walgreens both merchandise these on shelves or in baskets and not on pegs. The figure is accessed by the top flap which is taped down at either side. The figure slides out attached to a three sided backing card. The ties round the figure are elasticated rather than being twisty ties. There is a printed safety notice which sits behind the figure. In hand you can feel these figures are a lightweight and hollow hard plastic. While Rey initially may feel cheap, once you start to inspect the sculpt you will see that the figure carries a wealth of nice detail including a pretty good likeness to Daisy Ridley. The hair is cast in the intricate style Rey wears in The Force Awakens. The robes are creased and sculpted to hang naturally around the body. Her satchel is sculpted into the body rather than be a separate piece. The skin tone is perhaps a touch too bright, but it is consistent - something the 2016 release had issues with. The eyes and features are painted neatly and with some degree of care. The costume is a nice base off white colour, but lacking any weathering or depth of any kind. Rey is a re-release having been part of the budget releases in 2016 that were part of the Rogue One merchandise launch. As we mentioned, this 2017 version does rectify the issue with differing skin tones that the 2016 version carried. Sadly in doing so it has lost some of the realism from the face which looks a touch more "cartoonish" against last years effort. Articulation is the same as 2016 and consistent with the rest of the figures with four points of articulation. The head rotates, with the lower pieces of the hair having enough flex to move over the shoulder as the head is turned. The arms are a simple peg at the shoulder allowing a single movement of the arms upwards and downwards. A final joint sits in the waist allowing the torso to be twisted. The legs themselves are a fixed piece - but are cast so they stand flat and keep the figure upright. Rey comes with a lightsaber that surprisingly can be split so that the blade comes away from the hilt. It is a separate item and not cast into the hand as some of the other figures have had. While the hilt is not as detailed as a Black Series release saber, it does carry some features that are visible in the soft cast grey plastic. The blade is a nice electric blue translucent strip and this has been lightened significantly from the very dark version we got in the 2016 release of Rey. Another improvement for the figure. The blade slots into the hilt neatly with a small click. Rey can hold the saber in either hand, and the grip allows for some tilting and posing of the saber so the blade can be down or out without engaging those arms too much and making Rey look like a 1978 Kenner figure (not that there is anything wrong with that). Last year I made a bold statement that if you ignore articulation, this Hero series Rey as actually nicer looking than the Black Series counterpart. While the Black Series has made some changes in paint apps, I stand by this statement today. The budget Rey stands taller than the Black Series version and is more accurate in height to Daisy Ridley's stature. The head sculpt is also for me a better likeness and if a half decent painter gave those robes the once over you would be hard pressed to say which was the more expensive figure. Of course the Black Series has come a hell of a long way in 2 years and while this Hero figure may beat the 2015 Force Awakens Rey - it would be annihilate in every aspect by the 2017 Last Jedi Rey figure. This budget Rey figure falls into the camp of being in scale with, and not looking overly out of place within a Black Series collection. The sculpt is probably comparable with the Black Series as was 2-years ago and it is nice to see improvements have been made for the re-release such as the matched skin tones and the lighter saber blade. Last year I scored this figure a 4 out of 5, this year I will downgrade this slightly to 3 out of 5 - purely on the basis that in the overall scheme of 6" Star Wars figures the other lines have got much better and while this is a cheap and cheerful sub £7 figure, it is clearly well behind the pace of others in most aspects and the gap will only get bigger.

Review : Captain Phasma Star Wars 6-Inch Hero Series Wave/Series : Aldi Exclusive (UK) / Walgreens in US Released : December 2017 Price : £6.99 Pro's : Silver armour colouring is good Con's : Far too short. Gun is fixed in hand. Very limited articulation. Hollow and lightweight. As well as producing the successful 6" Black Series range of Star Wars figures, Hasbro do produce and distribute a budget series of 6" figures. These limited articulation figures share similar qualities to the 12" Hero series. They were predominantly made for the Far East market as well as discount stores in the US and of course the UK, where Aldi stores have become the retailer of choice. These first hit UK stores in 2015 in line with The Force Awakens release. The first set of figures included Stormtroopers, Snowtroopers, Finn, Kylo Ren and a Darth Vader. A second set was released in December 2016 as part of the Rogue One merchandising, but didn't contain any Rogue One figures - instead we got figures of Rey (Force Awakens), Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker, Darth Maul, Han Solo and Kanan Jarrus. The only Rogue One figure we are aware of is a Deathtrooper which has only been circulated in Canada. In 2017 we have a new set, this time just the four figures, and these went on sale in Aldi on the 10th of December for the £6.99 price tag which is unchanged since 2015. In the US these have been on sale in Walgreens since September. The 2017 set includes re-releases of Rey and the Stormtrooper. We then get two new figures - Captain Phasma and C-3PO. Like the previous two years, the figures are packed in a small window box. It uses the white backdrop and red highlighting as is used for all The Last Jedi product - but there is no direct reference to The Last Jedi. All four characters are due to appear in the movie. The box front includes a half window, through which we see the top half of Captain Phasma against a red card backdrop. Under this sits a large red Star Wars logo and then a black section wraps the bottom of the packaging. This carries the character name as well as the age rating and the Disney and Hasbro logo's. The left hand spine of the box carries a further red Star Wars logo and a nice illustration of Phasma. While a nice picture, it is not as dynamic or eye catching as the illustrations that were included on the 2016 releases. The other spine is made up with various notifications and safety markings. This is the same on the bottom half of the box back. Above this is a red section which contains some basic text about Phasma. If this text is familiar it is because it is taken word for word from the 2015 Black Series packaging for Captain Phasma. The box top has a hanging tab attached. This appears to be factory installed rather than at the retailer - particularly as Aldi and Walgreens both merchandise these on shelves or in baskets and not on pegs. The figure is accessed by the top flap which is taped down at either side. The figure slides out attached to a three sided backing card. The ties round the figure are elasticated rather than being twisty ties. There is a printed safety notice which sits behind the figure. Phasma also has a further plastic clear insert between her cloak and the main body of the figure. Once free from the pack and in hand you can instantly feel the lower quality of the plastic in this figure vs the standard Black Series. Phasma is light and feels hollow. That being said the sculpt is pretty detailed with plenty of details on the armour. The armour is also nicely coloured, in some ways better than the 2015 Black Series version as it carries more of a shine. The cloak is fixed to the figure and this is also nicely done in a rubber material, but with some panelled detailing at the back and the red striping. The only criticism I can have on the figure is the helmet which looks a little too squat on the shoulders. Phasma's weapon is the screen accurate larger stocked blaster. It is sculpted directly to the right hand and is cast in a sickly brown plastic. While it has quite a bit of sculpted detail it has no paint applications at all to bring these out - and the colour chosen with which to cast the weapon is miles away from the very subtle gold sheen metallic finish that we saw on Phasma's weapon. Most of these Hero 6" Budget figures have just 4 points of articulation.The head rotates on a simply peg allowing Phasma to look to either side. We have a similar rotating joint in the waist that allows further turning of the torso in relation to the legs. The legs themselves are fixed and do not move at all. Thankfully they are cast to be nice and flat to the floor and therefore do not present the figure with any stability issues The final joints are in the arms, a rotating shoulder joint allowing the arms to be raised and lowered. Phasma somewhat strangely gets a 5th joint in her wrist. This allows the hand and the moulded weapon to turn. The left hand does not do the same. I suspect this joint is simply a byproduct of having to cast the hand and weapon separately and attach them on an assembly line. The Hero 6" figures are made to a set size rather than adhering to a scale. And this is Phasma's big downfall - she is tiny! Line her up with the Black Series 2015 release and the difference is massive. She is even dwarfed by Rey from the same line. While some of the 6" Hero figures are genuinely good enough to be used in a Black Series collection, Phasma falls into the camp that isn't. She will sit alongside Kylo Ren, Vader and Kanan Jarrus as novelty figures and a bit niche for collectors - being far too small to fit into a true 6" display. While there are some great features like the armour sculpt and paint job, this figure is going to score a lowly 2 out of 5. While she is niche and cheap, there are much better options out there for mid-range Phasma figures.

2018 will see Mattel move to a bold new design for their Multiverse DC figures. Starting in February, the first wave to come in this new blue themed boxed packaging will be figures of Superman, Batwoman, Martian Manhunter, Two-Face and Jessica Cruz. The figures are badged as collect & connect in the top corner, a new term for the Build-a-Figure that will come with them. For this wave of 5 you can collect the parts to build the lovely looking Clayface we saw a while back at Toy Fare 2017. The figures are due for release at the end of February with a recommended US RRP of $22.99. UK customers will likely be paying around the £22-£25 mark.

If you follow the site you know Movie reviews are not something I do. I do however like having fun and speculating on what Action Figures we may see after seeing a new trailer or a full movie. Having seen The Last Jedi on the day of release, I think I need to put down some of my thoughts and I can couple this with some Action Figure speculation. This post will contain spoilers after the image... My over-riding feeling walking away from the first viewing of The Last Jedi was one of being very flat. I also felt confused and not particularly satisfied. Having thought about this, the key for me is that everything setup in The Force Awakens was practically swept of the table and either disregarded or not answered. The big issue for me was Luke. He wasn't the Luke Skywalker of my youth and was quite annoying and didn't get any action. While I get his jaded view of the Jedi, the setup from TFA was that he had left a map for people to find him when they needed him - but that didn't fit with his "I came here to die" line, and the question still is who made that map and why? Snoke was poor too. He was set up as an all powerful dark side user and we saw snippets of that. Then in a blink he is gone. No backstory, no explanation - nothing. While I didn't need him to be Windu, Vader or Palpatine - I did need to know where he came from. He is portrayed as someone as powerful as (if not more than) The Emperor, and someone like that had to be "someone" in the duration of the original trilogy. DJ was equally vague. I liked the way Del Toro played him. But he just flitted in and left, no motive or nothing. I do accept he may play a bigger role in Episode 9. Rey's parentage was not as big a shock - and without the other slaps in the face would be quite clever. I have a feeling this isn't over with yet - or it has been radically changed from the plan. Daisy Ridley herself said "it was obvious who Rey's Parents are" after TFA. But to then make them nobodies feels like a big change in direction. And finally Leia. Awesome performance and she was the star of the movie for me. But that scene where she floated back to the ship felt really bizarre as there had been no setup of Leia being able to use the force. I will be interested to see how they now tackle writing Leia out of Episode 9. For me she deserved her Han moment? As did Luke rather than the blink and he's gone scene - but I guess he will be back as a Force Ghost. While I found Poe annoying for most of the film, I did like Rose and Finn and their Relationship. I also thought Rey was awesome as was Chewie. The Porg's were not as annoying as expected. I will be going back to see the movie again. But as it stands I feel a bit like the Resistance at the end of the movie, deflated and with very little left in the tank. I hope the Solo movie can lift me back up again - or that my future viewings allow me to see something positive. So onto figures... And weirdly I kind of feel we may have had all the Black Series figures we are going to get for The Last Jedi. With DJ and Island Journey Rey coming in January - the only others that stand out for release would be Vice Admiral Holdo, Luke in his Jedi gear from the finale and Leia in her robes. Even the Canto Bight aliens were not interesting enough for a figure - perhaps with exception of the Police, the new Bespin Guard? Give me those and then let's see the Black Series move onto Solo and some more familiar looks and themes. The movie also put some of the figures we've had into perspective. Maz was a fleeting appearance, so for me her release is more a Force Awakens release - same for General Leia in those combat fatigues. While the Praetorians didn't disappoint, the Executioner was barely on screen despite being a poster boy for the movie? Snoke now feels less of a chase, and I wonder once most people have seen the movie if his popularity will plummet? And Ackbar, with his exclusive set I thought he would even get a line and live past the opening. While I had thought I wanted a tweaked Phasma with staff, her brief appearance has put pay to that - I can live with the one I have. Same applies for Hux. An Ade Edmonson figure would be great though. In the 3.75" series I can't see much more either. I think a 3rd Luke is possible as could be further Praetorians and I would like to see Snoke get a single release and not be held in that £200 BB8 playset (the one that will be £50 soon). Other vehicles are also unlikely too in my opinion, after the AT-ACT hit they took last year I don't see a new AT-M6 coming out in 3.75" scale - maybe an AT-ST if fans are lucky? Let us know what you think? Please use the Disquss comments here rather than our social channels to keep spoilers locked away for those who don't want to see them. All of the above is my opinion, and I appreciate this movie will split fandom in many facets - let's keep it civil and respectful.

As you know if you follow the site, we have been big advocates of the Clect.com platform and over the past couple of years we have been building a large online collection via Clect of both figures (including links to reviews) and our #SatTOYday newsletter. I am sad to confirm that Clect.com has now closed and I want to thank Steve, Karl and the whole Clect team for their hard work. With the platform being turned off we will also be removing the links from out site as the link is no longer active. While anything loaded to Clect is no longer accessible, everything we loaded is still available via our site at the following links Sat-TOY-Day Back Issues Action Figure Reviews We are also still active on all the social channels - and our Sat-TOY-Day newsletters are also published via Issuu.com