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“I have no name. But the Jedi like you might call me… Sith.” The Stranger was the key antagonist of the 2024 Star Wars series The Acolyte on Disney+ while acting as himself or as his alter-ego Qimir influencing Mae and supporting her on her journey. His identify and full appearance were kept secret for much of the show's promotional activity and his full role not unveiled completely until Episode Five. That made the development of him as a Black Series figure difficult until the show have aired and while the first Acolyte figures were released in the Autumn of 2024, we have had to wait a full year to add The Stranger to our collection. The Stranger is released as part of the main Galaxy Collection and is part of Wave 23 alongside the Revenge of the Sith figures of Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Lieuteant Galle, and the new Imperial Sandtrooper from A New Hope. He is the 10th figure from The Acolyte, and uses the deep red accent colour on the text and the side artwork that depicts the masked, and cloaked, Stranger looking back over his shoulder with lightsaber in hand. This art connects directly to the Deluxe Kelnacca who proceeded him in the series. The rear of the box covers the top line information for the character and his alter-ego. The cardback sat within the box and behind the figure is the same red as the artwork and text, and also incorporates an image of the jungles on Khofar where the Jedi first encounter him and do battle.  The figure of The Stranger includes, as you break it down, a variety of different looks that we see in the various episodes of The Acolyte. We start with a large, soft plastic robe that sits over the figure and encompasses much of the body leaving the arms visible and accessible at either side. These arms are a bare skin tone and covered in grime and dirt as seen on screen. The left forearm includes the sculpted Cortosis bracer, a rough textured piece with incorporated battle damage. It is cast in grey and painted with a mix of copper and bronze to add the metallic texture with two clasps also picked out in silver. While this is a sleeved piece, it cannot be removed even after the left hand is popped off.  The head sculpt for ‘Qimir’ is an excellent likeness to actor Manny Jacinto and incorporates his light moustache, deep set brow, and the mop of dark hair which hangs in strands around his face also adding a level of shadow to the right hand side.  To move past the larger robe you must pop off the head which will come off attached to the neck which is a key element of the figure as we will see shortly. Under the rubbery plastic robes are a second set of soft goods robes. These are not overly tailored and form a tabard of sorts with the head hole fitting over the head & neck to create some softer goods layers beneath the outer robe, on their own they are useable particularly to provide the figure a robed look while maximising articulation but they do hang flat and are relatively lifeless. Beyond these is the base sculpt with The Stranger wearing a Jedi-esque upper robe in black with cross pieces tucked into a belt which is a textured scaled affair. The legs, also cast in black are relatively plain trousers and a plain pair of boots, and these are then enclosed in a second soft goods pair of trousers, fixed at the waist, and covering all of the leg. These are accurate to The Stranger’s outfit on screen, and choosing soft goods over sculpting such a voluminous leg continues to support the figures articulation.  So we have had three different looks so far with the two robed variations and the base figure in his inner robes. You can then change these further by swapping out the head with that of the masked Cortosis mask. Despite executing some excellent wearable helmets in recent years, the decision here is to use an alternative head allowing both the head and neck to be changed to match the onscreen appearance. This is easily done and positions the Stranger mask securely into position in any of the robed configurations. The mask itself is a bronze base colour with a metallic finish. Scratches and repairs are evident in darker grey with the narrow eye slit given a black finish, and the ‘teeth’ across the extended jaw section painted in silver.  While the head & neck are intended to be swapped as a single piece, it is possible to remove the neck from the head with a bit of heat treatment and a gentle pull to disengage the ball joint. The benefit here is for the masked head, freeing it from the neck and while The Stranger cannot wear it, it then becomes an accessory of sorts to hold under his arm. The actual accessories are two lightsabers, packed into the box as two individual items. The first is the main bladed weapon, the second the Lightdagger he uses to kill Jecki Lon. While not specified on the packaging, I was so pleased to find that the hilt of the two blades combine into a larger hilt for the main blade, replicating the hidden dagger section we see deployed on screen. Both halves of the hilt are black with basic scupted panels and components, but no additional paint work. The saber can be held in either or both hands, but there is no holstering option. The two blades are translucent red and clip into their respective hilt sections securely, the larger blade clicking into place with a lighter connection on the smaller dagger hilt due to the duel nature of the socket to connect it to the blade and the larger hilt.  The Stranger boasts 21 points of articulation in total. The legs still feature a thigh swivel, which may be included because it is hidden behind the soft goods as it is not an obvious re-use from another figure. This combination of leg joints and soft goods still facilitate him kneeling, crouching and wider fighting stances, although they are diminished when the outer robe is added.  The arms have a relatively full range of motion with butterfly shoulders helping bring them into two handed lightsaber positions. The hands are on ball joints rather than pivot pegs which does give them a wider range of overall movement, but with that movement more restricted and the risk of them popping out if forced too far over. The neck, as we know, is duel jointed so this and the central torso joint add in some additional movement to lean him into poses and to move and tilt his head to add further mannerisms incorporated into the role by Jacinto. This is by nearly every definition of the Black Series an excellent figure with a good likeness to the unmasked head, a good replication of that original helmet design in both sculpted and colour, and with outfit choices to give you further options. I get the decision around the helmet as a swap out head rather than wearable considering The Stranger’s messy hair style, I do just wish the neck was a bit easier to disconnect as well so you can use the head more as an accessory to hold. That aside the accessory choices are excellent and to even engineer a working lightsaber dagger that detached from the main hilt is a nice touch.  In terms of the outfit, the mix of soft goods and sculpted continues to be blended well by the design team and who knew soft goods pants would work so well. That being said, the figure in its unrobed position is how we meet The Stranger on his unknown planetary base and while this is the most poseable configuration, in the series he doesn’t really do much in these scenes and in this outfit version. Where he does battle the Jedi initially on Khofar and then again on Brendok he is in full robed mode and doing this on the figure does lock down some of the articulation. The clever part is there is technically an alternative soft goods inner cape which will open up that articulation for those that want the Stranger in full robes and helmet and still in those dynamic lightsaber duel poses.  All of this does mean that I, like many others I’ve seen commenting online, I feel I need to buy this figure again to show him in at least a couple of varying outfits to match his defined looks during the run of the show. To that end I can see him selling pretty well in the mid-term. The Stranger feels like a conclusion to The Acolyte Galaxy Collection considering no further seasons are incoming, although I do dare Hasbro to add one more in the shape of the teased Darth Plagious to finish the set. Keep Track of all the Star Wars Black Series figures from Hasbro at our comprehensive Star Wars Black Series Collectors Database & Checklist If you are reading this via a 3rd party website that is importing our newsfeed, please come and visit us directly and give us a follow on Facebook , Twitter , and YouTube . Check out our direct news feed for more action figure news, reviews, and store reports About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...

Revealed today by Hasbro at their panel at the Lucca Comics & Games show in Italy was this new Star Wars Black Series Holiday release of the Valentine Ewok. This is the first Holiday Edition to mark Valentine's Day and includes the existing Black Series Ewok sculpt, now in pink, with red hood, and a recoloured bow & arrow (from Wicket) in white. The set also includes a pink BD droid and a Valentine's card. We are awaiting release details, but assume it will be shipped well in advance of February the 14th 2026. To manage our storage costs, news article images are archived after 12-months. Accept our apologies if you have reached this news article, and the images are no longer available If you are reading this via a 3rd party website that is importing our newsfeed, please come and visit us directly and give us a follow on Facebook , Twitter , and YouTube . Check out our direct news feed for more action figure news, reviews, and store reports About Me : As a child of the '70s and '80s I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force), and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licenses - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who, and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK-focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...

Revealed by the Hasbro team at Lucca Comics & Games in Italy is this new 'Spotlight' set featuring three versions of Optimus Prime showcasing the artistry and evolution behind the Transformers line. The three figures in the set represent the grey model prototype, the paint sample prototype, and the finished figure, complete with comic shading. The set will include accessories for all three versions of Prime, the Matrix of Leadership, Energon axe, and blaster. The set is then packed into a special presentation box packaging with opening front cover. To manage our storage costs, news article images are archived after 12-months. Accept our apologies if you have reached this news article, and the images are no longer available If you are reading this via a 3rd party website that is importing our newsfeed, please come and visit us directly and give us a follow on Facebook , Twitter , and YouTube . Check out our direct news feed for more action figure news, reviews, and store reports About Me : As a child of the '70s and '80s I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force), and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licenses - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who, and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK-focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...

Mezco have revealed a new One:12 Collective release of Thomas Hewitt Leatherface from the 2002 release of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The 6-inch release will include three head options as well as an assortment of hands. You will also get the obligatory chainsaw as well as a sledgehammer, a mallaet, and blood spatter effects. Other accessories include boxes of ears and fingers, jars of eyeballs, a severed hand, and a severed head. This is a general release and is due to ship between March and May 2026. The One:12 Collective Thomas Hewitt Leatherface comes loaded with film accurate accessories and incomparable detail. From The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), the One:12 Collective Leatherface captures the bone-chilling horror of the Hewitt family’s most infamous butcher. He stands ready with his chainsaw and an array of grisly “evidence”, including a rotting severed hand,  collected fingers in a box, human ears, two jars of eyeballs, and a decapitated head on a silver platter.  The Hewitt family’s tormented serial killer is dressed in his signature butcher’s attire—filthy apron, stained shirt, and work boots—each detail recreated with exquisitely eerie realism.  Complete with a terrifying unmasked portrait and two different “human skin” masked heads, interchangeable hands, and a full arsenal of rusty blood-soaked tools, Leatherface brings the brutality of the remake straight to your shelf.  Cancel your previous plans, this is THE must have Thomas Hewitt figure for horror fans! To manage our storage costs, news article images are archived after 12-months. Accept our apologies if you have reached this news article, and the images are no longer available If you are reading this via a 3rd party website that is importing our newsfeed, please come and visit us directly and give us a follow on Facebook , Twitter , and YouTube . Check out our direct news feed for more action figure news, reviews, and store reports About Me : As a child of the '70s and '80s I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force), and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licenses - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who, and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK-focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...

NECA's HorrorWeen continues with the reveal of two Quarter-Scale releases of Art the Clown from Terrifier. They include a general release, complete with three face plates, extra hands, flail, knife, saw, and a clown horn. You can also pick up a bloodied variant exclusive to the NECA Store. This one also features alternative accessories, including face plates and bloodied hands, a bloody knife, a scalpel, and a table leg bat. The figures are not due until the 4th Quarter of 2026, but can be pre-ordered now from general stockists for the standard version, and from the NECA Store - including international shopping - for the bloody variant. From Damien Leone’s hit Terrifier films comes the iconic Art the Clown, now joining NECA’s line of quarter-scale horror figures! Standing over 18 inches tall, this fully articulated Art the Clown captures the nightmarish essence of the new horror icon with chilling accuracy. Art comes equipped with a gruesome arsenal of bloody weapons and accessories, including a kitchen knife, clown horn, hacksaw, and flail. Customize the mayhem with interchangeable hands and faceplates, each depicting a different maniacal expression to bring his disturbing personality to life. Presented in collector-friendly window box packaging, this figure is a must-have centerpiece for any horror fan’s collection! From Damien Leone’s hit Terrifier films, the enigmatic Art the Clown is slicing his way to NECA’s line of quarter-scale horror figures. And this time, he’s bloodier than ever! Standing over 18 inches tall, this fully articulated Art captures the nightmarish essence of this modern horror icon with chilling accuracy. Featuring blood spatter deco for an extra sinister look, Art comes equipped with a gruesome arsenal of accessories, including a scalpel, kitchen knife, table leg bat, and more. Customize the mayhem with interchangeable hands and faceplates, each depicting a different maniacal expression to bring his disturbing personality to life. Presented in collector-friendly window box packaging, this figure will be the standout of your horror collection! To manage our storage costs, news article images are archived after 12-months. Accept our apologies if you have reached this news article, and the images are no longer available If you are reading this via a 3rd party website that is importing our newsfeed, please come and visit us directly and give us a follow on Facebook , Twitter , and YouTube . Check out our direct news feed for more action figure news, reviews, and store reports About Me : As a child of the '70s and '80s I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force), and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licenses - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who, and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK-focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...

"We could let HER do it" With the Diamond Select Lord of the Rings series brought to an abrupt end with the collapse of Diamond Comics into administration, I have been looking back at some of the awesome Toybiz figures of the early 2000s to complement my Diamond figures in a wider Lord of the Rings display. One of the immediate and obvious ways to do this, even before the Diamond line closed, was to use the larger deluxe 'monsters' and 'creatures' from the Toybiz line, a process I started with Treebeard, who you can see in my Merry and Pippin reviews, and now I have added Shelob. Shelob, the greatest offspring of Ungolian, and as seen in Return of the King, was a 2004 release in the Toybiz series. She was crammed into Wave 3 of the slimmed-down carded packaging under the blue Return of the King packaging. The figure would be repacked a year later, in 2005, in a more extensive window box with both Sam and Frodo. The Toybiz figure is relatively lightweight in hand, with much of the great spider's body clearly hollow. The main body is cast in a dark brown/grey with varying shades or brown to a light beige used to bring out the hideous details of Shelob's head. A yellowed bone is used on the exposed front pincer,s while the eyes are painted black. Projecting from the head are a pair of articulated mandibles in a darker grey, almost black finish. From the main body we then have eight Spider legs, all multi-jointed and with a similar dark grey base colour with drybrushed brown and beige. There are 38 points of articulation across Shelob with 8 ball joints per leg and another 3 smaller and simpler ball joints on each of the front mandibles. The legs can be spread or folded in on themselves - as seen on the cardback. The eight legs provide stability, but age will likely not have been kind to the figure and that will see looseness across some or all of the leg joints. In terms of scale, in the movie we only see Shelob face off against Sam and Frodo who are Hobbits. That means we perceive her to be bigger on screen, with Sam just about able to look her in the eyes in a normal stance. The ToyBiz figure may be slightly undersized, but still works with the DST Sam and Frodo, particularly as both come with the Phial of Galadriel accessory as seen in the battle with Shelob. With plenty of fake spider-web about at Halloween, there is plenty of scope to accessories Shelob for display, something I am playing with to disguise the slightly bandy legs in places. To manage our storage costs, news article images are archived after 12-months. Accept our apologies if you have reached this news article, and the images are no longer available If you are reading this via a 3rd party website that is importing our newsfeed, please come and visit us directly and give us a follow on Facebook , Twitter , and YouTube . Check out our direct news feed for more action figure news, reviews, and store reports About Me : As a child of the '70s and '80s I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force), and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licenses - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who, and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK-focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...

"Civilization has gotten confused since I was away." The Cantina scene in A New Hope was our first glimpse on screen of the various alien species that inhabited the Star Wars Universe. The myriad of aliens seen in the Cantina would go on to be fleshed out as both characters and species in the expanded Universe and into future movies, animation, TV series, and novels.  One of these characters was Lak Sivrak the Shistavanen, seen briefly in the original cut of A New Hope before being digitally replaced in the 1997 special edition. Lak, at the time of his Cantina appearance, was listed as an Imperial Scout Hunter, but he would go on to convert to the Rebel Alliance and is even listed as flying an X-Wing at the Battle of Endor. To dat,e we have not got a formal release of Lak Sivrak in the Black Series, but thanks to the 2024 release of Captain Brutus from Skeleton Crew , we do now have a Shistavanen headsculpt and hands available to us who like simple kitbashing to create new figures.  Lak Sivrak’s appearance in A New Hope was made up of an off-the-shelf Wolf Mask and a reused Jawa robe over a lighter tunic, but we only have that head and shoulder shot from the bar to visualize him as a character. That appearance has varied over the years in figure and statue form, with the earlier Kenner POTF figure depicted in Jedi-esque robes but of a lighter brown / cream finish. The Gentle Giant statue made these robes darker, in keeping with the original Jawa robes.  In the absence of an official release, having got access to the Brutus head and hands, the most obvious body available to me for a simple kit bash was that of Obi-Wan Kenobi  from Jabiim, a darker brown robed figure, complete with belt and holster, and paying homage to that original look for Sivrak without being a nailed-on match. The parts are thankfully extremely compatible with the hands on Brutus fitting into the sockets on Obi-Wan’s sleeves and the head being a relatively neat fit to the Obi-Wan neck. That neck will need painting to match the grey skin of the Shistavanen, or if you have (or want to seek out) parts from an Axe Woves figure - a part I had spare from a previous custom - the neck on this figure is almost a perfect colour match and accommodates both the Obi-Wan body and the Brutus head. Once Lak was armed with a suitable blaster - canon has him using an SE-14r light repeating blaster but I didn’t have that immediately to hand - then we have another Cantina patron with no complicated painting or sculpting and ready to join fellow drinkers such as Pondo Baba, Dr Evazan, and Momaw Nadon. Our picture below also sneaks in a couple of other customs with fellow kit-bashed figure Lirin Car'n , and others using 3d printed head sculpts, including Kabe  and Hem Dazon . Lak Sivrak also retains full articulation, 19 points in total, allowing him the ability to be posed in gun slinging poses, or leaned up against the Cantina Bar. To manage our storage costs, news article images are archived after 12-months. Accept our apologies if you have reached this news article, and the images are no longer available If you are reading this via a 3rd party website that is importing our newsfeed, please come and visit us directly and give us a follow on Facebook , Twitter , and YouTube . Check out our direct news feed for more action figure news, reviews, and store reports About Me : As a child of the '70s and '80s I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force), and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licenses - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who, and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK-focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...

“So we just go through the maze?” In 2023 Hasbro’s Dungeons & Dragons Golden Archive series  was in full flow as it tried to capitalise on the release of D&D: Honor Among Thieves on the big screen. The line suddenly expanded beyond its one special release of Drizzt Do’Urden & Guenhwyvar to figures from the movie and, ambitiously, a number of larger creatures including the Owlbear, a Beholder, and the figure we are reviewing here, the Displacer Beast.  The Beast is seen as one of the key threats in the High Sun Games Arena in Neverwinter, has its origins in D&D lore, but its part in the movie would prove to be limited despite Hasbro’s investment to develop and release such a large figure. The ‘Beasts’ in the D&D Golden Archive series come in larger and wider boxes but still feature the same shaped corner paying homage to the D6 dice used in Dungeons & Dragons. The boxes are windowless, as was the entire range at the time of release, with the front cover carrying an illustrated image of the Displacer Beast with an insert showing the figure itself. Another image of the figure, this time expanded to fill the full space, is used on the back of the box, with the size of the beast confirmed and the functionality of the Tentacles. The rest of the box space is taken up by a zoomed in head shot of the illustration on one side, and a short bio text on the other.  Inside the windowless packaging we have an inner cardboard sleeve and the various components for the beast with the tail and the two upper tentacles supplied separately to the rest of the figure. A basic set of instructions are included, although it isnt hard to work out where each go. All three pieces plug into the sockets on the main body and click into place with sufficient (but not excessive) force.  The figure is impressive in terms of size, measuring over 11-inches nose to tail, and the tentacles creating a height in excess of 8 inches if you pose them as seen on screen. The body of the six-legged cat is cast in black plastic with fur detailing including on each sculpted and assembled part. A purple hue is added over the top to try and give a shimmering magic effect, although this is not overly successful. Pink is used to pick out battle scars down the body although rather than picking out sculpted wounds, they are painted over the fur which makes them look more than a little fake.  Painted detail is then included on each of the Displacer beasts clawed feet in a sickly yellow colour, with the same tone used for the teeth in the open jaw. This jaw also features a purple tone for the gums, while the eyes above are yellow with a black pupil. The final detailing is on the two tentacles with the upper flattened portion coloured in a fleshy-pink and then with rows of flexible plastic grey fronds protruding outward. Articulation on such a multi-limbed creature is a feat of engineering and we can count 31 joints in total of which 24 are across the six legs. Getting all six of these legs aligned for a standing position takes a bit of work, but once stabilised the Displacer Beasts stands securely even allowing you to extend a front paw in an attack mode or extending those upper tentacles outwards. The tentacles themselves are articulated by a ball joint where they plug into the body, but are then flexible in terms of being a softer plastic on top of a metal armature. In theory this should make them poseable in any direction or configuration, but the thickness of the plastic does make them extremely difficult to move and poses and the plastic fights against the internal armature and often simply drags them back into the same position they were in to start with. The final joints are at the tail, allowing that to be raised, lowered or rotated, at the midsection of the body, and at the head end. These include two neck joints to move the head around to the side and to raise it and lower it, as well as an opening jaw. Not all of these work as you’d like, with the neck and mid-sections joints feeling overly springy and not moving to the extent we might expect them too. Posed with your D&D 6-inch figures, the Displacer Beast is scaled well enough with its head reaching their waist as we see it on screen as its stalks its prey in the maze. The figure suffered, as did much of the linen, with the initial reception for the movie and coming at a point where the Hasbro lines were all windowless boxes which drove a downturn in sales across nearly all lines.  The Displacer Beast is an OK figure, ambitious and executed well in places, but with flaws in others. The paint job is the worst element, and I’d have preferred the team to ditch the purple hue and the false scars and to do a two tone paintjob on the fur to give it the sheen it deserves. The eyes and mouth are also amateurish considering the quality paint work we’ve seen on similar size figures in the Legends and Star Wars lines and the job the team did on Guenhwyvar a couple of years earlier who’s golden shining eyes and realistic mouth do put this version to shame. And of course the upper Tentacles, the key element of the figure, do not work particular well with the wire armature fighting the plastic in nearly every position and loosing.  With an RRP of £44.99 on arrival in the UK, the Displacer Beast has hung around for quite some time and the price has continued to drop. At the time of writing you can still get one new and boxed with the price as low as £12.95 on one site we checked. This is a shame and another sign that a D&D line just hasn’t got the popular support to succeed in depth, I just hope that Hasbro do consider the line worthy of some kind of future with so much source material to go after and dedicated fans out there that will buy these figures albeit most likely in a limited run and exclusive to Hasbro or another retailer. For now, The Displacer Beast does complete my D&D collection and provides some background to the display albeit overshadowed by the more impressive Owlbear  and Xanathar  releases. Keep Track of all the Dungeons & Dragons figures from Hasbro at our comprehensive Hasbro Collectors Database & Checklist If you are reading this via a 3rd party website that is importing our newsfeed, please come and visit us directly and give us a follow on Facebook , Twitter , and YouTube . Check out our direct news feed for more action figure news, reviews, and store reports About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...

“Just a simple wanderer” Star Wars: Visions is an anthology series of animated stories inspired by the Star Wars Universe. Its first season landed on Disney+ in September 2021, with Season 2 arriving on May the 4th, 2023, and Season 3 live as of the 29th of October 2025. Opening Season 1 as ‘The Duel’ a black and white story, infused with colour for the blast effects of sabers and plasters, is set in an alternative Star Wars timeline with the significant influence of Feudal Japan. The key character in this first story was The Ronin, who will make his return in Season 3, a mysterious former Sith who protects a village from Bandits.  The Star Wars Black Series had not delved into the Visions series until 2025 when Star Wars Celebration was hosted in Japan, and The Duel and in particular, the key protagonist The Ronin became an appropriate exclusive release for the Celebration Event. That release included The Ronin’s R2 Unit and was presented in entirely black and white tones with an extensive soft goods cape. The figure of The Ronin would go on to get a single release, re-coloured in line with the main Black Series collection, and dropped into the 3rd Galaxy Collection Wave of 2025 alongside Dash Rendar , Barriss Offee , and the Jedi Temple Guard . The Ronin is the first in a new Galaxy Collection assigned to Star Wars: Visions with a new bright blue accent colour on the box text, and the side artwork that depicts The Ronin drawing his saber. As the launch figure, he is number 01 in the collection with no indication from the artwork or from any released news at the time of writing as to any further figures joining the line-up. The rear of the box carries the briefest overview of The Ronin and his role in The Duel, while the cardback inside carries an embedded image of mountains and a glimpse of the rooftops of the village The Ronin protects. The figure is identical to that of the 2025 Star Wars Celebration exclusive, albeit now completely recoloured in a scheme that fits the realistic scheme of the wider Black Series and with some level of licence taken by Hasbro to the actual colouring, considering what we see on screen is essentially blacks and greys. The figure has not strayed much away from the source material, with the main outfit in black made up of a Gi-style upper robe crossed at the chest and tied at the waist. This is cast in black and appears to be a sleeved piece over an inner torso that features an inner shirt in white, visible at the collar. The Gi is tied with a white, dynamically sculpted, flowing belt with a silver buckle, added over the top of the torso as an individual piece. The trousers are padded and cut off at the ankles, with a pair of simple brown shoes finishing the costume.  Over all of this is a robe piece in soft black plastic and fastened at the front by a loose chain section that can be unplugged. This does mean the robe can be removed, although the figure beneath looks out of place without it considering the arms of the figure are the same cloak piece. The cloak is ragged and also sculpted with a dynamic glow to the sides in particular. The matching arms are similarly ragged and torn and also include the two silver panels on the left shoulder. This cloak is individual to this set, with the Celebrations version using a soft goods solution. In The Duel, we see that The Ronin is collecting Kyber Crystals from the Sith he defeats, and these are stowed in his robes. Hasbro has decided against reflecting this in the figure, which would have been a nice hidden detail. The headsculpt is accurate to what we see on screen, with the animation style relatively realistic. The Ronin has a chin strap of sorts in gun metal silver as well as a black marking across his nose and down each cheek. The facial features are face printed, while the jet black hair is applied as a sculpted section as part of the head and a plugged in top chonmage pony tail, which is once more flowing as though blowing in the wind back over the head. A couple of other strands of hair flow out from the side of the head to add further windblown details. The Ronin features two accessories: his lightsaber with its own sheath, and a blaster, both inspired by the style of weapons from Feudal Japan. The saber includes a brown hilt, in laid with a diamond pattern sculpted into the hilt and then picked out in grey. The pommel is bronze, as is the emitter from which the red translucent blade extends. Unlike most lightsabers, the blade is not removable from the hilt with the entire piece sheathed into the included scabbard. This is a silver grey finish with some softer detail of greebles and components, and ending in a black final section.  The blaster is reasonably simple with limited detail as befits the source material. It features a silver handle and brown stock. Both the blaster and the sheath include a sculpted ‘plug’ that should allow them to be slotted into a corresponding socket on The Ronin’s waist to the left-hand side. To do this, you also have to tuck them through the white belt, and getting all of them to line up is not overly easy and I ended up letting the belt hold the pieces in place, which gives more flexibility in their positions than trying to engage the plugs.  The weapons will fit in either hand, both left and right, inclusive of a gripping position and a trigger finger. There is also sufficient articulation for two-handed lightsaber posing, and posing him drawing his saber from the hilt as seen in the box. This articulation is 19 points in total. This includes the more modern configuration where the thigh swivel is removed, but The Ronin gains an ankle pivot where the lower shin plugs into the trousers. While the trousers are broad and baggy, they retain a decent range of motion and stability when the figure is posed. The upper arms include butterfly shoulders, which definitely support the light saber forms with two-handed options not just limited to a single position, but now expanding to fighting positions and striking options.  There is no denying that The Ronin cuts an impressive figure, particularly due to the design choices to sculpt his hair and robes in a dynamic wind-blown style to reflect the scenes from The Duel. His conversion to a real-world setting in terms of colouring feels appropriate and also creates a contrast of the white inner robes and belt against the black of the robes. The weapons work well apart from the belted option as designed, but this can simply be worked around using the belt on its own to hold the sheathed weapons.  The figure’s only real downside is the lack of additional context for display either boxed or loose, and while he will display just fine on his own, we would hope Hasbro do commit further to this particular corner of The Visions content and bring us some complementary characters, the easiest of which would be a coloured version of R5-D56 from the Celebration set. Keep Track of all the Star Wars Black Series figures from Hasbro at our comprehensive Star Wars Black Series Collectors Database & Checklist If you are reading this via a 3rd party website that is importing our newsfeed, please come and visit us directly and give us a follow on Facebook , Twitter , and YouTube . Check out our direct news feed for more action figure news, reviews, and store reports About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...

Hasbro held a Hasbro Pulse Panel at MCM London with news and reveals for most of the Hasbro key properties including Star Wars and across all three key properties within the Star Wars Universe. Star Wars Vintage Collection The panel started with the Vintage Collection and a reveal of The Stranger from The Acolyte. He will come with two heads - masked and unmasked - and removable soft goods cape. There will then be a single carded release of 'Emperor's Wrath' Darth Vader. We then got the first figure reveal for the new Maul: Shadow Lord animated series with a carded release of Maul, a refresh of the Clone Wars mechanical legs Maul. These will be part of the 2026 Vintage Wave in 2026 with Padme and Shaak-Ti, pre-ordering starts on the 28th of October. Star Wars Black Series The Black Series showed the teased lightsaber 'swoosh' effects from NYC 2025 was all related to the Fan Channel Wave 1 for 2026 which we knew from NYCC that included Kyle Katarn from Dark Forces. We now have his promotional images and confirmation this is a Gaming Greats release and Kyle will be number 29 in the GG Galaxy Collection.and the Kyle Katarn figure. He will be joined by Jedi Master Dooku from Tales of the Jedi with two heads (bearded and not), soft goods cape, and lightsaber with two blade effects. Dooku is listed as number 02 and we aren't sure if this means there is another figure incoming from that series, or if this is a combined Galaxy Collection with number one in the set being the Visions release of The Ronin - the colours are almost identical. The Wave will also feature the Seventh Sister from Rebels, who will come with an unmasked head, removable two-part helmet, and an Inquisitor dual lightsaber with two standard blades and two swoosh effects. She also includes her Seeker Droid. The Seventh Sister will be 09 in the Rebels Galaxy Collection, following on from Chopper from 2023. We are also getting Quinlon Vos from Clone Wars, and he too will include a lightsaber with a normal and swoosh blade. Quinlon is number 22 in the Clone Wars Galaxy Collection. This Fan Channel Wave is a Spring 2026 release and we can pre-order on the 28th of October. We have added the new figures to the Star Wars Black Series Collector Database Star Wars Retro Collection The panel didn't have time for the Retro reveal - but shared soon after was confirmation that joining the Retro Collection from A New Hope alongside Garinden, who was revealed at NYCC 2025 is the droid CZ-3. The pair are part of a new 6-figure boxset and we can expect more news at Lucca Comic Con in Italy which runs from the 29th October to the 1st of November. To manage our storage costs, news article images are archived after 12-months. Accept our apologies if you have reached this news article, and the images are no longer available If you are reading this via a 3rd party website that is importing our newsfeed, please come and visit us directly and give us a follow on Facebook , Twitter , and YouTube . Check out our direct news feed for more action figure news, reviews, and store reports About Me : As a child of the '70s and '80s I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force), and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licenses - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who, and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK-focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...

Hasbro held a Hasbro Pulse Panel at MCM London with news and reveals for most of the Hasbro key properties. GI Joe Classified Series The figures revealed were those that were included as name-only revealed figures at NYCC 2025. They include the Female Crimson Guard, Crazy Legs, and Zap. These are all carded releases in the G.I. Joe Retro series. We then finished with name only reveals for Taurus, Red Dog, Hydro Viper, Zanya and Ninja Force Zartan. We included all of these into our Hasbro G.I. Joe Classified Series Collector Database Transformers The Transformers segment recapped the news and reveals from last few weeks including those from NYCC 2025 in the Age of the Primes line. These included Maximal Big Convoy and Razorclaw the latest Leader Class releases. We also saw images for Amalgamous Prime, Brawl, and Wreck Gar, the Voyager Releases. And in the Deluxe Class, Quintus Prime, Target Master, Quickstrike, Junkion and Blast Off We then got a look at the Commander Class Onslaught. The images here are taken from booth images shared on social media. In the Studio Series, we got another look at Airacnide, Barricade, and Windcharger in the Deluxe line. For the Voyager Class, we saw more Alpha-Trion, and Thundercracker. And in Leader Class, Soundwave and Nemesis Prime. Titan Grimlock was shown again. More Titan Dinobots were teased for next year. In the concept line of versus Transformers in the Japanese style we got a look at Bumblebee vs Megatron. To manage our storage costs, news article images are archived after 12-months. Accept our apologies if you have reached this news article, and the images are no longer available If you are reading this via a 3rd party website that is importing our newsfeed, please come and visit us directly and give us a follow on Facebook , Twitter , and YouTube . Check out our direct news feed for more action figure news, reviews, and store reports About Me : As a child of the '70s and '80s I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force), and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licenses - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who, and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK-focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...

"We're Not Serving Justice Here, You Know? We're Babysitting Chaos." Charlie Cox’s Daredevil has had two Marvel Legends figures released to date, the first in 2017 as his Netflix Daredevil Series branched out into The Defenders. A wave of Marvel Knights figures was released to coincide with The Defenders and included figures from the Netflix shows and comic book figures as well as a Man-Thing Build-a-Figure. The second figure was a variant of the first, released as a Defenders Exclusive at San Diego Comic Con in 2018, adding an unmasked head to the base figure and putting him in a set with variants of Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, and brand new figures of Iron Fist and Colleen Wing. All of the Netflix figures have since climbed in price on the secondary market and rarely come up for sale. Now 8-years later, Daredevil has returned to our screens in Daredevil: Born Again on Disney+, and to mark that return, Hasbro has released a two-figure wave of figure,s including The Punisher , and Daredevil. These are general releases, arriving in the UK in late October 2025. The packaging for the wave follows the set dimensions and squared off box of all the Hasbro Collector lines. While this appears plain black initially, the base design is embedded with images of New York and Hell’s Kitchen and very much in keeping with the shows dark and gritty visuals. The Daredevil: Born Again logo is front and centre on the bottom rail under the window, and this will be the first release to be badged under the Marvel Television banner.  The artwork for the Daredevil figure is in a gritty red and white illustration of a masked Daredevil against the black background of the box. The artwork also incorporates a track of running blood from the helmet over the pale face of Matt Murdock. This image is used on the full right side just above a Legends logo, and again as a smaller image on the right-hand side. We also get a third full version on the back of the box alongside some background text for Daredevil. The figure is set against a cardback that is also coloured but in a way to contrast to the figure. While The Punisher used a red card to contrast his black outfit, the Daredevil backing card is a black/grey finish to ensure the red of the Daredevil suit is not lost. Like the box, this cardback includes embedded imagery of a Hell’s Kitchen Tenement building.  The suit of the figure is a good match to the Daredevil suit worn during the events of Born from home and is inclusive of the suits cross-hatched texture throughout. Most parts are cast in the base deep red of the suit, with painted grey borders, panels or lines painted in as needed. Some parts like the butterfly shoulders amd the boots are cast in a grey base. This does pose a slight visual issue at the back of the legs where the red upper leg plugs into the grey lower leg, yet leaves the joint in the red colour. There is no further decor applied, nor any weathering or battle damage. This does mean the sculpted D clasps on the belt are left unpainted rather than painted silver as per the on-screen costume. We have a single masked head wearing the horned helmet which uses the same base colour as the suit and the grey to add the lines that work from the horns down round the eyes and from the side of the helmet and up towards the top. The eyes are painted a lighter red to contrast from the mask and are ringed in black to make them stand out. The inner section of the mask is a grey colour that comes down over the sides of Matt's head with the same colour used on the neck. The revealed portion of Murdock’s face is a good likeness to Charlie Cox in costume and includes photo application on the mouth and the stubble beard that we see in Born Again. This is a different suit to the original 2017 figure and therefore there is quite a difference between the two in colour and design. You can also see the progress in the Legends line over those intervening years, with the new 2025 figure much better proportioned, and holding a cleaned aesthetic with more integration and essentially disguising of the joints. It is worth noting that the older figure did paint the clasps and buckles of the suit, so takes the win on that element. Despite thinking the 2017 head sculpt and the very earliest use of facial printing was great at the time, the newer sculpts and facial printing is so much more advanced and impressive on a side-by-side comparison. vs 2017 Marvel Knights Wave Release (right) Daredevil sports 22 points of pinless articulation that is almost seamlessly worked into the figure, yet provides extensive movement. The legs include double-joint knees to allow Daredevil to couch and kneel, while a solid set of ankle rockers keep him secure when posed. The torso is probably less mobile than we might like as the T-Joints are phased out and replaced with a ball joint. This ball joint can lean Daredevil back quite some way, but doesn’t offer much forward ab-crunch as we used to get. Rotation of the torso is provided at the waist. The neck is jointed top and bottom and crucially for Daredevil who often angles and positions his head to hear what is going on has a full range of movement to mimic these mannerisms. The arms start with butterfly shoulders to expand their range, and then a pair of double joint elbows which can almost fold back on themselves. With these alongside the usual shoulder, bicep swivel and wrist pivot, there are plenty of options for fighting stances, although we have only been given one clenched right fist, and a left ‘clawed’ hand for hand-to-hand combat. The two gripping hands are for the billy clubs, which can be wielded in extensive offensive or defensive poses thanks to the arm movement.  The batons themselves are red with a silver cap at one end and a larger silver section at the top, which includes a small socket. The batons are different in size and finish, with one smaller than the other and with a reduced silver collar, but still inclusive of the socket. The billy clubs can be holstered in the loop holster on Daredevil’s left leg or will slot into either of the gripping hands.  The final accessory is the cord that is added by the Tinkerer to give the weapons more range and options. This is a semi-flexible plastic piece that is shaped, and while there is some play in that shape, there is no internal armature, meaning the cord will ‘spring’ back into that configuration. The cord plugs in reasonably easily but lacks the ‘lock’ we get on a lightsaber in the Black Series for example so there can be some frustrating moments when posing the weapon as ends pop out easily.  The cord allows you to have Daredevil holding the weapons with an extended loop or to have the weapon posed as though thrown at an opponent. In this dynamic pose, the clubs are light enough and the cord holds its shape enough to keep the thrown club in ‘the air’. How this will work over time will need to be seen as I suspect the piece will begin to sag and gravity will take over eventually. I’ve posed my Daredevil in this style, so I will report back in a few weeks to see how it's holding up. The clubs do not connect together to make the larger staff, which is a bit of a miss considering the socket was already there for the cord, and a second club with a plug instead of a socket could have been included to create that configuration. The same can be said of a nunchuck's option, again, including an extra and much shorter cord would have worked. I do appreciate the more added into any set will mean an increase in price, but sometimes we just want all the options to replicate our heroes as we see them on screen. Like Punisher, Daredevil is a spectacular looking figure and a great recreation of the onscreen costume and look with articulation that no longer throws the look and flow of the figure, but presents plenty of movement which will suit those who pose their figures in more dynamic stances. The only gripes over the costume are the lack of the final silver detail on the suit, and on the articulation, the torso perhaps doesn’t crunch over forward enough.  The accessories are well thought out, but provide only two of the four configurations of the weapons and I would have paid a few £ extra to be able to get the nunchucks and combined staff options so I have the full range of Matt’s fighting options. Both he and Punisher line up brilliantly together in a display, and the question now is, will we see any further Born Again figures from Season 1, in particular? Muse, Bullseye and Kingpin high on the list…and perhaps White Tiger. Keep Track of all the Marvel Legends figures from Hasbro at our comprehensive Marvel Legends Collectors Database & Checklist If you are reading this via a 3rd party website that is importing our newsfeed, please come and visit us directly and give us a follow on Facebook , Twitter , and YouTube . Check out our direct news feed for more action figure news, reviews, and store reports About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...