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Square Enix have unveiled their next 10 inch Batman release in their popular Play Arts Kai Rogues Gallery Line. We've already seen Square Enix cross Batman with the Joker, and again with Two Face. Now it's the turn of Mr Freeze. The Batman Freeze figure will come with its own Cryongenic inspired Freeze Suit, Freeze Gun and Baterang. There are also hand swap-out options as well as a base to pose the 10" figure on. Release date is scheduled for April 2017 with an RRP of 19,800 Yen. That's roughly £137 / $173

It looks like Doctor Strange is joining the SH Figuarts ranks of Marvel figures. This image has been doing the rounds on Facebook, taken at the Tokyo Comic Con 2016 No more details are available at this time

Called into Disney Store UK today hoping to find the Marvel Select Unmasked Captain America. Sadly, no luck with this figure. But there were quite a few reductions for collectors. In the Elite Series, the First Order 5 pack has now dropped to £49.99, that is £10 a figure. The single Force Awakens figures are now down to £12, with unmasked Kylo Ren only £5. The new Han Solo and First Order Stormtrooper are excluded from this reduction The Marvel Legends 4 pack is also reduced, now at £49.99 Saw the new 11" scale Darth Vader and Princess Leia also in the Premium line. For £29.99 these are not bad and the soft goods look OK.

This weeks Prednesday reveal from NECA was a look at the card back and bio for their upcoming Series 17 Youngblood Predator. Series 17 will hit shelves in early 2017 "Learn more about the Youngblood Predator from AvP here... #Prednesday Series 17 early 2017"

We first got a glimpse of Mezco's One:12 Spider-Man back in July at San Diego Comic-Con. Now the full details have been revealed, with Spidey hitting stores between May & July next year, 2017. Spidey introduces a brand new body to the Mezco catalogue, a slender version which we would expect will get re-use for other Spider-men at least - think Iron or Scarlet Spider. He will come with two head options with 8 variant hand options including fists and web shooting hands. Webbing will also be included and the whole figure will sit on a classic Spider Symbol blue & red base. RRP in the US is $80 and US collectors can place their pre-order now via Mezco directly. For UK customers, we will need to wait for the pre-orders to open and I expect the price will sit around £75-£80 Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man swings into the One:12 Collective! When young Peter Parker is inadvertently bitten by a radioactive spider he is infused with spider-like abilities; super strength, the ability to cling to surfaces and climb walls, and a "Spidey Sense" that allows him to react to impending danger. Utilizing his famous, self designed Web Shooters as well as his amazing powers Spider-Man vows to protect his fellow man after the untimely death of his uncle at the hands of a common thief, quickly rising to the responsibility of using his great powers to be the hero we all know and love. Assembled on an all new One:12 Collective body developed specifically for this figure, Spider-Man features over 30 points of articulation. This figure also features a meticulously tailored outfit with intricate silk screened details and includes multiple interchangeable parts and accessories. THE SPIDER-MAN ONE:12 COLLECTIVE FIGURE FEATURES: Two (2) newly developed head portraits including: Large eye head Classic small eye head All-new slender, sinewy One:12 body Hand painted authentic detailing All new One:12 Collective developed body with over 30 points of articulation Approximately 17cm tall Eight (8) interchangeable hands including: One (1) pair of web-shooting hands One (1) pair of fists One (1) pair of holding hands One (1) pair of posing hands Weblines that loop over the figure's wrists for posing COSTUME: Acrylic eye lenses Spandex outfit with web detail and spider insignia One (1) pair of web-patterned gauntlets One (1) pair of articulated web-patterned boots ACCESSORIES: One (1) of webline style A One (1) of webline style B One (1) of webline style C One (1) of webline style D One posable webline One (1) One:12 Collective display base with Spider-Man logo One (1) One:12 Collective adjustable display post Each figure is packaged in a deluxe, collector friendly box, designed with collectors in mind; there are no twist ties for easy in, and out of package display.

Review : C-3PO Star Wars Black Series (Hasbro) Wave/Series : Walgreens (US) Exclusive 2016 Released : November 2016 Price : £29.99* *Currently this item is not sold directly in UK. You can purchase via independent retailers, like our preferred Black Series suppliers Kapow Toys and Star Action Figures. This is an imported figure so the price is approx £30 plus delivery. We will update this review should C-3PO receive an official UK release. If you follow my reviews, or indeed the Star Wars Black Series range, then you will already be aware of the annoyance of fans (including myself) around this release of C-3PO. After waiting an age for a C-3PO figure in the 6" scale, Hasbro have struck a deal that makes the original trilogy C-3PO an exclusive to Walgreens in the US. For UK customers this is a double blow as the only Hasbro Walgreens exclusive to officially make it across the pond was the original Prototype Boba Fett. Why Walgreens coulldn't have been given a C-3PO variant like the Jabba the Hutt translator version, or a Protocol Droid variant like K-3PO is beyond me. I guess as collectors we should remain hopeful that at some stage Hasbro will work this Original Trilogy C-3PO into the main range, perhaps as a 2-pack with a re-release R2-D2 or perhaps as one of the variants I mentioned above - Jabba's Translator, disassembled Cloud City version etc. The box is standard fair, with a grey scale image to the front corner which again feels more detailed (or is at least bolder) with some artistic stylization of the lines in the image. This image is different to the one used on the main release, a nice touch for Mint-in-Box collectors especially if you consider Hasbro could have easily re-used the box. Like other exclusives, the red spine is devoid of any numbering. In stead the top section is a bar code type affair and under this sits the character name. The character name - used on the front, side and round the back - is simply C-3PO. There is no story/film specific bracketed text, so I guess this is a general release for C-3PO and will be suitable for any display from Revenge of the Sith through to Return of the Jedi. Round the back and the bio paragraph sits over a blown up version of the same C-3PO image. Another decent touch is that this bio is not a word for word replication of the main release. This is in itself unusual as other characters with multiple release (Jyn Erso, Cassian Andor) have simply had the same bio used on every box. The difference here I guess is how specific to The Force Awakens the main release bio is, so this version talks more generally about C-3PO and his involvement in "some of the galaxies most thrilling battles". It also uses the trademark "fluent in over seven million forms of communication. C-3PO is one of the few Black Series figures to date to be packed with absolutely no accessories at all. This further insults the fans who will be paying upward of £21 for this figure, particularly when you consider what could have been included, at least with a Original or Prequel Trilogy C-3PO. He stands a touch shorter than most 6" figures, putting him in scale with his peers like Luke and Han. It also makes him scale well when up alongside the Black Series R2-D2. The actual design and sculpt of the droid is pretty nice. The lines are clean and the panels smooth and nicely proportioned. The head captures that quizzical look of 3PO, particularly when it is cocked to one side. The eyes don't feel big enough and with not much surface area to paint this stops them looking illuminated, or at least a variant gold to the rest of the head. Instead you see a dark centre pupil and a touch of lighter yellow round the lens. Had you read my standard Resistance Base C-3PO review you will know I had some issues with the colouring used on C-3PO. Having now had that, and this C-3PO for a week or two now my position has mellowed a touch. The gold is not perfect, it lacks a little bit of sheen - but I wouldn't have wanted a full vac-metal C-3PO (see Bandai's model) as this kind of represents 3PO at the end of A New Hope only, I want the dirty, weathered 3PO we have through most of the movie. To that end the gold isn't a bad base coat, the issue is that they haven't taken the next step and weathered the figure. A quick dark wash would have massively improved the look of 3PO and tied him in to a lot of the Trilogy scenes. The silver leg is included, a detail missed on a lot of 3PO figures. Like the gold finish of the rest of the body, this silver paint is not high sheen. A dark wash here would have improved the leg no end and brought out the detail and lines of the sculpt. The tummy section is nicely detailed and is sculpted detail that is then painted, not just painted wiring. It is also a different setup to the Force Awakens C-3PO, another nice touch considering a complete re-use would have been the easier option. Each wire is neatly picked out with blue, red, yellow and green all across a flat black background. Down the arms are the hydraulic rods and bolts that aid in 3PO's movement, these are a bit soft and not as crisp as other parts of the droid - most probably as casting them in harder plastic would have left them open to snapping too easily. Articulation was never going to be great, it isn't on the real costume after all. We start with the head which sports then new pivot ball joint. Despite the neck rings this joint allows the head to tilt back and forward, and it also rotates a full 360 degrees. The arms are only jointed at the shoulder and then again at the wrist, the elbow is fixed. These shoulder joints sit in a shoulder collar which you initially think will stop the arm being moved too much. However, this collar around the shoulder does actually move and can be rotated, and doing so the arm can then be raised and lowered more. The hands rotate at the wrist, and with a peg they also bend, almost to 90 degrees to the lower arm. The torso is ball jointed just under the upper chest piece, this means the joint is hidden, but allows for a wide range of movement and this allows 3PO-esque poses to come more easily as he quite often pushed out his groin and leans his shoulders back when you look at him on screen - particularly when he is walking. The ball jointed hips won't move much as they are held back by some overhang on the top of the thigh. They can go wider if you wish or out to the front for an almost sitting position. After dropping the elbow articulation, Hasbro have also gone single joint on the knees. Now this is nicely engineered to match the way the characters costume works, it does only allow for a slight bend and the hydraulic peg that connects top of the knee to the shin is fixed and just juts out when the knee is bent. The articulation ends with the standard ankle rockers, and these are easy to adjust and C-3PO stands pretty well. All of this articulation does already feel loose and wobbly, and I would imagine C-3PO will start to flop and fall over in the very near future. I scored the Resistance Base C-3PO a 2 out of 5 score. That figure had the same flaws as this version, but the red arm (which has since been tweaked by Hasbro) was a pretty disappointing element that scored the figure down. If we assume you can get this figure at retail RRP in the US, or under £30 here in the UK, then it is a reasonable attempt at an Original Trilogy C-3PO. I am going to up the score to 3 out of 5, and put it out there that the figure is probably only a decent wash away from looking the part and scoring further up the scale. Buy from Amazon UK Buy from Amazon US Buy from Forbidden Planet

Most people who read and follow my site won't be strangers to buying Toys... or Collectibles or Action Figures or Memorabilia. And we all know how happy they make us when we find a new one to enhance our collection. Yet for children living in Poverty this is a luxury they rarely, if ever, encounter This year we are going to make donations of toys to Mission Christmas, the largest toy appeal for kids in the UK. We would urge each and everyone of our readers to consider doing the same You can read the full details of how to donate HERE. Either by making a cash donation, or spreading some happiness by choosing a gift and dropping it off at a local collection site. Let's spread a little happiness! And of course it would be brilliant for each of you to consider sharing this post in whatever way you see fit. And we would also love to see what you have chosen to donate, sharing pictures to our facebook page www.facebook.com/mephitsu or on twitter using @Mephitsu and the hashtag #MissionChristmas The largest annual Christmas toy appeal in the UK, Mission Christmas is run by Cash for Kids and supported by Bauer Radio’s regional stations. In 2015 the appeal generated upwards of £13 million in gifts and donations which were distributed to more than 300,000 disadvantaged kids across the UK. With 1 in 3 children across the UK living in poverty this December, for many families Christmas is simply a luxury they can’t afford. This year’s Mission Christmas aims to beat last year’s fundraising total and help make sure it can help as many children as possible.

There hasn't been an official MSE-6 Repair Droid released in the 6" Black Series range, but that doesn't mean there isn't one out there in perfect 1/12 scale. At the back end of the Kenner POTF Freeze Frame releases in 1999 a Death Star Droid was put out in 3.75" scale, packed with an MSE Droid. At the time the MSE droid was grossly overscaled to the 3.75" range. He would be repacked later in with R4-M9 in the Power of the Jedi range, and again in a Death Star Accessory Pack. The MSE droid, according to Star Wars Wiki, stands 25cm in height. At 1/12 scale this would have him standing 2cm high, the exact height that this Kenner released MSE droid sits - what a lovely coincidence. Sculpt wise the MSE is a tad soft and is a single hollow piece with moulded wheels. The sides contain the computer panels that we do see light up in the onscreen counterpart. There are two aerial sections on the top, but these are simple flat panels on the figure. There is also a mould line that runs the length of the figure where the two halves have been factory assembled. Ok, so he is not perfect and he is showing his age. But if you want to accessorize your Imperial Display, then finding these is not overly difficult on eBay. Most will need a good clean, they certainly attract dust, but once sorted will sit happily at the feet of your Stormtroopers or even Krennic himself in a Rogue One Display.

Happy Sat-TOY-Day everyone! CLICK HERE for this week's issue. Issue 42 isn't quite the answer to the "meaning of life", but it does have some brilliant new figures from Diamond - Lady Deadpool (as per the cover) and the next figures from Gotham. There is also news from NECA, including some surprise 7" DC figures and an Ultimate Gizmo. In reviews we take a break from Star Wars Rogue One as we finally get our hands on NECA's Private Vasquez from their Alien series. www.facebook.com/mephitsu www.twitter.com/mephitsu www.issuu.com/mephitsu

Review : Sergeant Jyn Erso (Eadu) Star Wars Black Series (Hasbro) Wave/Series : Rogue One, Kmart (US) Exclusive Released : November 2016 Price : £29.99 - £34.99 (import price)* * there is no confirmed UK release on this item, it is available only via specialist sellers. We will update this review should it reach UK retailers. There is no doubt Jyn Erso is the key hero from Rogue One, and unlike the mistakes Hasbro made with Rey last year in terms of distribution we have had no issue in getting a Jyn figure - with an SDCC exclusive, wave 1 release, 3 pack release from Target and now this Kmart US exclusive. The benefit of this Kmart release is that this is a variant outfit Jyn, with her gear from Eadu. The look here is a corresponding outfit to the wave 1 Captain Cassian Andor. The other big difference in this release is the oversized box and the pack in of a diorama base. Kmart did the same last year with Kylo Ren and a Rey, with the 2nd half coming much later after the film was released to avoid any spoilers. We suspect Kmart have a corresponding Rogue One release in the works for 2017. At the time of writing there is no true UK distribution of this figure. It has been imported at a premium via some of the independents. Unlike all other single figure releases, the box on this exclusive Jyn is considerably larger both in terms of length and width than the normal boxes. This is deliberately to incorporate the diorama piece and to then allow the figure to be displayed "in position" on the diorama. Aside from the size, the design principle applies in that the box is a gloss black with stark red spine. The artwork, in grey scale lined art, reflects the costume Jyn is wearing on the figure - completed with that headpiece. It is also overlaid with what looks like heavy rain, another clue to the situation and conditions on Eadu. The character name sits on the bottom of the box in bold red and is listed as "Sergeant Jyn Erso (Eadu)". The red spine, being an exclusive, holds no numbering but rather a bar code type affair and under this is the character name. Round the back is an expanded image of Jyn but the rain has now been lost. Over this sits the usual four language bio of Jyn, and this text is identical to that used on both the single release and in the Target 3-pack. Out of the box and Jyn is readily posed on her diorama base. This sits against the red cardboard insert, and interestingly this cardboard is not a flat red, but includes some black black lines and like the front of the box is probably meant to represent heavy rain. This will frustrate Purists in terms of the red not completely matching all the other phase 3 releases. This additional detailing on the card insert is something Kmart did last year on the Starkiller releases of Kylo Ren and Rey with black silhouette tree trunks added on these cards. Jyn comes with three accessories. Two of which she is already holding and a third, her baton, is packed to one side. Jyn stands 5 1/2 inches high, consistent with the Jedha release. The facial sculpt feels a touch better on this Eadu release, although is still quite soft and featureless having been cast in a skin tone plastic with no additional skin paint applications other than a thin pink lip and dark eyes with lined eyebrows. The hat, which is really reminiscent of the hat worn by Leia on Endor, is nicely done and after initially thinking it was fixed I was really surprised when it popped off as a removable item. The head sculpt is therefore now revealed as pretty much a re-use of the Jedha release, but with a flatter hair style and factory variants in the paint application. The hat, which is a tight fit, is well engineered to fit this head and comes with a pair of white goggles sculpted above the ridge of the cap. The hat carries at least 6 different paint options, coming with a centre grey stripe over an olive green base. The goggles are white with black lenses and the strap is then an orange. From this strap sits a microphone that is pained in black and silver. Another tweak for the head is the addition of a breathing mask, again influenced by the Original Trilogy as this is very similar to the masks Han wears in Empire when tackling the Mynocks. The mask is a soft rubber and is fitted around the neck. Being soft it pulls up over the mouth with a black strap going round the head. The front section is a translucent orange so the face detail can just about be seen underneath, And from this there is a touch of brown and silver paint to pick out the central breathing mechanism. A flexible tube runs down from the mask, again in a orange see through rubber, and ends at a canister. This canister is loose but can be tucked up behind the poncho out of the way The body is a direct re-use of Jedha Jyn too with the waist coat removed and the poncho placed over the top. The arms are changed to match the poncho but the hands remain the same in the finger-less gloves. The poncho is a really nice piece, again reminding me a lot of the Endor Leia outfit and I suspect we will see lots of Leia Endor customs soon if this figure becomes more plentiful. The poncho carries a strap across the chest, with ammunition tucked in the top end. The strap is a gloss brown and then detailed with a matt black clasp and silver caps on the ammo. To the side of this is what looks like a torch, also strapped in with a brown strap. To the other side of the strap on Jyn's right chest is an insignia badge or comms device (or both) and this is a flat sliver colour. The rest of the poncho is dark green soft rubber. Onto this is pasted a darker base coat and then some shading in lighter olive green to an almost sandy colour. This adds loads of depth and makes it look worn and dirty. There is even a nick out of the rear of the cape where it has ripped. Down at the very bottom of the poncho, hanging from the end of the cross-strap, is a pouch and a hook. The hook we will come onto later. The pouch is cast as part of the poncho and to that end there is some paint bleed as the gloss brown doesn't go round the full pouch leaving the back of it a green colour and with the lighter olive green highlight bleeding into the sides. The trousers are identical to the Jedha release in relation to both sculpt and paint. They are a heavily creased tight black material working down to a pair of ankle boots. The trousers hold some texture in the sculpt, with seam lines and a ribbed effect round the shin. There is also a subtle strap under each knee which is picked out with grey trim to either side. The boots are a flat brown, with a grey fastener very neatly painted over the top. A thigh holster sits on the right leg and does go up under the poncho to the belt which again is identical to the Jedha release. Accessory wise and the first is the exact same light weight blaster that comes with the Jedha Jyn. This comes already sitting in the holster on the thigh, and can be kept here or in the right hand which is perfectly sized to hold it with the trigger finger just soft enough to be eased into the trigger. This gun is cast in black, but with silver details. The second gun is the Rogue One version of the E11 Stormtrooper blaster. This is the same as the one that comes in the Walmart Scarif Trooper exclusive release. It is cast in flat black with no painted details. On arrival it is fastened to Jyn's hand with a clear elastic band. And if you take it off and try and get her to hold it again you will see why. Because the hand was designed to hold the smaller blaster, then pushing this larger gun into her hand means it is too big for her to grip securely and her trigger finger won't stretch anywhere close to going in the trigger. The final accessory is Jyn's baton, which is in its folded position. This does fit in the right hand, but being folded doesn't really look all that good. It has an eyelet on the top of the baton and this hooks onto the hook we mentioned earlier on the belt. The baton is a matt black plastic, but has a silver trim and the eyelet is also silver. This is a nice addition in terms of making the figure more screen accurate but could have easily been a fixed piece and the money better invested in an alternative hand that could hold the E11 blaster better. Articulation is good, and starts with the new head ball joint with the extra joint in the ball and Jyn can look right round and up and down, with the downward movement allowing her to pretty much rest her chin on her chest and look at her own feet - this works brilliantly when she gets to her diorama base as this elevates her up and requires her to look down on other figure - and most likely look down to whomever is her mystery opponent. The arms are ball jointed at the shoulder and raise out to the side and rotate up above the head. There is also a rotating elbow joint and this bends to 90 degrees, albeit very stiffly. These combined allow a two handed weapon pose if you wish with the larger E11 gun, but I suggest keeping the clear elastic band to hold the gun on the right hand otherwise it will skew off without careful balancing. The standard Jyn has a torso joint, and you can feel this still in place under the poncho but any movement is severely restricted by the cloak meaning you will be left with the ability to rotate the torso slightly to either side. The legs sit on a ball jointed hip, which feels loose straight out of the box. Jyn can't do the splits or sit down particularly as the poncho blocks some of this movement - but you can get some wide action stances, and these are crucial to the way she clips into the diorama base. The thigh split remains, but on this version is hidden by the hem of the cloak. The knees are double jointed, and further enhance action stances, and you can kneel her if you wish on one knee or on both. The ankles have a rotation where the boots meet the trouser leg, and there is also a rocker to aid secure standing on display. The base is essentially a block of chocolate coloured plastic. Up close it carries a lot of detail in the sculpt with peaked rock and grains and grooves built into this round all the sides. It is a hollow piece, so it isn't heavy, and it does look as though the base section could pop off if you wanted to. There is a very subtle application of darker paint in places and this is so subtle they aren't really noticeable. I suspect it relies more on the deep sculpt and how the light falls on these grooves and peaks to give it depth and realism. The Starkiller snow bases of 2015 had foot sized holes cut into the piece so the figures looked as though they had sunk in the snow. They were however crying out for foot pegs, and thankfully this time round these have been added. The top foot hole is hidden in the definition of the rock and there is a foot peg to put Jyn's front foot to make it look like she is ascending the rock face. The lower foot peg is more pronounced and sits on a flat "foot" sized cleft in the rock. Jyn's back foot plants here, making her front leg bend so the back leg sits straight and down into this slot. It does take some tweaking and teasing, but the pose does look and feel natural once finalised. I am 99% certain a companion piece will be released in 2017 to link into this one, and if you look at the "front" of the rock face there is a cut out that looks suspiciously like a jigsaw type join into which the 2nd piece is likely to slot. Considering this is another Jyn, it is actually one I am really happy to buy being a variant look to the Jedha version. Aside from this it is also a cool looking action figure, and screams with Original Trilogy influences like the Endor Poncho and Helmet and the breathing masks last seen on the Millennium Falcon. Three accessories and a base mean that even at import price of £30 approx it still feels value for money. The hand being able to hold the E11 blaster is disappointing, but there isn't much else wrong with the figure. I am going to score Eadu Jyn a 4 out of 5, one star higher than the Jedha single release and earned by the extra accessories and the diorama which is pretty awesome in hand, even if it doesn't photograph all that well. If you get the chance of picking one of these up, then do so - particularly if the 2017 companion piece is a corker as you don't want to be paying secondary market prices to complete the full piece. Buy from Amazon UK Buy from Amazon US Buy from Forbidden Planet

As is common with SH Figuart news, details of this brand new Anakin figure was initially circulated online courtesy of a scanned catalogue page out of Japan. It was soon followed up, like the Chewie figure, with promotional images. This Anakin release be a Tamashii Webshop exclusive. This mean the Padawan Anakin Skywalker, as seen in Attack of the Clones, won't be the easiest figure to obtain outside the Far East. The pre-order goes up on the 16th December with an RRP of 6264 Yen - that is £45 / $56 - but expect to add more for import and delivery, in fact add a lot more if you want to obtain Anakin. Anakin is arriving with two light sabers as per the duel with Dooku at the end of the movie. With Figuarts keen on releasing "linked" figures from pivotal scenes then could this indicate a Count Dooku is on the cards? Although not specifically shown in the images released, Anakin is coming with two head options. One is a more jolly looking Padawan, whilst the second captures that furled brow menacing stare of Anakin.

As is common with SH Figuart news, details of this new Chewbacca 1/12 figure broke via a scanned catalogue page. It was followed up 24hours later with the official images - see the gallery below. Chewie will be based on his appearance in A New Hope and will come with Bowcaster and Ammo Belt. The figure will come with two different facial expressions - one closed mouth, one open mouth. This is achieved via a swap out head option. Chewie should hit stores in April 2017 and is a general release. RRP is 6264 Yen - so £46 / $57. The one criticism, based solely on these images, is that he looks a little short for a Wookiee. Compared to the Figuarts Han Solo then Chewie is considerably undersized.