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The focus of my collection is pretty much around 6 - 7" figures from my favourite movies, many of which came out in the 1980's. As I came to this quite recently I missed out on a ton of great older figures from the past 10 years and a number of these sit on my Grail list. A Grail list is a list of items that any collector see's as being really tough to get hold of. This might be because they are just so rare, or so expensive or both. My list contains a number of items such as Labyrinth Goblin King, Mezco's Hellboy and the Marvel Select Wolverine. Up until recently the Neca box set from Highlander was on that list, but thanks to a Buy it Now of an unboxed set on Ebay I can now tick them off. The set contains both Connor Macleod (as played by Christopher Lambert) and the Kurgon (Clancy Brown). Both come in their 16th Century outfits as opposed to the modern versions from the climax of the film. Looking at Macleod first the figure is a brilliant likeness for Lambert. The sculpted hair doesnt quite sit right, but beyond that the layered highland outfit is brilliant, well sculpted and painted. With the cloak left on, his articulation is limited, but he can achieve a great neutral pose with his hand on the hilt of his sword. I am reliably told the cloak comes off and allows for a better range of movement for wielding the sword - however knowing how fragile Neca figures can be, and considering this figure in the UK is pretty rare, I have left him as he came. Both Macleod and Kurgan come with sculpted stands, which is brilliant and makes for a lovely display piece. Onto the Kurgon and he is a real imposing figure and unlike Macleod is sculpted in an action pose. He comes in full armour with helmet and soft good, almost feather, trim. I am not overly convinced on this trim and it will certainly need some taking care of to stop it looking scruffy. Range of movement on Kurgon is limited, but I can live with that in a figure if the sculpted pose is strong. The arms have some movement at the shoulders and the head can turn. All in all this is a brilliant piece and what a movie pack should be all about - the good guy, the bad guy, posed well and well sculpted. For what it is I cant ask for more and hope Neca continue to go after what essentially are niche licences like Highlander.

You can't have the Lone Ranger without his faithful companion Tonto, and here he is as played by Johnny Depp in the 2013 movie. NECA have had prior experience in sculpting Depp, having worked on the Pirates of the Carribean likeness and therefore this figure already had lots going for it. Tonto comes in the same yellow clamshell as the Lone Ranger and again sparsley decorated with just a picture of the figure adorning the rear. Once unpacked he comes with a tomahawk and a knife, and for variant hunters, there is also a version with a bird cage accessory that fits over his head (watch the film) Sculpt is brilliant and even if you knew nothing of the film, I am pretty sure you would stick pick out that this is Johnny Depp from even a cursory glance. From the bird headdress comes a variety of individually sculpted feathers and locks of Tonto's hair. These are sculpted in a softer plastic and therefore do move and flow as naturally as possible if you move Tonto's head. Where the face sculpt is particularly clever is that it captures Depp's likeness whilst under a sculpted textured war paint. Around his neck and extending down his chest are some more soft plastic detailed dressings. The belt is very ornately decorated and then lead into a number of layers around the waist with a variety of bags, pouches and tassles. Down the legs are further tassles leading to some nicely sculpted leather wrap boots. Where as the Lone Ranger was pretty plain in terms of outfit detail, Tonto has layer after layer and the amount of details the NECA team have captured and included is pretty spectacular. The paint is top notch also, and goes on to another level vs the Lone Ranger with so much detail to bring out on Tonto. From the cracked white face paint, to the shading in the hair and feathers - everything is picked out with zero paint bleed. Articulation is identical to the Lone Ranger, with articulated head that despite all the headdress can still revolve a full 360 degrees. Arms are jointed at the shoulder, elebow and wrist and can achieve a wide range of movement, perhaps more so than the Lone Ranger due to the lack of upper torso clothing. There is a waist joint, and this time (again due to lack of upper torso clothing) there is a decent range of movement so that Tonto can twist side to side, but also lean back and forward a few mm at the waist. Legs are jointed at hips, knee and ankle, but you wont do much with this other than get him planted safely on the shelf - which he does much better than his counterpart and is really stable. The tomahawk and knife fit snugly into either hand, and with the arm movement and the wrist swivel can then be posed in an offensive stance. As I get to the end I haven't particularly found any flaws with this figure, but that doesn't mean he gets an automatic 5 out of 5. Tonto does come close, but when you think that he is from an action film a bit more articulation would have been nice to get him into some more dynamic poses. 4 out of 5 from me... and another short but welcome series from NECA who continue to bring us some nice compact ranges of figures from movies the bigger toy companies wont touch.

I grew up in the very late 70's and early 80's when Cowboys & Indians were giving way to Military and Space toys. Despite going "out of fashion" there is something a bit special about a well done Cowboy and/or Indian figure from the American Wild West. Regardless of what you think about the Lone Ranger movie from 2013, NECA took the licence and made two great figures which I have just picked up from the great people over at Vision Toys in the Netherlands. We will look at the Lone Ranger first, as played by Armie Hammer. The LR comes on a standard NECA clamshell with a paper insert sandwiched between the packing and figure. The colours are quite sparce, but the Black on yellow does work. Flip it over and there isn't much to look at other than a picture of the figure as NECA have obviously steered away from any blurb. Once opened the Lone Ranger is packed with his Stetson and two old west revolvers. The version we are looking at here is the masked version, but there is a rarer unmasked variant. Starting with the sculpt, and it is everything you would expect from NECA. The face is a decent likeness for Hammer and there is plenty of detail sculpted into the various layers of clothing down to individual buttons, buckles and that all important Sheriff badge. The jacket is sculpted to flare out at the bottom, which I am not sure I like as it feels like there should be an action pose to go with it and as we explore articulation later, there just isn't. A good sculpt is nothing without good paint apps, and again NECA don't disappoint. The base colours, albeit quite muted and similar, are well done and then have a wash and some highlights applied to bring out the detail. Even on the badge and belt buckle, where you might expect some paint bleed, the finish is crisp. The face is painted with some pretty decent stubble and the eyes stand out really well, even from behind the moulded mask. The hair is probably the weakest area of paint, but then again you are going to cover that with a Stetson. The Hat is made of a softer rubber and fits perfectly over the head without looking oversized. And the two revolvers fit nicely into either hand and stay put with the Lone Rangers fingers slotted into the triggers. Articulation is adequate on the figure, starting with the head which revolves 360 degrees and also has the ability to look up and down to a certain degree. The arms are jointed at the shoulders and can achieve 90 degree movement out to the side and then rotates. The elbow is a basic joint that bends the arm up another 90 degrees. The hand then rotates and pivots at the wrist. All of this allows the Lone Ranger to achieve some decent "firing" shots with his resolvers - or that iconic "draw" pose. There feels like a joint at the waste, but movement is barely a few mm either side as the coat blocks most of the movement. The hips are jointed, as are the knees, but unfortunately the movement from the arms is not replicated in the leg - so all you will end up doing is tweaking the hip, knee to get him standing in a neutral pose. In fact getting The Lone Ranger to stand is the key issue with this figure as he doesnt seem to want to stand naturally, so much so that I had to whip mine onto a Kaiser Doll stand as he kept nose diving off the shelf. The film and the genre is not going to be for everyone, and even for me as a 7" scale movie collector I waited for a decent deal before I pulled the trigger. Regardless, this is still a top notch figure from NECA and doesn't disappoint on sculpt or paint, and is articulated to the level any NECA collector would probably expect. I give him 3 out of 5, marking him down for the stability issue.

It's time for our weekly roundup of the news that caught my eye. This week we find out about the NECA SDCC exclusive, see Diamond show case a number of Selects at C2E2 and find some older Titanium ships at B&M Bargains CLICK THROUGH for our news page And head over to our social channels to follow us for more of the same

We have completed an overhaul on our Review section navigation, I hope this makes it a little easier to get to our reviews quicker and is more visual than the old text menu's CLICK HERE to go to the Review Archives and have a look around Feedback is welcome via TWITTER or FACEBOOK

Following our review of Arrow (Oliver Queen) last week, we expand our DC Direct archives further with the addition of Canary this week CLICK THROUGH for the full review Please consider following us on FACEBOOK or TWITTER for more reviews, news, price alerts and store reports

The Movie Action Figure news that caught our eye this week... this week's headlines include Star Wars Celebration brings 6" Ahsoka Diamond reveal Ghostbusters & Gotham Jurassic World Dino's close to release Age of Ultron event at Zavvi CLICK THROUGH for the news And please consider following us on FACEBOOK and TWITTER for more news, reviews, price alerts and store reports

It's time for Avenger number 5, and therefore we present our review of the Marvel Select Movie Hawkeye (our 2nd Archer review this week) CLICK THROUGH for the review And head over to either our PAGE or our GROUP on Facebook to sign up for more reviews, news, price alerts and store reports

It's an exciting day as we are about to open a new wing of the Archives. This new section will be dedicated to DC Direct figures, and we start with one of their latest releases - Arrow, as seen in series 2. CLICK THROUGH to go direct to the review (pun intended) And dont forget to like us on FACEBOOK or follow us on TWITTER for more news, reviews, price alerts and store reports

We are getting close to the end of our Marvel Select Movie Figure reviews, and that means we are also very close now to the UK premiere of Age of Ultron. Today's review is the Chitauri from Avengers Assemble CLICK HERE to direct to the review Over the weekend we will be posting our review of Hawkeye (as well as another Archer from a rival franchise). Follow us on FACEBOOK or TWITTER to get notifications on new reviews as well as news, store reports and price alerts.

We have opened a small section of our April News page to cover the Action Figure news coming out of Star Wars Celebration Headlines so far include - New "Rebels" figure in 6" scale - New packaging for 6" line CLICK THROUGH for the news page And follow us on FACEBOOK or TWITTER for more news as it comes

So despite the expectation of nothing, we got some Black Series 6" news from Celebration Day 1, and that was the very exciting announcement that we will be getting Ahsoka Tano in 6" scale in 2016 Now this is great on many fronts. Firstly it confirms the 6" line is continuing and expanding. It means that the 6" will continue with figures outside of the new film. And it confirms Hasbro are happy to do animated characters in the 6" range. The sculpt looks realistic enough to me, but it is unpainted so not sure whether the final model will be more animated in style Hasbro also showed us the proposed new packaging for the 6" line, a striking black and red box. Checkout our FACEBOOK feed for more images