Issue 75 : Saturday 10th March, 2018
Images have been circulating online for the Gamorrean Guard and Commander Wolffe Black Series figures due later this year. Toys R Us (UK) has entered administration - putting the remaining stores and all 3000 UK jobs at risk.
While Wolffe is in standard packaging, it looks like the Gamorrean Guard will be in a wider pack to incorporate his considerable bulk and various weaponry. Both will however continue in the Phase 3 packaging with red spine.
While the online business closed immediately, all stores remain open at this stage while a buyer is sought. They have however started a closing down sale, with the early discounts in the stores 20% to 30% off the lowest list price. Those stores already closing before the announcement are pretty much empty now and will close shortly. Gift Cards will still be accepted in stores, but any vouchers or discounts are not being accepted. No new stocks will be delivered as stock at any distribution warehouses is more likely to be sold in bulk and turning up at retailers like B&M or Home Bargains. In terms of Toys R Us being bought, I suspect if that is the case it will be the brand only - similar to what happened with Woolies. This may lead to us still having a Toys R Us brand, but not as we know it - perhaps reimagined as the high street type stores that have been doing well within the wider estate. Smyths will likely look at sites where they don't have a presence having tended to avoid areas where Toys R Us are already established. But I think the larger Toys R Us stores are not attractive so rather than Smyths moving in to a building directly, we may find Smyths finding a smaller unit in the area to maximise the market while not taking on the big rental costs that Toys R Us carried. The UK will then be left with Smyths and The Entertainer, as well as a handful of Toymaster stores, vying for business. While the general demand will be taken up by these companies as well as the supermarkets - the very slim collectors market that Toys R Us had a loose grip on will have to go online. After all Toys R Us were the only retailer with a Marvel Legends offering throughout the year, and same can be said about Star Wars Black Series - although both Smyths and Entertainer have recently reintroduced these to their stores. It does open a big question about the recently announced Toys R Us exclusives that Hasbro are doing for both Legends and Black Series. With these so far down production they may have to find another UK offering or simply only go into the US and Australia stores, assuming the US arm doesn't suffer the same fate. I guess interesting times are ahead, and in the meantime our thoughts and sympathies go out to the 3000 or so Toys R Us employees and I would ask any of our readers who descend on Toys R Us for any closing offers are sensitive to the staff and their uncertain future.
Another Star Wars Black Series reveal saw us get promotional images of the 6" Dewback and Sandtrooper. The set will be arriving later this year, and uses a similar packaging design to the vehicle line with the figure displayed in a window, but the main Dewback within an enclosed box. The Sandtrooper will come with a White Pauldron, the same as was released in that Imperial 4-pack from 2015. He will be armed with a DLT-19 Blaster Rifle and the larger staff that the Dewback riders employ. The Dewback itself has a saddle, complete with survival blanket and various pouches. It also has a set of flexible reigns that connect to that articulated jaw. UK retailers are starting to talk price on this item at circa ÂŁ65-ÂŁ70, which would be consistent with the launch price of the Vehicle sets last year.
Hasbro have shared the promotional images for three multi-pack Legend sets for Avengers Infinity War. We had seen an image of the Scarlet Witch & Vision pack after it showed up for sale. This one looks impressive with face print technology on Scarlet Witch. Vision has alternative hands, while Wanda comes with some more subtle magic FX pieces. There is no obvious exclusive markings but reports say this is a Toys R Us exclusive in the USA at least. With the first wave of Infinity War Legends already hitting stores, the second wave was partially announced at Toy Fair 2018 to contain comic book figures of Malkith and Black Knight, and MCU Movie figures of Ant-Man & Wasp.
From here a couple of companies started listing this 2nd wave for pre-order, listing the other two figures as Thor and Black Widow. The BAF was listed as Black Dwarf.
The second set is brilliant and is made up of Thor, complete with Eye Patch, Rocket and the teenage Groot. Thor is a variant to the one we know is coming in wave 2 (Cull Obsidian) of Infinity War - this version is sporting the eye patch, has bare arms and has no cloak. He is wielding the Odinsword as seen in the Ragnarok Valkyrie 2-pack. This is a Thor fresh out of Ragnarok and could be used in a Ragnarok display. Rocket appears to be a re-release from Guardians of the Galaxy wave 2 (Mantis). He comes with the same two hand guns, but also gets an upgraded larger weapon. Teenage Groot is a new sculpt and he comes with some sort of tablet. This set is stickered as a Toys R Us exclusive in USA. There is little chance of this hitting UK Toys R Us stores considering the current situation.
Hasbro has now confirmed the final two figures to indeed be Thor and Black Widow, as they appear in Infinity War. And the BAF is Black Dwarf - or rather Cull Obsidian and he is the movie version. As a reminder of wave 1, images have also been revealed of these. The first wave includes comic book Taskmaster, Songbird and King Cobra. They are joined with MCU Infinity War figures of Captain America, Iron-Man, Spider-Man and Proxima Midnight. The figures include the parts to construct a BAF Thanos (MCU version).
The final set see's the Winter Soldier figure that Sebastian Stan shared earlier this week. Bucky will, as suspected, be packed with Falcon. Bucky gets what looks like a new arm, Vibranium perhaps?. He is also wielding a futuristic looking rifle. Falcon appears to be very similar to the Civil War release and still no handguns for him to shoot. There is no packed image for this set and maybe that is because it will include a part of the Build-a-Stan-Lee. This set is reported as a Target exclusive. If we consider the issues we've had with Target exclusives from the Star Wars Black Series, this pack may end up being the hardest to get in the UK.
Diamond Select Toys have unveiled, via Previews World, their Avengers Infinity War products, including which figures they will be producing in the Select 7" range. Up first, as expected, is Captain America. He will likely reuse the Civil War body with a new head, forearms, decor and shield. He is joined by Infinity War Thor. While Thor could be a full new figure, I do suspect that this will reuse parts of the Ragnarok body. Thor will come with the added bonus of a poseable Teenage Groot also included in the pack The third figure is Iron-Spider, and this is likely a brand new sculpt complete with those arm sections. No images exist as yet, just two silhouettes for Cap and Spider-Man as well as the promotional blurb which we've included below.
We've seen a number of these 6" Basic Infinity War figures from Hasbro, but it seems the range is even deeper than we thought. Hasbro have released the promotional details for most of their Infinity War product and this reveals some other basic figures we had not seen yet including Gamora, Drax, Doctor Strange, Falcon, Hulkbuster and Scarlet Witch.
Many, like myself, did have Thanos as a safe bet for Select but it seems they have chosen to go in a different direction. We would hope the delays seen with the last lot of figures is sorted out, and we could potentially have these figures in hand by July/August 2018.
While these may have limited articulation, many look pretty good sculpt wise. I believe some of these must share sculpts with Legends figures - that Drax head is almost identical to the original Legends Drax from 2014 The US price is listed as $9.99 for basic figures, $12.99 for deluxe (Hulk, Hulkbuster and Groot & Rocket pack) and $29.99 for the Iron-Man vs Thanos set. You can pretty much replace the $ with the £ sign for UK pricing, although with the demise of Toys R Us these may be harder to find in UK as up to now the only other retailer carrying these lines initially are Tesco. Scroll down for promotional images of each figures, with the promo blurb included ahead of each set.
Marvel Select Avengers 3 Spider-Man Action Figure (JAN188710, $24.99) This 7-inch scale action figure of Spider-Man features his “Iron Spider” look from the movie, and features approximately 16 points of articulation and interchangeable parts and accessories. Packaged in the full-color, display-ready Select packaging, with side-panel artwork for shelf reference. Sculpted by Gentle Giant Studios! Marvel Select Avengers 3 Captain America Action Figure (JAN188711, $24.99) This 7-inch scale action figure of Captain America features approximately 16 points of articulation and interchangeable parts and accessories. Packaged in the full-color, display-ready Select packaging, with side-panel artwork for shelf reference. Sculpted by Gentle Giant Studios! Marvel Select Avengers 3 Thor Action Figure (JAN188712, $24.99) This 7-inch scale action figure of Thor features approximately 16 points of articulation and interchangeable parts and accessories, plus a poseable figure of an adolescent Groot, from the Guardians of the Galaxy! Packaged in the full-color, display-ready Select packaging, with side-panel artwork for shelf reference. Sculpted by Gentle Giant Studios!
May : Captain America, Iron-Spider
It was inevitable that SH Figuarts would be releasing some figures from Infinity War, and they have announced their intentions with a brilliant YouTube teaser and a group image. The Infinity War line up has been confirmed and releases are spread between April and September 2018. With the first releases in April there is also a new innovative Marvel display stand for your figures which looks great and also opens up as somewhere to stash your accessories and spare hands. It will be costly to kit out all your SH Figuarts Marvel figures with this new gimmick. Images have been released for all figures except Bucky and a Hulkbuster that are yet unseen and appear as a silhouetted image on the video. April : Doctor Strange, Star-Lord and the Marvel Display Stand
June : Iron-Man and Thanos
July : Black Widow / September : Black Panther
Yamaguchi are re-using their Deadpool 6" Revoltech figure for an X-Force release in 2018. The figure will utilise the same features and accessories as the original red suit release which includes Katana's, Pistols, Hand Options and the innovative eye options to allow Deadpool to display a number of expressions - including the love heart eyes. X-Force Deadpool will retail, like the standard version, for around $75 in the US.
Is is my pleasure to formally open our Marvel Legends MCU 6" archive, dedicated to all the awesome Legends figures from the Marvel Cinematic Universe as produced by Hasbro Toys. This is our biggest single update to the Website for a while, and quite a considerable decision for my own personal collecting. The MCU archive will also allows us to have some fun and do something different. We are going with shorter (hopefully) reviews and presenting the figures by movie and not waves. We are also trailing some nice new info headers for the review and a different look to our 5 star rating system. Finally, and this is a wider change, we are dropping the extensive figure galleries and going with better quality images in the collage format. This in itself will speed up our review turnaround and will reduce the site loading times and overall hosting data. You can check-out our new Marvel Legends archive by clicking through the image above. As we launch we have reviews done for all the pictured figures, and these will be released across the weekend. And we have plenty more figures to review and these will be added in the coming weeks. The intention is not to make this a full checklist of every MCU figure, but rather an archive of my own figures by movie. We hope you will join us on the journey.
Review : Vigo the Carpathian Ghostbusters Select (Diamond Select Toys) Wave/Series : Series 6 (Ghostbusters II) Released : February 2018 ÂŁ24.99
Vigo slides out from the main packaging in the large inner tray. He has no accessories or swap out parts and is strapped in with three twisty ties. Behind him, and thankfully filling out the packaging, are the diorama pieces.
When Diamond announced the plan to release Ghostbusters II figures the one figure I, and everyone else, immediately started to think about was the movies main protagonist, Vigo the Carpathian. Diamond soon confirmed that Vigo was to be released, and he would be part of Series 6 - the first wave of the GB2 products in early 2018. To date, Vigo had only had one figure in the Mattel collectors line. Having a new 7" version would be awesome. The Ghostbusters Select packaging has undergone a few tweaks for the GB2 line. We see a new yellow and black hazard stripe trim around the base, and on the spine we have the 15th anniversary badge for Select figures. Of course we also get the logo updated to the Ghostbusters II logo.
Another big change, and one that will cause some concern for boxed collectors, is the decision to drop the movie still images from the art side spine and replace it with a close up of the figure. The same happened in the Gotham line, and for anyone collecting and displaying by the spine art may see this as a frustration. The card reverse has been updated to include a simple black background, split by a proton beam image. We have a picture of Vigo in the centre and atop this is an overview of Vigo and his role it he move. To the side we get the "also available" figures of Ray and Louis - and to the side of them an image of the diorama we are now collecting across Series 6 through 10 - the Ghostbusters firehouse.
The head sculpt for Vigo is essentially a job well done. It looks best from certain angles, particularly head on. There is some good work done on the skin tone and shading around those protruding cheeks and chin. The lips are a tad too thick and this isn't helped by the colour and the fact the figure we have has some bleed from the lip paint to the skin, making it look a little like he has smudged some lipstick. The hair is not bad, but is perhaps too far receded vs what we see in the movie. It is painted in a straw colour with a darker brown washed through to pick up some depth. It does appear to be floating at the bottom over the shoulder rather than sitting naturally.
Vigo's 16th Century outfit is also fairly well executed, albeit with some gripes. The colouring is a nice leather brown with painted stud work and panels in black with silver accents as needed. The issue is the separate shoulder piece which is far too wide. While it does allow the arms to move it is a size or two too big for the body and even with the arms out to the side, it looks like it is swamping him. The legs are plain but with a lot of sculpting to make it look like bunched and creased fabric that is then tucked into those knee high leather studded boots.
But here is the real kicker with Vigo.... he is far too short. He weighs in at a measly 6 and 3/4 inches high, and while we never get a sense of his true height in the film, his presence and persona would for me indicate someone who stood taller than many and that would overshadow any of the other Ghostbusters figures. In reality and when you compare the figures from Series 6, Ray is a good bit taller. If we apply what we do know, actor Norbert Grupe was 1.9m tall, that is 6ft 3 inches give or take. In 1/10 scale that would make a Vigo figure needing to come in at 7 1/2 inches high. That is frankly disappointing and means the figure is a good 3/4 inches short.
While Vigo comes with zero accessories or swap out parts, he does come with a couple of parts for the Diorama. The first is the GB2 hanging sign, and it is only when you see how big this is that you comprehend how big the final diorama will be. The second part, that arrives in a baggie, is one of the side columns. The column has a number of different paint apps and these look brilliant, particularly the sandstone effect and how the yellow actually looks like painted concrete. Be careful that inside the pillar is a further baggie or what will be connectors. Keep these safe as I suspect they will be critical to the build when we finally have all the parts. The quality of the diorama parts seems OK, and unlike the parts I received in the other Series 6 figures there is no obvious damage or scratching. Perhaps all of the parts should be protected by an outer bag.
Articulation is pretty limited for Vigo. While there are 15 joints, many are frozen in position or move very little. We start with the head which will rotate but even with a visible pivot in the ball joint there is no up or down motion and that is a shame as Vigo is portrayed looking down on his minions. The torso joint is neatly hidden under the chest piece and this too will rotate but unlike the head this gives plenty of leaning back motion and a touch of lean forward. There is a joint in the waist and this moves slightly to either side. The arms are the biggest issue for me. They have a ball joint shoulder which will move fully out to the side, but can't go above the head due to shoulder panels. The elbows are then a single rotating joint that don't even go to 90 degrees. We then end with a pivot wrist which rotates. Both wrists look to also be pivoted, but everytime I try and move mine the hand simply flies out of the arm socket. And here is my other big problem, this arm articulation is not sufficient to get the one single pose that Vigo had through the majority of the movie. I want my Carpathian to have his hands on his hips replicating that painting pose. Without double jointed elbows that is never going to happen, and the nearest you can get is the slightly awkward pose we see in the centre image above. The legs have a T-joint hip and a single joint knee. While the hips move OK, I don't need Vigo to do the splits or sit down. The knees are incredibly tight and treat these with care as mine already show signs of stress marks in the plastic.
I can't help but be disappointed with Vigo overall. After promising so much, you end up with an undersized Carpathian who is shorter than the other Ghostbusters - who can't look down and who's articulation is restricted so he can't replicate that pose from the painting. If costs were an issue then I would have rather had Diamond give us a fixed set of legs and then used the money saved here to give us double jointed arms an an extra inch in height. While you can play with size and scale by standing Vigo on a plinth in your display, the posing is something we can't really fix as collectors and when you go with the neutral arms by the pose size it makes that shoulder section look two sizes too big. With these issues and disappointments I am going to score Vigo a 3 out of 5. And he only scrapes this purely on the basis that Diamond were brave enough to include this figure at all in the Ghostbusters II series.