Brian's Toys Jocasta Nu

During the Hasbro SDCC 2012 panel, Hasbro announced that Fan's Favourite Jocasta Nu would be a Brian's Toys exclusive.

Now much to the surprise of everyone, Jocasta will be coming to the UK! This unexpected news has not been welcomed by all Vintage Collectors. Many of whom had already paid $25 plus shipping fees for the Jedi Librarian and are likely to be hit with a bill from customs for importing the figure as Hasbro had previously stated the figure would solely be available through Brian's Toys.

The figure and packaging look great and the Master Dooku statue is a neat little accessory. However if you recall Yarna d'al' Gargan was a Fan's Poll winner a few year back and Jabba's dancer can still be seen clogging pegs around toy stores across the UK!

The figure is expected around February 2013 and is available to pre-order now at Order 66 Toys priced £22.99.

The end of the Vintage Collection?

Hasbro have had their fair share of criticism from Star Wars collectors in recent years and some of it justifiably so. Poor distribution, even poorer case assortments, cutting back on articulation on certain lines of figures and some questionable choices regarding figure selection have led to furious fans fretting in forums.

But bringing back the Vintage Collection in 2010 was one of their better decisions. The Vintage Collection has rekindled a lot of fans love affair for collecting 4" inch action figures. The cards were a throw back to the old Kenner cards from the late 70's, early 80's. Although the current super-articulated figures are a million miles more aesthetically pleaseing than their 1970's counterparts.

So it came as quite a surprise when at this years San Diego Comic Con, Hasbro announced that the Vintage Collection would be going on an extended hiatus and being replaced by the Build A Droid series.

The final Vintage Collection Wave will be released in the UK before the end of the year. In the US the wave will be a shared exclusive only available at online stores. It features 12 new figures on Vintage Cards, four of which were previously available in the Walmart/Asda Discover The Force exclusive wave - Mawhonic, Naboo Pilot, Gungan Warrior & Aurra Sing.

Of the others included in the wave, the highlights are the new Emperor's Royal Guard which comes with the Crimson Empire training gear and TOR Trooper from the RPG The Old Republic.

The complete set of 12 figures is available to pre-order at Order66ToyStore now, priced £95.99. Figures are also available individually, priced £9.99 each.

Hot Toys Bane

Having teased us for weeks with images on their Facebook page, Hot Toys have finally released details/images of their 1/6th scale Bane figure just in time for the release of the conclusion to Christopher Nolan's epic Batman saga.

It's hard to tell how accurate the head sculpt of Tom Hardy is as the face is covered mostly by Bane's mask, which is not detachable. Having said that the detail in the mask is beautiful.

Everything about the costume looks great. The 3/4 length leather jacket, the combat vest with all it's straps and buckles, the military pants and combat boots. Though we are not quite sure why there is a decidedly dodgy brown sweater included!

Along with the array of open and closed fists comes a broken Batman mask as seen on the promotional images for the film. The figure is available to pre-order from the store now, priced £179.99 (free shipping to UK customers).

Not included with the figure unfortunately is this amazing Movie Masterpiece Camo Tumbler which will set you back around £400.00.

SDCC Exclusives: NECA

NECA is an American toy company who specialise in collectibles licensed from music, film, TV & the video gaming industry. Their impressive CV includes characters from Terminator, Nightmare on Elm Street, Robocop, Resident Evil, Assassin's Creed and Gears of War amongst others.

To mark the 25th anniversary of Evil Dead 2 NECA have brought out action figures from the cult classic. This Hero From the Sky Ash is the first to feature the iconic modified right hand chainsaw complete with rocky terrain base.

Eagle vision, the sixth sense certain lineages of humans possess as a result of being created by the First Civilisation. A gift that enables those who possess it to instinctively sense how people and objects relate to them - blue indicates allies. This SDCC exclusive features a blue tinged Ezio with eagle and stand.

Dream Child Freddy from Nightmare on Elm Street 5 comes with a comic book cut-out of Mark Grey, the comic book artist whom Kreuger turns into paper and slices into pieces.

Onyx Theron are the elite of the elite in the Locust Horde that serve under General RAAM. This menacing Elite Theron figure comes with torquebow and 14 points of articulation.

From Predators 2 comes this Cloaked City Hunter Predator. There have been a couple of cloaked Predator figures in the past and this has been seen as a bit of a disappointment from fans who were expecting more from NECA for their SDCC Predator offering.

And lastly, limited to 500 pieces, is the Cave Johnson signature edition of ASHPD. Following the popularity of the original Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device comes this prop replica from the computer game Portal. 250 pieces will be available at SDCC, the other 250 pieces will be available through www.necaclub.com.

As part of a NECA SDCC pack, which also includes the 5 action figures above, www.necaclub.com are giving their US fans not attending this years SDCC the opportunity to purchase the exclusives for $335.00 plus shipping.

The Dark Knight: The Joker 2.0

Not happy with the release of their original Joker figure from 2009, Hot Toys have updated their Dark Knight villain.

"The Hot Toys DX Joker Collectible Figure has been very well-received since its launch in 2009. In view of fans’ expectation, Hot Toys is proud to present his advanced version – The DX Joker 2.0 Collectible Figure from The Dark Knight movie, specially crafted based on the image of Heath Ledger as The Joker in the movie, highlighting the highly detailed head sculpts crafted with the latest sculpting and painting technique by our chief Korean artists Yulli & JC. Hong and the costume customized by the extraordinaire 1/6th scale figure costume artist Kato, which best fits his advanced body. The Joker 2.0 is definitely a must-have for fans! The DX Joker 2.0 Collectible Figure is truly movie-accurate, equipped with our patented Parallel Eyeball Rolling System (PERS), highly detailed accessories and weapons."

The accessories, as pictured above, are fantastic. Along with the table, chair and desk-light come a hand gun, machine gun, assortment of knives (there is even a knife on his right boot!), pencil, handcuffs, deck of cards and a mixture of hands and gloved hands for holding all the different weapons.

And lucky "selected markets" will also have the added bonus of an exclusive initiator and Grumpy mask. Disappointingly though, there would appear to be no grenades in the inside of his jacket in this version.

The head sculpt looks amazing, the likeness and level of detail is breathtaking. A fitting homage to the late Heath Ledger. The costume also looks superb, the fabrics and tailoring is a marked upgrade from the original. Below is a comparison of the new (left) and old (right).

Expect to see this in store early next year, although no price point has been announced as of yet!

SDCC Exclusives: Mattel

Mattel's SDCC offerings include toys from Batman, Masters of the Universe, Ghostbusters and... wait for it... Polly Pocket?

With the third of Chistopher Nolan's Batman trilogy set to hit the big screen in less than a months time, attendees at this years SDCC will have the opportunity to purchase this nicely packaged Movie Masters: Bruce Wayne to Batman set.

The gate-fold packaging shows the exterior of Wayne Manor at night complete with Batsignal lighting up the sky. This opens up to reveal Bruce Wayne clad in a black under-suit, standing in a corridor on one side with a piano on the other.

Press the piano and a few notes play - this side can then be opened up to reveal the Batcave, complete with the sounds of bats screeching! Inside the Batcave you will find a Batsuit to dress The Dark Knight and an array of weapons.

Masters of the Universe Classics are hugely popular. Distributed through Matty Collector, they are also quite expensive - an average 6" figure will set you back £30.00.

This Vykron action figure comes in his barbarian outfit with alternative spaceman and military warrior outfits also included in the set. Already pre-sold out for the event, expect to see this appear on the secondary markets for a lot more than the $30 it is being sold for during the four day event.

Last years Ghostbusters offering was the amazing 20" tall Stay Puft marshmallow man which came in a wonderful display package that opened out to form a street scene of New York.

This years is to be one of the last Mattel Ghostbuster figures - a Dana Barrett, as possessed by Zuul, action figure. The figure features alternate legs so she can be posed in a sitting or standing position. Again this has already pre-sold out for the event!

If you are not familiar with the works of Neil Gaiman, chances are this next offering will mean little to you. But for those that are avid fans of his Sandman series, here is Death the sister of Dream.

Mattel are to launch a new product line of 8" DCU statues and this is their first offering, which comes with this cool skull shaped base.

Ok so we don't know a great deal about Polly Pockets here at Order66ToyStore, honest!

But these cute little 3¾" tall figures feature Polly, Lila and Lea dressed as DC's Catwoman, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn look awesome!

Tiny Titans was a comic book series published by DC Comics based on the Cartoon Network animated series Teen Titans. Set in Sidekick City Elementary this Superhero Team consists of Starfire, Robin, Raven, Beast Boy and Cyborg.

These 1.5" vinyl figures come in a school bus style packaging and will cost $20.00 during the four day show.

Expendables action figures

Opinions remain divided over the original Expendables movie. A solid cast containing a who's who of Hollywood hard men combined with plenty of action were sadly let down by a decidedly dodgy screenplay and acting.

With Hot Toys range of 12" action figures due later in the year, Diamond Select have picked up the licence to produce 1/10th scale action figures.

The first series, set for a December release, includes Barney Ross, Hale Ceaser and Gunnar Jensen.

A bit of a surprise that Diamond Select have acquired the licence for this, these type of film licenses are usually picked up by NECA. Diamond are more known for the range of minimates and only current range of action figures are the Marvel Select range.

Having said that the Marvel Select range has included movie style action figures from Thor: The Mighty Avenger, Captain America: The First Avenger and The Avengers. All of which have been of impeccable standard and detail.