Release Date: February 2021 RRP: $19.99/£19.99 Given that the Star Wars Black Series has been running since 2013, it's amazing that there are so many key characters from Star Wars: The Clone Wars that still don't have figures. But with the raised interest in the franchise's television output thanks to The Mandalorian as well as Hasbro doing a little reshuffle of their main 6" collector line, it seems this is finally being rectified. As well as a whole wave of special exclusive  Clone Wars releases in themed packaging recently, the main range is getting in on it too - the long awaited Black Series Asajj Ventress is finally here. After being saved from slavery and becoming a Jedi Padawan only to see her Master murdered right in front of her, Ventress eventually ended up in the employment of Count Dooku as his personal assassin. After being betrayed by him as well, Ventress returned to her home on Dathomir to join Mother Talzin's Nightsisters  before eventually going ...

If you created two core entries in the Kamen Rider franchise and had the opportunity to bring them together in one crossover special, of course you'd take that chance. Following on from Yuya Takahashi colliding the worlds of Zero-One and Ex-Aid in Kamen Rider Genms -The Presidents- , Kamen Rider Saber head writer Takuro Fukuda now brings his works together in Kamen Rider Saber x Ghost . Released through the Toei Tokusatsu Fan Club , this (for now at the very least) one episode special also celebrates the fifth anniversary of Kamen Rider Ghost - with Shun Nishime returning to the role of Takeru Tenkuji for the first time since his guest appearance in 2018's  Kamen Rider Zi-O .

Release Date: November 2020 RRP: $19.99/£19.99 With so many different teams and characters to choose from, one of the most exciting parts of new Power Rangers Lightning Collection reveals is when something from a previously untouched (by Hasbro at least) series is announced. The line began work on Power Rangers Dino Thunder with the exclusive White Ranger figure earlier in 2020, but it was with the announcement of the main line’s seventh way that work felt properly underway with the Lightning Collection Dino Thunder Red Ranger . Soccer player and student at Reefside High School , Connor McKnight bonded with the Red Dino Gem and leads the Dino Thunder Rangers - mentored by his teacher and Power Rangers alumni Dr. Tommy Oliver .

It's usually around the winter time that Kamen Rider fans look forward to the latest crossover movie, but with the COVID-19 pandemic still raging things had to be done a little differently in 2020. With   Kamen Rider Zero-One the Movie: REALxTIME postponed from its original summer release date, the typical movie scheduling Toei have kept for both Kamen Rider and Super Sentai was thrown into chaos. The Mashin Sentai Kiramager movie was pushed back to Spring 2021 to feature alongside other Super Sentai productions, with a short Kamen Rider Saber movie taking its place to create a  Kamen Rider Splendid Double-Feature event at the end of December. At only 22 minutes long, Kamen Rider Saber: The Phoenix Swordsman and the Book of Ruin is the shortest Kamen Rider movie there has been in some time. As such, the film was properly labelled as a "short movie" ("Gekijō-tanpen") rather than given the usual movie-prefix ("Gekijō-ban").

Continuing what seems to be a big year for getting back into custom Dalek figures, I turn my attention away from The Curse of Fatal Death for a moment and back to something everyone has wanted to see in Character Options' toy line for some time now - movie Daleks. While it was obvious that Character's licensing didn't extend to the two Dalek movies ( Dr Who & the Daleks and Daleks' Invasion Earth - 2150AD ) of the 1960s, the wonderful loophole that was the props appearing in The Chase did lead to the Jungles of Mechanus collector set   release last year. Of course you can't have Dalek drones without a proper chain of command, so having bought multiples of the set for exactly this in mind it was time to get to work on the black Dalek itself.

In the late 1970s the Toei Company made a three year licensing deal with Marvel Comics that allowed them to take their characters and reimagine them for a Japanese audience. This collaboration was key to the creation of the Super Sentai franchise as we know it today, with many of its tropes introduced through both Battle Fever J and subsequent instalments Denshi Sentai Denjiman and Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan . But prior to these came the most infamous result of the partnership - Toei’s Spider-Man . Released in 1978 and running for a total of 41 episodes (plus one 25-minute movie), Toei’s Spider-Man took the iconography of Marvel’s legendary hero and transformed him into in a true henshin hero. In recent years the character has gone though something of a renaissance - prominently appearing in the various Spider-Verse crossover comic series, receiving a dedicated documentary on Disney+ and slated to appear in the 2022 sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse .

Release Date: November 2020 RRP: $19.99/£19.99 The original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is always going to be the big seller when it comes to the Lightning Collection and Hasbro ’s control of the franchise in general, but with the whole of original team now available in the flagship collector line they’re going to come up with a few new ideas to continue hitting that MMPR sweet spot. Naturally re-releases are obviously on the cards (such as the forthcoming “Metallic Armour” versions), but it’s also a chance to get some other interesting figures out as well. One such example is wave seven’s Lightning Collection Mighty Morphin Z-Putty , based on Lord Zedd ’s legion of clay soldiers from season two. Although faster, stronger and more resilient than the old Putty Patrollers , Zedd’s versions had one fatal weakness - one punch to the Z emblem on their chest would instantly cause them to explode.