Hello and welcome to yet another weekly edition of Toy News Tuesday! If you’re not one of our usual weekly readers, here’s the run down- Toy News Tuesday is the one weekly column right here on ScienceFiction.com where we seek out all of the awesome news you need to know about any announcements and cool happenings in the toy industry and put them all in one easy to find place for you! This week is kind of light, and with the holidays fast upon us it’ll probably stay that way until all of the big announcements hit right in the beginning of the new year! For now, here’s the Toy News for the week of December 9th, 2014!


Hot Toys Hot Rod Iron Man Brings The Heat

Just when you thought they had announced their version of pretty much every Iron Man armor under the sun, they’ve announced the all new ‘Hot Rod’ Armor Iron man Mark XXII! This sweet new armor design gives the illusion that the ‘suit is on fire’, featuring a nicely detailed design of hot-rod styled flames on the  legs of the silver, red, and dark grey suit. The release from Hot Toys is below:

Tony Stark designed the Mark XXII armor as a War Machine 2.0 Prototype Suit in Iron Man 3. This lightly-armed suit is built with versatility in mind being able to dodge obstacles and move around mid-air more swiftly. Tony Stark was just about to jump into the suit in the movie before it got attack by an Extremis soldier. It earns the name of “Hot Rod” as its arms and legs’ design resembles the classic American hot rod with flames.

Today Hot Toys is happy to continue expanding the “House Party Protocol” and officially introduce the 1/6th scale Hot Rod (Mark XXII) Collectible Figure as a Hot Toys Exclusive item. It is the latest addition to our MMS Diecast Series which the collectible figures are made of diecast material, and realistically designed to look more like Hot Rod as it appears in the movie.

The movie-accurate Hot Rod (Mark XXII) Collectible Figure contains diecast material and is crafted with fine details featuring metallic dark gray, silver and red armor with distinctive flame patterns on legs and LED light-up functions.

If you are an Iron Man fans, don’t pass up the chance to add this special armor to your House Party Protocol!

Hot Toys Is Strong With The Dark Side

Okay, well, not REALLY the ‘Dark Side’ per se, but certainly the shadowy side, with the announcement of their latest figure in their Star Wars line, the Hot Toys Exclusive Shadow Trooper! This specialized Stormtrooper variant comes in a glossy black armor for the Galactic Empire’s elite Shadow Unit! The full release from Hot Toys is below:

Following the official announcement of the Hot Toys Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope: 1/6th scale Stormtrooper Collectible Figure which has been popular among fans, Hot Toys is now pleased to present a specialized soldier of the Galactic Empire – the 1/6th scale Shadow Trooper Collectible Figure as one of the Hot Toys Exclusive items.

This rare and highly-accurate collectible figure is specially crafted based on the image of Shadow Trooper in Star Wars featuring the finely crafted and painted glossy black Shadow Trooper armor and helmet with weathered effect, detailed weapon and accessories, and a specially designed figure stand.

Star Wars fans don’t miss the chance to include this unique trooper to your Galactic Empire display!

The Votes Are In!

Earlier this year, Marvel and Diamond Select Toys held a poll for fans to decided which four characters would be included in an all new Minimate 4-pack based on the ‘Infinity’ storyline! The 4-pack is set to be sold exclusively at Toys R Us stores, and fans were given a choice between Space Suit Captain America, Armored Hulk, Mark 38 Armor Iron Man, ‘Infinity’ Thanos, Ronan the Accuser, and Thane- son of Thanos. Only four of these figures would make it into the 4-pack, with the other two potentially lost into obscurity.

Well now the results are in! The TRU Exclusive 4-pack is set to include Space Suit Captain America, Thanos, Armored Hulk, and Thane- son of Thanos! The set is up for pre-order on ToysRUs.com now!

Luckily, all is not lost for fans of the other two suggested figures, as they’ve already made it into the next wave of Toys R Us Exclusive Minimate 2-packs! The upcoming 19th Wave of TRU Exclusive Marvel Minimates will include Mark 38 Armor Iron Man with Ronan the Accuser together in one set to complete the storyline set! Other figures in the upcoming wave include Anti-Sinister Six Spiderman with Mysterio, Payback Wolverine with  Sentinel, and Quicksilver with The Vision!

NECA Previews Alien Wave 4

The crew over at NECA have revealed some all new images of their upcoming fourth wave of figures based on the ‘ALIEN’ franchise! This new wave is celebrating the original film’s 35th Anniversary with three brand new figures based on characters from the first film, ‘ALIEN‘! This upcoming wave is set to hit in March of 2015, with figures in the wave including Dallas in his Nostromo Spacesuit (Tom Skerritt!), as well as two different versions of Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley! The full release from NECA is below:

Series 4 in our best-selling Alien action figure collection celebrates 35 years of the original Alien film with all-new character debuts! It includes two versions of Ellen Ripley — for the first time ever featuring the likeness of Sigourney Weaver — and Dallas in his Nostromo Spacesuit.

Ripley in Nostromo Jumpsuit comes with flamethrower and Jonesy the cat. Dallas in Nostromo Spacesuit comes with removable helmet, pistol and flashlight. Ripley in Nostromo Spaceuit comes with removable helmet, harpoon gun with two different attachments, and a frightened version of Jonesy the cat. Each fully articulated figure stands approximately 7″ tall and comes in special 35th Anniversary packaging.

Eureka Striker Inbound!

With the all new 18” Cherno Alpha figure hitting stores now from their ‘Pacific Rim’ series, NECA Toys is already giving sneak previews of the next figure in the set, the massive 18” Eureka Striker!  There isn’t a release date currently set for this guy yet, but it’s safe to assume he’ll hit early next year!

Funko Forecast

Get ready for the Funko Forecast! This is where we’re going to be showcasing all of the cool new announcements and reveals from Funko! With all of the awesome that consistently seems to be flowing out of those guys, it shouldn’t be hard to keep this section alive each and every week!

Funko Walgreens Exclusive

While we’ve talked about how Walgreens is stepping further and further into the collectibles market for the better part of the last year, this next development is a HUGE deal in the level of aggression they are displaying in staking a place in this market!  Marvel Toy News recently released images of an all new wave of Funko POP! Vinyls that will be exclusive to the drug store chain, including several unique characters that we have never seen as POP!s yet! The new Walgreens exclusive wave of POP! Vinyl figures include’s a bunch of Marvel favorites like Venom, The Punisher, Spiderman 2099, and Black Suit Spiderman!

Funko Walmart Exclusives

The crew over at AFI have revealed some images of a few recently released but previously unannounced Funko POP! Vinyl figures that will be exclusive to mega-retailer Walmart! These new POP! Vinyl figures include Bumblebee w/Cannon and Stinger from ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’, and a Toothless with racing stripes from ‘How to Train Your Dragon 2’! These are in stores now, so be sure to check out your local Walmart!

And with that, we bring this week’s Toy News Tuesday to a close! What do you think about the new items announced this week? Do you plan on picking up anything we mentioned in this week’s column? Are there any lines or brands you’d like to see more coverage of? Let us know in the comments section below! Until next week, happy toy hunting!