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John Ary here with a look at a few action figure lines making headlines recently. As always click on the photos for an embiggened pic and for more information follow the pre-order links...

Iron Man 3 Tony Stark from Hot Toys

Three months… that’s how long we have to wait before witnessing Tony Stark flying around in his latest armor on the silver screen. To help whet our appetites for more Marvel movie goodness, the folks over at Hot Toys have released these new pics of the latest 1/6 scale action figure to feature Robert Downey Jr’s likeness. The new toy has a light-up chest function, a newly sculpted articulated body, and enough accessories to build your own hi-tech workshop. You can pre-order it here or wait until it ships in August.

Iron Man Assemblers Wave 1 from Hasbro

Entertainment Earth has put up for pre-order the first series of 3.75-inch Assemblers. The limbs on each figure swap with the others in the line, so you can customize and create your own armored suit for Tony Stark. What's really interesting about this figure line though is the suit of armor located at the top left corner of the picture. Latino Review confirmed a very interesting SPOILER about the Starboost Iron Man armor. If you want to know how that might play into a the Marvel movie universe go here. Expect to see Iron Man Mark 42, Starboost Iron Man (White/Gray), Iron Patriot (Blue/Silver/Red), Stealth Tech Iron Man (Black/Champagne), Hypervelocity Iron Man (Gunmetal), and War Machine Movie (Black/Silver) at your local retail outlet starting in March.

Star Wars "Black Series" from Hasbro 

USA Today got the exclusive on Hasbro’s newest product line of Star Wars action figures. The Black Series promises more detail and articulation in the 6-inch scale. Priced at $19.99 a piece, the first wave will hit in mid-August featuring Pilot Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, Darth Maul, and an Imperial Sandtrooper. Another wave of four figures will also release later this year. It sounds like Black Series will focus mainly on characters from the original trilogy with a few of the key players from the prequels thrown into the mix.

The Tenth Doctor from Big Chief Studios LTD.

Back in September, we showed you some early pics of Big Chief Studios’ new 1/6 scale Doctor Who figures. Now the company is showing off new pics of the upcoming David Tennant-inspired action figure. It features a pinstriped suit, trench coat, sonic screwdriver, spectacles, 3D glasses, fob watch, psychic paper wallet, a water pistol, eight interchangeable hands, and a light-up display base. The company will only ship 1,000 of these time lords in the third quarter, so you may want to get your pre-order in now.

NFL Playmakers 4 from McFarlane Toys

Are you ready for some football… action figures? With the Super Bowl this weekend, perhaps this is the perfect time to talk about the latest round of 3.75-inch gridiron gods set to hit retail. Each player sports 20 points of articulation. Look for Dez Bryant, Robert Griffin III, Arian Foster, Drew Brees, Rob Gronkowski, Clay Matthews, AJ Green, Jared Allen and Peyton Manning to hit the field in July.

And finally this week, to help celebrate the launch of the new Battle Beasts line of Minimates and the new Battle Beasts comic from IDW, Diamond Select Toys has put together a nice stop-motion short featuring the biped brutes in action. You can learn more about these little guys at BattleBeast.com.

That's it for now. For more toy news updates follow my toy blog ArticulationTimes.com on Twitter and Facebook and subscribe to the AICN Youtube channel.