February might be the shortest month of the year, but it's the biggest when it comes to toy and collectibles news. That's because New York Toy Fair takes place in the middle of the month, specifically Feb. 14-17. TOYING AROUND will be there to cover the event, but there's still plenty of news leading up the event like a pair of Marvel cosmic character exclusives at Entertainment Earth, high quality Marvel Studios figures from Hot Toys and new versions of Batman and company rolling out from Kotobukiya.

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON | Hot Toys has gotten in on the "Avengers: Age of Ultron" toy reveal fun with this figure of Chris Evans as Captain America. The larger scale figure shows off some costume changes that will be on full display when Joss Whedon's sequel hits on May 1. Cap comes with the iconic shield which includes retractable handles and magnets for a variety of placement options.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY | More Marvel Studios-based figures got some love from Hot Toys this week including Thanos and Gamora. We've seen these figures before, but now we can view Gamora from a variety of new angles and know that Thanos comes with an LED-encrusted throne!

LI'L GOTHAM | Kotobukiya revealed a new series of unarticulated Bat-toys called DC Universe Li'l Gotham Mini Figures. The first set features seven characters that measure roughly two inches tall and come in orange, yellow, pink, blue, green and tan. The group includes Batman, Robin, Nightwing, Joker, Harley Quinn, Catwoman and Poison Ivy as seen in the all-ages "Li'l Gotham" series created by Dustin Nguyen and Derek Fridolfs. They arrive in June.

ENTERTAINMENT EARTH EXCLUSIVES | If you enjoyed "Guardians of the Galaxy" -- and seriously, who didn't? -- then Entertainment Earth has a pair of exclusives you'll probably want to get your hands on (or in). In addition to a Funko Rocket wearing Ravager gear, they also have an epic mug based on Thanos' glove of choice, the Infinity Gauntlet! Even the worst coffee in the world will feel awesome when guzzled from this handy piece of drinkware.

THE WALKING DEAD | The Walking Dead Building Sets have done pretty well for McFarlane Toys. So well, in fact, that the company has started selling the building block sets in more stores, including Walmart. In fact, Walmart now has a pair of exclusives including a guard tower and fence set that will also include brand new figures.

THE BIG BANG THEORY | Entertainment Earth showed off the first wave of Bif Bang Pow's 3 3/4-inch figures based on "The Big Bang Theory." First they posted about the unpainted sculpts, but then the showed off the more colorful versions of Sheldon (in Superman, Flash, Green Lantern and Batman T-shirts), Leonard, Raj, Howard, Penny, Bernadette and Amy.

THE TWILIGHT ZONE | In last week's TOYING AROUND we covered a few unpainted prototypes of Bif Bang Pow's 3 3/4-inch "Twilight Zone" action figures, but they weren't done yet. New reveals include creepy kid Anthony Fremont from "It's a Good Life" and the unusual diner owner seen in "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?"

EVOLVE | "Evolve" is a new co-op video game debuting Feb. 10 that features a variety of game modes filled with monsters ready for shooting by a group of different hunters. Funko will have not one but two different types of collectibles following the game's release. In March, Pop Vinyl versions of Markov, Val, Hank, Maggie, a standard Goliath and a Game Stop one will hit stores. The next month will see the release of those same characters in the 7-inch Legacy scale complete with multiple points of articulation and plenty of game-based guns.

CINDERELLA | In other Pop Vinyl news, Funko revealed a pair of toys based on the upcoming live-action Disney version of "Cinderella" starring Hayley Atwell, Lily James and Cate Blanchett. These pieces of Cinderella and Gus Gus in a glass slipper hit the same month as the March 13th film.