One of the mint’s new three-ounce coins, a format that they seem to have embraced quite heavily this year, it’s another depiction of super-iconic screen villain, Darth Vader. This time we have kind of a collage design, with a cleanly struck depiction of Vader in the foreground, behind which is a Star-Wars style window looking out onto various small coloured images of the villain.

This is bigger than most Star Wars coins, at 55 mm in diameter, and if you only want one Vader coin, perhaps this is the most comprehensive one, but it’s also one of the more expensive.

The latest DC Comics ‘Classic’ coin is a four-format look at one of the key characters in the new DC movie universe (at least it was before Ezra Miller starting going off the rails…), The Flash. The fastest man on Earth, the character has been a staple of the comic books since his introduction way back in late 1939, going through several iterations.

As before, this series is very much grounded in the comic books, and not the various movies or television shows of recent years. The two silver variants are of 3 oz and 1 oz weights, and while they offer fundamentally the same design, there’s considerably more background detail, in the form of old comic book covers, on the larger of the two. As you can see from the gold coin (1/4 oz depicted), they use a cropped version of the art to better fill the smaller diameters. Even the 1 oz coin has this artwork. Different, but equally well done.

A decent entrant in the series, there’s also a new bullion coin for the character, that we’ll have a look at tomorrow.

A surprising addition to the long list of popular culture franchises the NZ Mint has in its repertoire, Game of Thrones may well be a canny choice given the new prequel series, House of the Dragon, is about to debut (late August). Unusually for this producer, these are not coins, but undenominated medallions, which has the obvious benefit of not requiring the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse. As a result, we get two sides of unique artwork.

The famous dragon symbol of House Targaryen is the first subject, also present in a simpler form on the obverse. The second issue is due next week, and has a completely different design on both faces, so this looks like it could build into a unique set for the legions of fans of the story.

One of the more recent additions to the Star Wars Universe on television, The Bad Batch tells the story of a band of experimental ‘flawed’ clones, each of them with a fiercely independent streak. It seems to have debuted to mixed reviews, but it’s coming back, so obviously did well enough.

The coin is a little bland, to be honest. A simple coloured character depiction inside a wide, crude border, doesn’t really make it something to rush out and buy unless you’re a completist, or really like the series. There’s probably going to be at least 5-6 of these, given the number of central characters.

Two more additions to the Faces of Gotham series, and it’s another couple of villains – Two-Face, and The Riddler. Shaped, coloured, and struck to a proof finish, these are the fifth and sixth in the series to date.

For those interested, there’s also a similar Faces of Empire series, concentrating on the baddies in Star Wars. The eleventh one of those will debut in a couple of days time.

The first pair of Chibi for June, and it’s another couple of the obnoxious characters in one of the most annoying shows in history (yes, I know you might like it, but for me, it’s the TV equivalent of running a nail over a blackboard). Even allowing for the popularity of the show, it’s been off-air for ages, and seems a strange choice for Chibi. Fortunately, the second June pairing is more varied and interesting.

Without question, the 1994 Disney animated movie, The Lion King, is a bona fide classic of the genre, and it’s good to see the mint do it justice with one of their excellent 3 oz, ‘film-strip’ cinema coins. It’s a proof finish, coloured coin, something more common with animated movie subjects, with a good, varied selection of small scenes from the movie, and a nice main scene dominating the coin.

We’re sure that fans of the movie will find much to like here. Those on a budget, may want to check out one of the bullion coins that have been issued over the last few years. Like every other coin here, the packaging is completely first-class.