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The Best Toys of 2021
465 Plays4 years ago
Happy New Year! This week, Dave and Erik list out their Top 10's of 2021 and crown the first ever Archie Tournament Award Winner! Who made the cut? Who got left out? Listen and find out.
Want to hear how much the lists have changed from the half way point of the year? Listen here
Follow us @aic_podcast on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube
Intro and other voices by Joe Azzari
https://www.instagram.com/voicesbyjoe/
Theme Music is "Game Boy Horror" by the Zombie Dandies
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Transcript
Introduction to Adventures in Collecting
00:00:02
Speaker
Are you ready, kids? Get your parents' permission, check your mailbox, and grab your shopping cart. It's time for the Adventures in Collecting podcast. I'm Eric. And I'm Dave. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, where we talk toy news, culture, and halls, along with our journeys as collectors. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting.
00:00:32
Speaker
Happy New Year. Happy New Year to you too, Dave, and Happy New Year to our ever-growing Adventures in Collecting family, the AIC family. It's another year. Everyone's going to think the podcast was broken. This will either be funny in the long run or not. You may have to cut some of that dead air out.
00:00:55
Speaker
I'm gonna be honest with you because I know you don't listen back to the show I usually cut a little bitty a little bit of it anyway.
Annual Best of Episode Format
00:01:01
Speaker
Okay, a little snippy snippy over there Yeah, now this one was excessive and this means nothing because you'll you'll not have heard how long the original one is
00:01:13
Speaker
So today is our is our annual best of Yeah, settle in everyone, but we did it a little bit differently this year So in the past we've had some guests come on and and do the top 10 with us, but we decided to No leads to
Instagram Tournament Overview
00:01:30
Speaker
bury this week. Yeah, no We decided to do things a little bit differently this year. We held a little bit of a virtual tournament
00:01:38
Speaker
Over on Instagram, we held, in the name of our mascot, the first annual Archie tournament, which pitted 32 toy lines against each other in a, I guess, in a March Madness style bracket, I guess you could say. I don't know if anyone else uses that. A single elimination bracket. Yeah, we'll call it a single elimination bracket.
00:02:07
Speaker
And yes, so it pitted 32 active toy lines from 2021, a list that that that we came up with. And then from there, after we came up with the list, we stayed out of it. So there was no since we've never done this before, there was no seating or anything. It was completely random.
00:02:25
Speaker
And then we set it up and stayed out of it and we let our our followers on Instagram Vote throughout and it was super fun watching some of the matchups I mean, unfortunately some toy lines that are near and dear to our hearts caught some buzz saws early on Yeah Rest in rest in peace Star Wars the vintage collection and and WWE
00:02:55
Speaker
and actually all of Mattel's WWE lines ate it in the first round. AEW made it to the second round, so that was cool. Yeah, so you know what, before we crown our winner, just to kind of give you a, catch everybody up,
00:03:16
Speaker
Making it out of the first round, I'm not going to go through all 32 teams, or 32 brands, because that's a lot. You can find this on our Instagram. So if you head to instagram.com or just search for AIC underscore podcast, you can find the brackets in our feed. But basically, it was the Hasbro show.
00:03:42
Speaker
The making it into the Final Four were the Transformers, the G.I. Joe classified, Masters of the Universe Revelation, Star Wars, the Black Series. I'm sorry, this was eight, not the Final Four.
00:04:00
Speaker
The Power Rangers Lightning Collection, Marvel Legends, NECA Ultimate, and MediCom, Mafex. And then headed into the Final Four was G.I. Joe classified taking on Star Wars, the Black Series, and on the other side of the bracket Marvel Legends taking on NECA Ultimates.
Marvel Legends Victory and Acceptance
00:04:20
Speaker
And that led us to our final, which was G.I. Joe classified versus Marvel Legends.
00:04:29
Speaker
which I think is personally, I think is a really fair matchup given kind of all of the brands that were in here and, you know, the 32 brands and then toy lines that made it.
00:04:41
Speaker
all had really great years. They all were doing new things with their line, they were active, but I think it would be hard to argue that seeing Marvel Legends go up against G.I. Joe Classified, given everything that's kind of gone on in the world, gone on with those toy lines, two extremely active, vocal communities behind them, I think it was a fair final matchup. What are your thoughts, Dave? Yeah, I mean, I would have figured, like,
00:05:08
Speaker
you know if you had told me what do you think would be the final going into it that probably would have been my guess yeah I mean it honestly like the the randomizer was kind in the fact that it put Marvel Legends and GI Joe classified on two different ends of the tournament bracket because you know that match up early on who knows what would have what would have came out on the other side you know yeah
00:05:38
Speaker
for them to go up against. But Marvel Legends pretty much tore through every line that it came up against. There were really no close match-ups.
00:05:49
Speaker
they led pretty much every, well, not pretty much, they led every one of their competitors by at least 40%, you know, a 40% margin in the end. GI Joe had some tough battles throughout, nearly lost to Transformers. It was a tough road for them, but in our final. Well, you know, it was a tough battle, but they
Future Tournament Plans
00:06:15
Speaker
had half of it down because they had knowing
00:06:19
Speaker
their disposal because knowing is half the battle well done well done that was well done I like that so headed headed into the final with with 64% of the vote your first annual Archie Award winner is Marvel Legends
00:06:47
Speaker
Some claps, some golf claps, to Steve, Ryan, Dan, Dwight, Tony, everybody that works on the Marvel Legends product. Congratulations, you guys are our inaugural winner of the Archie Award. Oh wait, what's this, Dave? I think we have a special message.
00:07:14
Speaker
Do we have an acceptance speech? I think we do. Coming to you
Honorable Mentions and Top 10 Introduction
00:07:20
Speaker
live from Rhode Island is Ryan Ting from the Marvel Legends team. Ryan, take it away.
00:07:29
Speaker
Hey guys, this is Ryan from the Hasbro Marvel team. Thank you to Eric, Dave, and the Adventures in Collecting podcast voters for choosing Marvel Legends as the 2021 inaugural Archie Award Tournament winner. And kudos to all 32 incredible toy lines in the bracket. I think the real winner this year is the toy community, since there are so many amazing options for fans, no matter what you happen to collect. Cheers to another fantastic year of figures, and here's to 2022.
00:07:55
Speaker
Thank you again, Ryan, for graciously accepting the award. I guess this gives us a certain level of credibility. It's a real award now. It feels so real. Wow. All right. Well, there you have it. So next year, we'll do this again in December. And we were thinking about it. Maybe we'll throw in some kind of superlative awards to go along with the main Archie. Yeah.
00:08:24
Speaker
But yeah, thank you to everybody that voted. It seemed like everyone had a good time, so we're happy that everyone enjoyed it so much. Yeah, with that, Dave, was there anything else that you wanted to say? Any last thoughts about the tournament? Anything that you wanted to add before we move on to our lists? No, I think that pretty much covers it. So with that, Dave, it's time to talk top 10s.
00:08:53
Speaker
Yes. So how do you want to do this? Do you want to do our honorable mentions first or do we want to jump into our top tens and save our honorable mentions for the end?
00:09:07
Speaker
No, I would say the honorable mentions have to go first. I know that's how we did it, have done it previously, and we did it at the halfway point. Which, if you want to be reminded of what our halfway through the year top 10s were, because I don't remember, check out that episode with just Jay Hernandez.
00:09:27
Speaker
Yeah, I'll put a link to that in the show notes, so that way you can go back and revisit. Let's hop into the honorable mentions. Would you like to go first, Age Before Beauty? Sure. So I'm going to start with, I'm going to actually do these in order because I feel like these are kind of in order. And I'm going to start with Mattel, WWE Elite.
00:09:57
Speaker
Ringside Collectibles exclusive, ECW Cactus Jack. Bang, bang. I just think, you know, yes, it isn't the actual tag team title that he holds. There's no way they could even do that.
00:10:16
Speaker
So yeah, it's another way to get a EC. It's actually, I think like the way to get an ECW tag team title out there. But what a figure. It's probably one of the best foley's. It's one of the best recent foley's, that's for sure. And I mean, it's just, it's awesome. It's such a great figure.
00:10:37
Speaker
Yeah, I haven't I haven't had enough. We haven't seen each other that much again, because as you know, as as pandemics go, yes, is one of them. So I haven't had a chance to see that in person yet, but the pictures I have seen and the pictures that you sent are, you know, it's it's very exciting. I love that they included the big backdrop. The backdrop is cool, because that's like if you think of any ECW interview ever, it's either that backdrop or the
00:11:06
Speaker
You know extreme logo, so yeah So my first honorable mention is is a whole line My honorable mentions are do not kind of follow the same rules as my top 10 But the the my first honorable mention is from Hasbro The Ghostbusters plasma series specifically the afterlife figures that came out this year That movie
00:11:32
Speaker
was incredible. It was the first time I had been back to the movie theater in nearly two years. I had an awesome parting gift of a stomach virus, which was brutal. But the figures associated with the film, I was ordering them in the parking lot on my way out of the theater. The movie was excellent. The figures are great.
00:12:01
Speaker
It was so well executed. And then, of course, the two-pack, spoiler alert, if you have not seen Ghostbusters Afterlife, I feel like it's been a long enough time now. But the family that busts together, two-pack, I thought was really well executed. Yeah, just all in all, a great addition to that line and something that I didn't think that I was going to be buying, truthfully.
00:12:30
Speaker
But I'm glad to have them. So that was that was my first honorable mention. My next one is Lego. Batman 66 Batmobile. Wow. You want a really cool Batmobile with some really cool minifigs at a really great price. This is the set for you. You know, yeah, you could get the
00:12:59
Speaker
89 Batmobile, I do have it. It's enormous, it rules, but this is actually a good one too because it's a nice big Batmobile, but it's also one that the minifigs fit in, so really cool. Awesome. My next honorable mention is two figures.
00:13:24
Speaker
We're going to head over to NECA's 1990 Turtles line. This year we got April O'Neill and we got Casey Jones. Arguably two of the best human likenesses that NECA has done to date. The whole thing that the whole April O'Neill takeover to kind of announce the figure and show the behind the scenes process.
00:13:50
Speaker
Shouts to our friend of the pod Blaine for helping handle the technical end of that over at NECA and getting that out on social media and stuff. Those two figures are just great and they look so good with the turtles. I'm so happy that they exist and I'm happy to have them.
00:14:15
Speaker
My next one, I got as part of a two-pack, but was ultimately released single-carded. So I'm going to include it as a single here. And that is the McFarland DC Multiverse Red Hood. What a figure. Just what a cool figure. I like the kind of metallic mask. You know, the cool bomber jacket.
00:14:44
Speaker
A of what such a posable figure. I think it was Yeah, it's just a really cool figure and it's also notably is the last I was gonna evil future McFarland figure that comes with pistols I was gonna say that but I didn't want to be like incorrect. So, you know, that is that is the most recent one tech I mean technically it was released the same around the same time as
00:15:13
Speaker
as the Flashpoint Batman, and I think he also has pistols, but I think Red Hood actually came out after that. Awesome figure. The cherry red on that helmet finish is out of this world. It's almost like a car finish.
00:15:34
Speaker
My next honorable mention takes us over to Jazzwares and the Pokemon Select line. So we've seen the first three of those figures hitting shelves. We've seen obviously the folks at Jazzwares were kind enough to send out Charizard for us to take a look at. A friend of the pod, Aaron and Scott are friends of the pod.
00:16:01
Speaker
Definitely head back and take a listen to that that Pokemon anniversary episode. That was that was a lot of fun But that line is super cool. I you know prior to them making these these six inch scale You know roughly six inch scale Super articulated Pokemon you your your only market for them was was at the import import market and they went for You know, they're now out of production and go for for quite a
00:16:30
Speaker
large amount on the aftermarket. They're really well done. They move exactly the way that you need them to, and I'm excited for that Rayquaza to eventually hit, looking more like it's going to hit in 2022 now. So yeah, I'm looking forward to that one. All right. So my next one, you mentioned toys that are imports, and this one is an import.
00:16:58
Speaker
Um, it is, you may have heard about the rest of this series in an earlier episode when we had friend of the pod junk shop dog on and it is junk shop dogs. So fooby pro wrestling series to bruiser Brody figure. Man, it's, it's crazy to think that that was that long ago. That was like the beginning of the year. Yeah. Yeah.
00:17:23
Speaker
awesome figure uh excited to see looking forward to the rest of them it looks like bull nakano is going to be coming soon so yep yep yep yep um so my next one uh is something that literally uh four days ago five days ago got bumped out of my top 10 list
00:17:42
Speaker
Was was sitting what I thought at comfortably at number ten Or excuse me at number nine got bumped out of the list by it by two two late additions, but uh Super sevens reaction Milo from from from descendants Yeah, as I mentioned on our on our episode with
00:18:08
Speaker
where we talked all things Super 7 with Kyle. Yeah, I love that album and that band so much that I was so happy to have some form, you know, a figure of it and didn't know I needed it, they announced it, needed it, super happy to have it. So yeah, that's my fourth honorable mention. So my last one.
00:18:38
Speaker
comes in the name of innovation because this is an action figure for an individual who is unlike anything we've seen before. And in order to get something that really personifies someone we've never seen before, we need an innovation that we've never seen before. And I am, of course, talking about
00:19:05
Speaker
Jazzwares, AEW, Unrivaled, Series 3, Orange, Cassidy. Oh, the pockets. I figure with pockets. I mean, just, you know, it's one of those things where you just kind of, I remember the tweets between Jeremy and magic and saw it play out and then we got it and it is exactly what, you know,
00:19:35
Speaker
everything we could have hoped for. Yeah. Yeah. That one. That was another one that was cool to watch that kind of come to life. And it happened really quickly. Like it feels like that one was like they got that out real fast. Yeah. As seems to have been the case for a lot of the AEW stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. And then my last honorable mention here
00:20:04
Speaker
uh... before we get into our top tens as much as it is like I'm gonna hint at something that is going to be on my list but as I've mentioned countless countless countless times on the show you know over the last two years is my one of my main priorities in collecting is MCU uh... Marvel Legends and that absolutely remains to be the case I am still current and caught up and
00:20:33
Speaker
There were a lot of MCU figures in 2021. However, none of them made my top 10 list for that reason that I set up at the top where I mentioned that I tried to keep it one per brand. And there was one Marvel Legends figure that absolutely knocked my socks off, blew my doors off, which means that some of the figures that I was looking forward to most in 2021 have been
00:21:03
Speaker
Relegated to the honorable mentions list my final honorable mention is the entire infinity saga Subline from Marvel Legends of this year That includes the the Thanos and Tony Stark to pack the iron man iron monger and Obadiah stain to pack the the rescue and in Captain Marvel the quicksilver and
00:21:27
Speaker
Yeah, all of those, the Surtur, Odin, all of those figures were absolutely fantastic, were absolute clutch needs in the collection, and I'm so happy to have them. But like I said, there was one special Marvel Legends figure that kicked that entire subline to the honorable mentions list.
00:21:54
Speaker
Yeah. So that's my final one is the infinity saga line. All right. So we are we are entering the top 10. Yes. So I think this is this is a good time to to hear from our friends at at Chubsy Wubsy.
00:22:11
Speaker
This segment is brought to you by our friends at Chubsy Wubsy Toys. A traditional mom and pop toy store in Little Falls, New Jersey, Chubsy Wubsy Toys brings you the best new toys from the brands you love without the hassle of pounding the pavement searching for them at larger retail stores.
00:22:27
Speaker
Visit them in person at 106 Main Street in Little Falls, New Jersey, or online at ChubsyWubsy.com.
Top 10 Toy Figures of the Year
00:22:34
Speaker
That's C-H-U-B-Z-Z-Y-W-U-B-Z-Z-Y.com. And tell them Adventures in Collecting sent you. All right, Dave, so do you want to start us off with your top 10, or would you like me to start off with your top 10? And of course, we're going to go from 10 working all the way up to our number one.
00:22:57
Speaker
favorite I'll keep going all right we'll stay in this order all right so all right take it away Dave so very very similar to how Daniel Bryan started off WrestleMania 31 after ending WrestleMania 30 the former number one on my list
00:23:21
Speaker
has started off the top 10. Get out of here. And I, of course, and this is this was like weird, but this was one of the things I was most looking forward to. And I got it and I still love it. But there was just so much other great stuff that came out. But it is the McFarland Kickstarter spawn spawn. Say that 10 times fast. The McFarland Kickstarter spawn. And of course, I have classic spawn, which
00:23:50
Speaker
reminded me most of the original figure. I still think it reminds me very much of the original figure. It's kind of what I wanted. I didn't need insanely articulated spawn. I just wanted cool looking spawn and I got it.
00:24:10
Speaker
Yeah, and that's really where it is. But there are so many things that are kind of better than it.
00:24:21
Speaker
that have come out this year where it was like you know at the halfway point i was like spawn going away is my toy of the year um and just so much unbelievable stuff has come in this last half it it was i mean this goes to show you too i mean we we kind of both waxed poetically about how much we loved that figure in the in the at the halfway point i i remember that um and he
00:24:50
Speaker
Man, he didn't even make my honorable mentions. That's how busy the last half of the year has been in terms of toys. But I will shout out, still, once again, the delivery of that whole thing. The transparency from Todd.
00:25:06
Speaker
and the problems that happened with Kickstarter, the actual execution on what was to be expected there, the level of packaging, the quality of the whole thing, the experience, yeah, definitely a memorable one and something I'm glad I have as well. So my number 10, this might be something that's on your list as well, I'm not sure.
00:25:33
Speaker
Again, you've seen my list. I haven't seen yours, but my number 10, uh, is a two pack. It is the only two pack on my list. Uh, it is the, I guess you'll say the wrestling figure representation on my list this year. Mine is the ringside exclusive jazzwares, Jurassic express two pack.
00:25:53
Speaker
featuring my daughter's favorite wrestler, Jungle Boy Jack Perry, and Luchasaurus. I got the variant of the two-pack where Luchasaurus was sitting on Jungle Boy's shoulders in the package. Chris Metzger over at Jazzwares, toy packaging legend.
00:26:18
Speaker
Absolutely crushed the design of this the packaging for it the kind of homage to Jurassic Park. It's just it's fantastic and then you open it up and the figures are just amazing the you know magic and.
00:26:36
Speaker
Uh, and, and Dan Friedman, uh, they absolutely crushed the tattoo work on, on Luchasaurus and the likenesses and the articulation. It's just all there. Uh, absolutely fantastic figures. Fantastic two pack soup to nuts. Uh, you know, a great delivery on that. Um, number nine. Um, one of the best, I think.
00:27:05
Speaker
Mattel WWE Elite figures in a long time. By far the best of the year. I think it is likeness wise is just unbelievable. And I think like the deco on this character is just beyond unbelievable. And it is Mattel WWE Elite 89, Damian Priest, the Archer of Infamy.
00:27:32
Speaker
What a figure just it was one of those ones where I saw it There were other ones that I loved that early in the year, but I was like, this is just by far one of the best elites That's come out in a long time absolute stunner. That's one that I had to have I I've I'm a I'm a huge mark for for Damien priest. I loved the whole angle of bad bunny and I
00:27:56
Speaker
I mean, hell, I'd love a Bad Bunny figure after that, after that whole thing. I'd be in for it. That'd be cool. You couldn't do the four pack now, but you can. Yeah. You can definitely get Damien Priest and Bad Bunny. Um, yeah, I, it was, uh, he's, he's so much fun to watch and they, they absolutely, absolutely, uh, nailed it with that figure. Great, great call on that one.
00:28:19
Speaker
Uh, my number nine, so moving into the nine slot is a figure that I just got like, uh, next to newest, uh, figure purchase. And my first purchase for this brand and this, this, this line, um, I finally pulled the trigger on a Mezco one 12 collective figure. Um, I got the, the advent calendar and, um, cousin Eddie.
00:28:45
Speaker
So Mezco, 112, Cousin Eddie, and all his blue skulls. Goodness, Rockin is his reindeer onesie. The Advent Calendar was super cool. There was a lot of really good value in there in terms of fun accessories. There was a really cool five-point stock nocturnal figure in there, a couple of their Mezzets. There was a spare head for Gomez. If you also got the holiday Gomez, which I did not,
00:29:15
Speaker
We have this this cousin Eddie figure and I've already I actually at the time that this will be recorded or at the time this will be shown this a picture of this will be out there but they've been showing you this now I got I went on on eBay and found this guy GPS slot.
00:29:32
Speaker
that makes custom clothes for mezco figures so in order to get some extra mileage out of him you know when he's not in the holiday season i got him a pair of like skinny uh you know uh washed out jeans like a nike sweatshirt um to go with with him so you know he can we continue having fun with him uh in the in the light box throughout the year uh but super super cool figure um
00:30:00
Speaker
What I will say is anybody who has not bought a Mezco 112 figure, if you're at all familiar or have ever had any experience with hot toys or sideshow collectibles, it's kind of like that but in the 112 scale.
00:30:18
Speaker
kind of luxurious feel to it. It's heavier than it looks like it would be the joints are really smooth the way the hands kind of and head and feet pop off and move. Like it's just a it is definitely a luxury item, which goes along with that price point. So
00:30:35
Speaker
if you are on the fence and they happen to produce a character that you know particularly speaks to you that you don't think any other brand is going to tackle or something that you know a character that you really really love it's i would say it's it's worth investing in a mezco version of that character so that was my number nine. Number eight.
00:30:57
Speaker
I don't think I could say much more about this than Eric has already said. Luchasaurus was high on my list early on, and then Jazzwares just hit another home run with a Ringside exclusive two-pack, which was like, okay, if I'm gonna have Luchasaurus represented in this list, which I absolutely am, because it was one of the best unrivaled figures of the year,
00:31:26
Speaker
Let's throw an awesome two-pack in there too. So this is where I have the Jazzwares AEW Unrival, the Jurassic Express Ringside Collectibles exclusive. Yeah.
00:31:40
Speaker
All right, so moving into my number eight, this is my vintage collection representation on the list this year. This takes us to Hasro's Pulse Con that happened in the last quarter of 2021, and it is the Pulse Con exclusive Emperor Palpatine set.
00:32:02
Speaker
Again, this is one that's on this list. This could have been so many different vintage collection figures. It has been an incredible year as a vintage collection collector. I'm talking some all-timer figures that I never thought we would see in the scale, and I could spend here all day
00:32:24
Speaker
I could spend all day here telling you about how awesome they all are but I have to say that the Emperor kind of encompasses it. It's one of the best likenesses that they've ever done. The packaging is out of this world because on the surface it is so indicative of that
00:32:42
Speaker
Kind of Kenner aesthetic It looks like packaging straight out of the 80s But it opens up and folds into this beautiful diorama of the Emperor's throne room including a plastic Back, you know circular window with a movable cardboard piece so you can have it just look like it's the open galaxy where you can have it look like it's the the end sequence from from Return of the Jedi and
00:33:07
Speaker
It's got this awesome built-in little opening drawer that holds his accessories. He's got the lightning hands, he's got the cane, he even comes with a powered down greeny lightsaber.
00:33:23
Speaker
Yeah, it is just, and then of course he comes with his throne as well so he can, you know, he can sit there. It was just so much fun to kind of open that and enjoy it and kind of recreate some of the moments, the iconic moments from Return of the Jedi. Yeah, amazing, amazing figure.
00:33:42
Speaker
So there were the, you know, my top 10 list has been, there's, there's a couple of pleasant surprises on there, but then there's, you know, one of those figures where when you see it, you're like, Oh, this rules and I need to get this. Um, and so I have a new spawn. I needed a new violator.
00:34:04
Speaker
So this is the McFarland spawn violator. What a large figure. What a. It's just large. It's, you know, you know, you're holding something substantial here. Just what a. You know, it's got like the the craggly kind of new violator look to him like, you know, you're used to the the kind of skinny just.
00:34:33
Speaker
scary-looking violator, but this is kind of like a, you know, end of the stage boss, like a final boss violator, which is pretty cool. It's so big, and it's one of those things where like, I remember when the promo art came out for it, and he was standing next to some of the other figures, and you're sitting there going like, okay, those are seven-inch figures, you know, that's a big figure.
00:35:02
Speaker
Right, that's big. But then you get it in the box. And for the price point too, like... Yeah. Yeah, and I actually got mine through one of those like target deals where it was like spend $100, get $20 off or something like that. So it even worked out even better for... I think you got it as part of the same deal. I might have, I don't remember. But...
00:35:28
Speaker
I guess I'll talk about him now as well, because he's only one notch off of where we currently are. Oh, so he's not your number seven? No, he's my number six. So I'll just, for the sake of fluidity, I'm going to swap my six and seven here. Yeah, so Violator. The other thing that I have to say about Violator is
00:35:56
Speaker
I loved the old MacFarlane figures, the statuesque figures, the ones that had minimal articulation, but the paint, the detail, the sculpt, and everything was fantastic on them. And that's something that has not been lost on modern MacFarlane figures. The sculpts are still beautiful on them. They have all these amazing detail. And that definitely comes first before the articulation.
00:36:22
Speaker
But this figure is so reminiscent of that old style of Macfarlane figure with, like you said, with all those nooks and crannies and sharp bits. I mean, like this figure will hurt your hand if you're not careful. But it also moves. Like it's the best of both worlds because he still had to put him in like, figure out a way to put him in that crouched position so that way he could get him in the box and the box was the right size. But ultimately, you know, it's a,
00:36:52
Speaker
It's a fantastic new addition to the collection. It's amazing. It is an absolutely amazing figure. All right, so my number six. Roundabout Comic Con time, especially lately. Mattel's just been hitting home runs. And this is another one.
00:37:16
Speaker
I, of course, am talking about the Mattel WWE Elite Ultimate Edition Sargent Slaughter. Everything from the packaging, you know, that initial box, and then when you open it, you've got the throwback to the old LJNs, down to the packaging, to, like, you know, in lieu of where there would be a poster, the accessories are.
00:37:43
Speaker
at the bottom you know the artwork of everybody on the uh... the motel team like just what what great what great stuff uh... and then the sergeant slaughter being reminiscent of the old mail away like just awesome very cool now is that one you're gonna you're gonna open and display at some point or is that one's gonna stay minty you think uh... well what's good is it has the uh...
00:38:13
Speaker
the packaging slides, so I could still hang on to the box. Gotcha. So it's not something where like, you know, like an elite or a regular ultimate where you're just, you know, the only, you're just destroying the box to open it. Yeah. We have to mangle the, mangle the card to get the figure out. Yeah.
00:38:41
Speaker
Alright, so moving into number six for me, this is going to be the NECA figure that is on my top ten list. He's my favorite version of this character, so I'm super excited to have him finally in toy form. Not the best Friday the 13th film.
00:39:01
Speaker
But NECA, New Blood Jason is definitely my favorite Jason Voorhees. You know, Jason versus effectively an X-Men in this movie. And they even figured out a way to include that iconic moment where his mask is telekinetically split in half.
00:39:26
Speaker
And it's such a cool little effect piece that they that they included The way that they did it was really smart the sculpt the detail on it. I mean cane hotter's beefiness really kind of comes across in this figure
00:39:40
Speaker
It's the perfect zombie Jason, honestly. Um, you know, in terms of just kind of like the aesthetic and design, uh, you know, I love that the, it's got the chain hanging around his neck. I saw, you know, a couple of really creative folks managed to take pictures where like they put the chain and like the big rock, um, you know, around his, around his neck and everything. It made it look like he was underwater. It was, it was really, really good. Um, but yeah, it is just, it is just a fantastic figure. Uh, and I know.
00:40:10
Speaker
My number one on my halfway point was, uh, was NECA's McCready. And I talked about how great like the likeness was and everything and how much I love the figure and like the little details and the accessories and everything that it came with. Um, that's how good this figure was, was that it, uh, it unseated, uh, that, that NECA representative from the list. So super happy to, to have new blood Jason.
00:40:38
Speaker
Well, Eric, we just talked about for number six an ultimate figure. But sometimes some of the best things come in smaller packages, specifically the three and three-quarters scale.
00:40:53
Speaker
And this is where I can highlight one of my favorite lines of the year, from everything to the figure selection, to the harkening back to an older line, to the artwork on the cards. I could pick one, I guess, if I had to, and it would probably be Silver Surfer, just based off of how cool that figure is. But I, of course, am talking, although that new Wolverine in the two-pack is awesome too.
00:41:22
Speaker
But of course I'm talking about the Hasbro Marvel Legends three and three-quarter line. I feel like it's unfair to kind of say like here's one of the best ones of those when they are all like the best ones of those. It's just an awesome line. I'm so happy that
00:41:43
Speaker
There was nothing better. There was nothing worse than going to the store and finding none of them on the shelf. But there was nothing better than going to the store and finding none of them on the shelf because it means that we're getting more of them next year. You know, we've already had the next wave announced and I continue to look forward to this because, you know, we can get all different eras of all different stuff. Especially now that we're getting like, you know, starting to get
00:42:12
Speaker
Venom into play and characters like that. Yeah, it's only a matter of time before we we get like Deadpool. Or like Carnage or Mm hmm. Danny catch Ghost Rider or. And and I know Steve has already said that they're they're planning not just 20 the rest of twenty twenty two, but they're already planning twenty twenty three. So this this line more this line is going to this line ain't going anywhere in the foreseeable future.
00:42:41
Speaker
Yeah, it is such a cool line to see on the pegs, too. Those John Tyler Christopher cards are gorgeous. Seeing the Kenner logo on Marvel figures, too. Just, I don't know. Something really cool about that.
00:43:03
Speaker
Alright, so moving into my number five. This figure is one of my favorite characters from my second favorite piece of anime work.
00:43:19
Speaker
incredible villain, a royal pain in the ass, and an absolutely iconic version of this character. My number five pick is the SH figure arts, Tamashi Nation's first form Frieza from Dragon Ball Z, Frieza in the pod. This figure is just
00:43:44
Speaker
It's just the coolest man. This is the only figure that lasted from my halfway list to this one. Another line that has had him.
00:43:56
Speaker
a really, really good year, especially for Dragon Ball collectors with their releases this year. But the first form Frieza, the pod itself is special in the fact that we've never actually seen the inside of the Frieza pod in either the manga or the anime. And they had a creator Akira Toriyama's input into what the inside of the pod would actually look like. And to me, that's just
00:44:26
Speaker
That's awesome. I love when toys kind of create parts of the canon. Just a super cool figure loaded with accessories, detail, everything. So SHF, first form, Frieza. So the last little bit of this list is all stuff that's come within the past couple months. And this one is going to be the latest entry.
00:44:57
Speaker
Didn't think I'd get this before the end of the year, but I did and therefore it counts. It is not the first time that a figure in this style has been made, but it is the first time that a figure in this style has been made of a woman wrestler, let alone a world champion.
00:45:26
Speaker
And I, of course, I'm talking about the Ringside Collectibles exclusive, Jazzwares, AEW Unrivaled, Dr. Britt Baker, DMD Blood and Guts figure. Um, it probably will go down as like, as I'm going to say easily the best match of the year. Um,
00:45:52
Speaker
by any company that I've watched, you know, Britt Baker, Dr. Britt Baker, DMD, and Thunder Rosa in the Lights Out match, just unreal. If you've not seen it, go back and do yourself a favor and watch that. And you get the little added value piece of the t-shirt that was created from that match.
00:46:17
Speaker
Um, but you know, I, I thought the Dr. Britt Baker figure from unmatched was, was a bit of an underrated figure to begin with, but then you kind of chronicle this into it and it's just, you know, it's just an awesome figure.
00:46:36
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's such a cool round three in in March with the Kenny and Kenny and Mox. Yeah. Yeah. And and, you know, she's just such an awesome performer in general. So it's great to see her get the kind of very well deserved attention and kind of treatment with this figure.
00:47:05
Speaker
And I'm really excited for the Thunder Rosa figure that's been announced, that's coming. So that way, you know, people can start recreating. You know, there's a lot of really talented toy photographers out there that are going to absolutely crush recreating moments from that match once that figure comes out. So really excited for that.
00:47:26
Speaker
All right so moving into my number four, this is also a figure that is brand new to me, is my second figure from this company, something that really came out of left field and I think kind of shocked a lot of people.
00:47:48
Speaker
is something that was very holiday appropriate. I'm talking about the Four Horsemen Studios, Figure Obscura, so it's not part of the Mythic Legion's line, but the Figure Obscura line, a new line, Krampus figure. This was another one that was just kind of like, I saw pictures of it and was like,
00:48:13
Speaker
really, really just wanted to have it. Um, was feeling some serious FOMO on it. I mean, I love, this is not the Krampus from the film. That's coming. Uh, NECA announced that next year, next holiday season, they'll be, they'll be producing the one from the film. Um, but it's kind of just like, I love Norse mythology and I, and like that kind of like darker side to, to fairy tales and
00:48:42
Speaker
He's just a big old horned goat man that comes with shackles to put on children. And it's just such a bizarre figure. I can't believe it's real and that it exists. And Four Horseman Studios does an incredible job with these figures, the detail. They're fellow New Jersey natives. So when this thing shipped, I got a notification. And literally 12 hours later, it was on my doorstep.
00:49:10
Speaker
Again, really, really great packaging. This was a limited release. So unfortunately, you're not going to be able to get this one, but they did announce that there will be a variant alternate edition of Krampus coming soon to some kind of like partner retailer. So just keep an eye on our feed, on their feed for information on that. But yeah, number four for me is Krampus.
00:49:38
Speaker
So I see your large monster and I raise you one. We'll see how it goes, but this is another enormous figure from McFarland Toys. It was one where I saw it and I'm like, oh, this is cool, but where's the regular one?
00:50:03
Speaker
And then the regular one got announced. And for a large green thing, the just amount of care and detail put into this. And, you know, there is an extra hand. I didn't need it because it is to me like kind of.
00:50:26
Speaker
almost the perfect look for Swamp Thing and of course giving it away. Um, McFarlane DC Multiverse Swamp Thing. Um, is it way larger than Swamp Thing needs to be? Sure. But it doesn't make me love it any less. Um, because it's just, you know, it's one of those things. It's, this is one of those ones where when I saw it, I was like,
00:50:53
Speaker
I don't know why I love this so much, but I absolutely do. And this is going to be a tough, tough thing to beat, you know, like one of the top toys of the year. Like I was like, this is easy, easily a top five, if not top three. It was almost number two, to be honest. Um, but there are two things that I just enjoyed a little bit more.
00:51:17
Speaker
Now see, I, for all the reasons you love the figure, that's my, my problem with it is I, I'm, I love that God awful, uh, Swamp Thing cartoon from like the nineties and, and the amazing figure line that went along with it. And to me, like Swamp Thing was always like man sized.
00:51:40
Speaker
He's made out of plants so he can definitely grow and there have been issues in the comic where he towers over things.
00:51:49
Speaker
Would just I would love for and I and you know, I know we're not getting into like the request end of things but like as awesome as that figure is is like Just shrink them down a little bit Give me give me like a seven to eight inch version of that figure instead of the mega fig and I'm I'm in like Absolutely in because it is a gorgeous figure. The sculpt is unreal and
00:52:19
Speaker
And yeah, I, I saw it in the store the other day and yeah, I thought it was incredible and ultimately had to pass though, just because of the sheer size of it. So yeah, it's, it's insanely large, but it's awesome. All right. So where are we? Number three, you're at number three. All right. So number three. Oh, so number three, I did a thing this year that I didn't think that I would ever do.
00:52:50
Speaker
And that was by Black Series figures, Star Wars Black Series figures. Um, something I said I would never do because, just because of the sheer amount of, um, green through quarter figures. But I ended up putting together just a very, very tight, small collection of Black Series figures. I'm in all likelihood probably done, um, with that, uh, just some real core characters.
00:53:18
Speaker
And part of the reason why this happened was Hasbro was kind enough to send out that Lucasfilm 50th anniversary box, and it had some black series figures in them, and I opened them to kind of just experience them, because honestly, I had never really held a loose black series figure. And I see the appeal for them, or appeal to them, and they're really fun to photograph.
00:53:42
Speaker
And as part of that ongoing Lucasfilm 50th anniversary celebration, they released a series of Clone Wars figures in the old school Clone Wars packaging from the three and three quarter inch figures.
00:53:58
Speaker
And they produced in that little sub-line one of the most gorgeous sculpts I've ever seen on a sub $30 figure. And that's Clone Wars General Obi-Wan Kenobi.
00:54:15
Speaker
So he's got the really cool kind of clone armor mixed with his Jedi robes, that really iconic look from the series. But because Black Series figures don't do cartoon style in Black Series, everything is true to life. It's Ewan McGregor.
00:54:37
Speaker
And it's that kind of post, I guess you could say, post Attack of the Clones pre-Revenge of the Sith look for him, which is really more in lines with the Revenge of the Sith look, to be honest, the kind of short hair and full beard.
00:54:56
Speaker
It looks so much like Ewan McGregor that it's actually borderline disturbing, alarming. It's just such a beautiful sculpt. The deco on it is amazing. There's a nice little mix of some soft goods, the paint, everything. It is amazing. And it jumped all the way up. At one point, it was my number one figure for the back half of the year. And it got bumped out by
00:55:23
Speaker
by two things ahead of it that absolutely blew my doors off, but it is, if you can hunt down this figure, it is totally, totally worth it. It is just, it's an amazing, it's definitely the best Obi-Wan Kenobi figure that Hasbro has done in the scale period and end of story, so.
00:55:46
Speaker
All right, so this is one that's going to be for number two. This is gonna be in a lot of wrestling collectors, number one list, I think. You know, everything you've heard about this figure is accurate. You know, people have called it, you know, just absolutely like a stunning figure and it looks amazing.
00:56:17
Speaker
It's ever been possible to shrink a wrestler down to the scale of an action figure and have it be like, oh, I thought that was the person who it is. It's just an unbelievably good-looking figure.
00:56:44
Speaker
Just unreal and the first thing I'm sure of many to come. I am, of course, talking about jazzwares, AEW, Unmatched, Series 2. It's Steve. What a figure. I'm sorry, is Tony Schiavone on the line?
00:57:10
Speaker
What a figure. I mean, it just looks like somebody shrunk down Sting and copied him. Yeah, it's been a long time since you've had a Sting figure. Well, there was supposed to be that Legends. Yeah. That got canceled at the last minute. Before then, though, I feel like it had been quite a bit since there had been the Sting figure. The last one was, I think, like that surfer Sting. Yeah.
00:57:41
Speaker
But this is Modern day sting like it is current sting and What a fantastic figure yeah, Matt magic really outdid himself Especially on the likeness, it's yeah, it's one of the best figure likenesses that there that there is oh And that brings me to my number two, right
00:58:09
Speaker
All right, so my number two, this is my newest figure. This is my newest figure to the collection. A figure that I was anticipating. There was a lot of hype behind it. Admittedly, this was not one of the GI Joe figures that I played with heavily as a kid. I'm not even sure if I had one or if you even had one.
00:58:37
Speaker
Um, but the classified version of this character, I'm very familiar with the character because the cartoon is awesome, but, um, the, uh, and then the comics, but, um, the GI Joe classified Cobra bat. Uh, this robot henchman is just.
00:59:00
Speaker
It's just so cool. It delivers on everything that kind of the GI Joe classified team promises. It's got amazing articulation. The deco on it is ridiculous. The accessories it comes with add so much value to the figure.
00:59:23
Speaker
Like it's got the removable chest plate. It's got a clean chest plate. It's got a battle damaged chest plate. It's got a battle damaged head. It's it's got the coolest backpack in the classified series so far. So it pegs into the back and holds all the extra hands hand attachments like the claw, the the flamethrower, the drill.
00:59:47
Speaker
it's just across the board is such a good figure and I know it's an it's an army builder and I cannot wait to see people make armies of these bats because it's going to be epic it's going to be absolutely epic and with all of the little like
01:00:04
Speaker
Kind of things that you can do to make each one look just a kind of hair different you have a different configuration. It's gonna look really cool seeing them all together and it is hitting if you are listening to this podcast it is already hitting some stores and targets and walmart's.
01:00:24
Speaker
in the last week of 2021. And I have to shout out Hasbro one more time for sending us the amazing GI Joe box they sent us and including the bat as one of the figures in there. Absolutely cool moment to see that thing show up and to have that figure in there. So my number two pick is the GI Joe classified Cobra bat.
01:00:51
Speaker
And now a word from our sponsors. And now back to the show. So my number one is, um, it's, I, I, I'm honestly surprised this is number one. Um, and it,
01:01:14
Speaker
is something where as soon as I opened it, I kinda fell in love with it. Kinda similar to something else that this company made last year. Number one, two years running. I don't know, Eric, if you remember who I had number one last year. I knew who your number one was. I didn't see your list, but I knew who your number one was the moment you got this figure.
01:01:37
Speaker
Yeah. And, you know, it was something I couldn't. We had we had an interview recently, an episode of our show where I couldn't really stop gushing about this figure. And it is Super 7 Ultimate Papa Emeritus one. I am it is no secret. I am a huge fan of the band Ghost. So to get a
01:02:06
Speaker
kind of fully articulated papa emeritus is awesome. You know, you can only hope that there's gonna be the other three papa, well, actually there's like multiple papas, there's more than three, but, you know, papa nil and all of the band and it's just like, you know, got the wheels turning to what I would love
01:02:35
Speaker
for the ghost ultimate line to be. But. Papa emeritus one, let's start. Let's start from the beginning. I love it. It's an awesome figure. You got the ultimate the alternate robes, the alternate heads. Just so good. All right. And that that brings us to my ultimate headgear, I should say. But yeah, you got there is so much extra stuff like so good.
01:03:04
Speaker
Now, when you get around to displaying this figure, are you going to display him in black or white? Probably black. Because I feel like you get the opportunity for white later on. That's true. That version of pop, I feel like the more... It makes more sense to leave him in the black. The more known is the white robe. Or the black robe, I should say. Yeah.
01:03:31
Speaker
The White Robe comes more later with the other versions. All right. So this brings us to mine. I don't think it would surprise anybody that Marvel Legends takes my number one spot. They get all my money. But I think what would surprise folks is that, like I said, my number one is not an MCU figure.
01:04:00
Speaker
And it's not even a comic figure, it's a game reverse figure. So my number one figure this year, which was also one of my favorite games of the year, if we were to have done video games, is Miles Morales, game reverse Miles Morales. Wow, what a figure. It is just, it's so good, man.
01:04:29
Speaker
The articulation on it, the way that this figure moves, the deco, it's gorgeous. It looks like the character from the game crawled, pun intended, crawled out of the packaging and is now in your hands.
01:04:44
Speaker
Speaking of which, Hands, he comes with so many good, like every Spider-Man should come with three sets of hands. Should come with fists, should come with thwip hands, and should come with wall crawling hands. Miles comes with four sets of hands because you get those three, and then you also get his venom stinger hands, which are these really cool new sculpted hands that have like the kind of lightning effect
01:05:11
Speaker
trailing off the back of them. They're cast in this really cool, transparent, yellow plastic that really kind of brings them to life. He does have an unmasked head as well. But it's just an absolutely incredible figure. It is the best Miles Morales figure that you can get from Marvel Legends. And I think it kind of serves
01:05:43
Speaker
It can definitely fill in as a comic book version of Miles as well. Obviously we have not seen him. Neither of us have seen No Way Home Yet. So barring him randomly showing up in that film and us not knowing about it.
01:06:00
Speaker
He has not been in the MCU yet so that's left to be seen but yeah my number one figure and this was like this I will say there was a little bit of back and forth with me on this one because my other Marvel Legends figure that was like
01:06:19
Speaker
My number one figure for a while was the modular Iron Man, the 90s modular Iron Man. And this unseated that. So yeah, Marvel Legends, Game Reverse, Miles. I thought you were going to say the hood. No, no, no. That's just the figure of the year. That's his own category. Shout out to the Sunny Channel, who
01:06:48
Speaker
painstakingly produced a keepin' it hood 12 month calendar. Featuring amazing picture.
Community Favorites and Reflection
01:06:57
Speaker
I mean, amazing toy photography of the hood. You can hit up the sunny channel if you want a keepin' it hood calendar in your life because... I almost bought that figure based off of all the memes. Just because, like, it's... Why is he yelling? Like, what's he yelling at? It's the best. I mean, it really is like...
01:07:18
Speaker
Well, like no joke, it is the best joke of an action figure ever produced because everybody is in on it. Like everybody is in on the joke. They knew exactly what they were doing when they like kudos to Ryan, Dan, and why they knew exactly what they were doing with that figure.
01:07:41
Speaker
you know, putting him in that villain's wave, you know, surrounded by literally like some of the most classic villains in recent Marvel history. Um, you know, and then the hood and it's literally rolls though. It's just an angry man in jeans and a shirt. Like I love it. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so that's our list Dave. Um, but we feel like,
01:08:07
Speaker
We would be remiss if we didn't mention, um, some of the favorites from our followers. So we put out a story, um, that mentioned, you know, what, what, you know, what were some of your favorite figures of the year. And some of those figures have, you know, made our list. So, uh, you know, we, we did see some, um, uh, you know, the, the clone wars, Obi-Wan from, from at mile high ground. Um,
01:08:37
Speaker
We did see, I thought I saw... Oh no, that was Fallen Silver Surfer. Oh, Cactus Jack, that was the other one. Yeah, at A Geek of Nature, had like Cactus and he also liked Papa One. But I figured, let's take a minute here to shout out some of the ones that didn't make our list. So, at Toyfars, Friend of the Pod,
01:09:06
Speaker
I wanted to call out Plunderlings. I also partook in Plunderlings this year and last year. Fantastic figures. At Toybox underscore battles, the Transformers Kingdom Rodimus Prime. That was another really cool figure. Let's see, scrolling through here.
01:09:34
Speaker
Panthero504, Snake Eyes with Timber. The Snake Eyes Commando with Timber. Had it not been for the GI Joe classified bat, the Snake Eyes with Timber would have been the other two-pack on my list. From Friend of the Pod at CraigStuff, Figma Neofumi Iwatani from Shield Hero.
01:09:54
Speaker
Guys, if you're not following at Craig's stuff on Instagram, give him a follow because he oftentimes, like there's a lot of us toy reviewers out there and toy bloggers that take a look at a lot of the same stuff. Craig is often looking at these super intricate cloth goods import figures that you may not know exist. And he gives a really, really good look at them. So definitely check out Craig's stuff.
01:10:24
Speaker
Let's see. I'm going to call it. Oh, go ahead. At Captain at Captain Calatron said Frogman. Oh, yeah. No, from from the from the Stiltman. Build a figure wave. Yeah. Yeah. Frogman is another one that was that made himself made his way into a lot of a lot of meme meme photography. All right. I'm going to give one more shout out here to at Scooby One Kenobi, who included Naka Chrome Dome.
01:10:53
Speaker
the Black Series Cantina Showdown from PulseCon, Gunslinger Spawn, and the aforementioned NECA McCready from The Thing. So great list of figures there, all of which were definitely awesome, but certainly belong on a best of list. We had a second Frogman on here, too, at XLA Figs, had Fallen Silver Surfer,
01:11:22
Speaker
She-Hulk, Ultron, and Frogman. That fallen silver surfer was pretty cool too. Yeah, that dark metallic one part of the cosmic Walgreens exclusives. Oh man. So that's it. That puts 2021 in the books, Dave. Yeah, we did it. Somehow. Here we are. One day at a time, surviving.
01:11:47
Speaker
Um, closing remarks on 2021 before we, uh, we, uh, we officially closed the book and move on to 2022. Um, nah. That's why I love you, Dave. You're a man of many words. Um, 2022. Hey, let's have a step up. Let's, let's hope it isn't 2022.
01:12:17
Speaker
And it's its own. I feel like 2021 was 2022. The one thing I will say is we recently surpassed 7,000 followers on Instagram, which is just it just blows my mind. Yeah. And, you know, I just want to take an opportunity to thank everybody who listens and also follows us there or just listens here or is just finding us for the first time.
01:12:47
Speaker
Um, it's, it's a blast sharing this, uh, this hobby with everybody. Um, and you know, it's not to say that we wouldn't be doing it without you guys, but it's, it certainly makes it, uh, adds a whole other level of, of fun to it for us. And, uh, and we have some really cool things planned for 2022. So yes, we do. Um, stay tuned and, uh, and, uh,
01:13:13
Speaker
Yeah, here's to many more years of top 10 lists and interviews and all that good stuff. Happy New Year, everyone. Thank you, dear listener, for hanging out with us today. Subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you listen, and then tell your friends to do it. Thanks also to Joe Azari, the golden voice behind our intro. Our music is Game Boy Horror by the Zombie Dandies. Find more about them both on our show notes.
01:13:41
Speaker
Follow us on social media at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram and Twitter. Stop by and say hi. Show us your toy hauls and share your toy stories. Maybe we'll talk about it in a future episode.
01:14:05
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation. Executive producer, Franca Blaui. This program and many others like it on the non-productive network is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives license. Please share it, but ask before trying to change it or sell it. For more information, visit non-productive.com.
01:14:35
Speaker
you