I bought a lot of action figures last year. I don’t even want to count. I’m now actively, selectively collecting 8 different toy lines (DC Multiverse, DC Super Powers, G.I. Joe Classified, Marvel Legends, MOTU Masterverse, MOTU Origins, Star Wars Black Series, Star Wars Vintage Collection) while dabbling in many others, from Diamond Selects to Hot Toys, Super7 to Mattel WWE.
As I was reviewing my purchases from last year to make my list, I started to question what I was collecting, and why. I bought more Star Wars Black Series figures than any other, and yet no Black Series figure made my faves list. What did make my list were the figures that either aesthetically made me the happiest, or just fidgeting with them delighted me.
I think my resolution for 2023 is to get away from buying figures that just round out a collection and buy figures that I actually am excited to buy. We’ll see how it goes.
Top 9
It’s a weird selection, and yeah, you may notice one missing, but it’ll all be explained.
9 - Mattel Masters of the Universe Origins - Mantenna
Of all my various collections, the one that frustrates me the most is my MOTU Origins assembly. Origins started out as a bit of a shit show, with the first wave being a Wal-Mart exclusive Stateside. I preordered it from an online retailer, but it never arrived. Wave 2 was then released primarily in Europe becoming very challenging to buy on the after-market. And then wave 3 turned up at retail and clogged shelves, keeping wave 4 out of circulation. By the time wave 3 cleared out, wave 5 hit, but it kept wave 6 from being more widely available. It was a mess. I was never going to catch up.
I quickly dispensed with the notion of collecting it all. When I got She-Ra and Roboto from wave 3, I thought they were good. I quite loved the idea of the MOTU 5” body but with articulation… I DREAMED of articulation in He-Man figures when I was a kid, so these were like a childhood dream come true. I also really liked the idea of being able to pull the figures apart and “remix” them into original creations, as I did that with my old MOTU figures anyway (I remember stapling Whiplash’s tail onto Extendar’s back). But as I started picking and choosing I found I wasn’t and enthused with them as I wanted to be.
What I do with my action figures now is display them. WIth MOTU Origins, I want to play with them, like I did when I was a kid. But, my kids are teens+ and don’t play really anymore, and I don’t have the space to display Origins like I would want to, with Castle Grayskull, Snake Mountain, and all the vehicles and playsets. But I realize most of that is my past. So despite having a dozen or more MOTU Origins (and having bought a new figure just last week, with still another couple on order) I think MOTU Origins is the first line I’m giving up on in ‘23.
As for Mantenna, well, this dork now has FOUR ACTUAL LEGS, and an articulated head, all things I wanted for this figure when I was a kid. If I got rid of everything from my Origins collection, I would still keep this guy.
8 - SH Figuarts The Batman
I’ve been reluctant to get into the imports - Figuarts, Mafex, Figma, etc - mainly due to cost. The average import is $125 Canadian or more, which is double to quadruple of the usual domestic fare. But the domestic fare on The Batman left me feeling less than inspired. I started ogling the imports and, though tempted, they were too rich for my blood. That’s what Christmas is for. And I indeed received the SH Figuarts The Batman as a Christmas present from my darling, enabling wife.
I had a blast messing around with this The Batman, even though he’s far from perfect. To me his legs are too short, his feet are too small and those knees…they’re weird. The figure comes with 6 sets of hands, an unmasked Robat Battenbat head, a switchable chest plate so it looks like he removed his batarang, and a few other doohickeys. The cape is wired (but a little frayed at the seams you may notice in the pics), and I’m still learning how to deal with wired things.
The figure poses pretty great, but not perfectly (the ankles are quite limited in range, and the hands can’t reach his face), but he moves so smoothly with those SHF joints.
7 - Masters of the Universe: Masterverse - Sun-Man
When I said there were some odd choices, this is definitely one of them. Sun-Man made a bit of a splash when the Rulers of the Sun characters were licensed by Mattel for the modern MOTU lines. I had never heard of Sun-Man up until this announcement was made, but I quickly learned the inspiring history of the line of BIPOC characters in the He-Man form factor. Looking over the classic Rulers of the Sun figures, they all a bit plainer that the typical MOTU fig, but the intent, I believe, was to highlight the ethnicity of the characters, and positive representation, where otherwise there wasn’t any.
The classic Sun-Man look is, a little weird, specifically the sun wings over Sun-Man’s shoulders that doesn’t really look right on either the vintage or the Origins figures.
For the Masterverse line, they reinvented Sun-Man’s look with a bit more of an African warrior vibe, adding green and black to the colour scheme, and a very cool…erm…half-kilt thing (not sure what they’re actually called). They gave Sun-Man a hi-top fade and updated his chest emblem, turning his yellows on his uniform into gold armored pieces. It all combines beautifully, he’s a great looking character. But what gets him on the list is those wings.
When I first saw the Masterverse Sun-Man I didn’t like the look of his wings, and I wasn’t going to get the figure as a result. But during a lull in toy spending, I decided to give him a go, and I was astonished at how, for lack of a better term, expressive the wings are. It seems like it’s an awkward joint that the wings have, but the dynamic-ness that they have (compared to, say, more static McFarlane DC Multiverse wings, or cumbersome Marvel Legends wings) is everything. I really, really enjoy playing around with Sun-Man, I just need a good stand (Masterverse figures are too beefy for McFarlane stands).
6 - Star Wars: The Vintage Collection - Deluxe Boba Fett (Tattoine)
The Vintage Collection figures released last year weren’t very plentiful, but they did include the Darth Vader to end all Darth Vaders (from the Obi-Wan Kenobi line). That might actually be the best Vintage Collection figure of the year, but Deluxe Boba Fett is my favourite.
Now, I agree with anyone who says that the “Deluxe” part of this “Deluxe Boba Fett” set (especially when it clocked in at nearly $40 Canadian) was a bit of BS. Boba came with two guns, jetpack, blast effects and two busted Stormtrooper helmets (that can be swapped out on Stormtrooper figures [not included]) so the value isn’t exactly there. Yet, this is my Boba Fett.
Yeah, I’m not generally a “Boba Fett guy”, I’m not really invested in him at all as an icon, and there’s dozens of other Star Wars characters I’d get into before hitting Boba, but this costume design, those colours, they just make my eyes bulge and my pupils dilate.
5 - McFarlane Super Powers The Supermobile
Of all my childhood favourites, including MOTU and Star Wars, Super Powers is the only toy line that I returned to as an adult and acquired the whole damn collection. Frankly, no other toy lines from the 80’s have held up to modern standards. Sure Star Wars and G.I. Joe had unparalleled vehicles and playsets, but the vintage figures have been greatly improved upon.
Kenner Super Powers remain straight-outta-the-comics perfect. The vibrancy of the figures, the classic designs, the perfect sculps and, oh those amazing action features, they just can’t be done today because they would need to be done on the same scale as they were done in the ‘80’s and the market just doesn’t exist like that anymore.
The vintage Super Powers vehicles were mostly concoctions of the toy makers, not from the comics, and yet they felt fitting to the line, each with their own action features, and vibrant, simple colour aesthetics. The Batmobile and Batcopter, Lex-Soar-7, Boulder Bomber, Justice Jogger, Darkseid Destroyer and a Supermobile. Of these, only the Bat-vehicles feel pulled from the page. There was a Supermobile made for the die-cast toy car company Corgi, which was then forced into a panel or two in the comics, but what was made for Kenner’s Super Powers was not the same silly rocket ship with it’s punching fists.
McFarlane toys has resurrected the Super Powers line and while the figures don’t have the same classic look to them (they look more like the Toy Biz DC Superheroes, which took the same form factor but just weren’t the same) and they definitely don’t have the action features, but McFarlane delivered a Supermobile that feels like it’s straight out of the original line (complete with “jail” compartments that won’t fit any Super Powers character (other Super Powers vehicles similarly had some features that didn’t quite work as expected). Press the big “S” shield up front to pop open the canopy. And those punching fists are so fun to play with, with a dial underneath that moves them back and forth. Pure nostalgia, but for something that never existed.
4 - Marvel Legends Black Panther (Attuma BAF wave)
I have a number of different Marvel Legends Black Panthers, and they’re all pretty good. Most of them, however, are from the MCU not the comics. I used to have the first Legends Black Panther, but I sold him a long while back (for the longest time he was one of the few Toy Biz Legends that hadn’t aged poorly), and I haven’t been very keen on any of the (shockingly few) comic versions of Panther that Hasbro has done so far. But, this new Panther is worth the wait.
I don’t know all the different bucks used for Legends, but this is definitely a newish one and it’s pretty amazing. He still can get into a full hand on the ground crouch/crawl, but the agility is still pretty fabulous. The plastic half-cape looks great and never gets in the way, and the grey gloves/boots with sculpted ridges are fabulous. Plus open claws and alternate fists. He’s just so much fun to mess with. And, yeah, I know my photo skills aren’t to hot, so I can’t capture Panther’s eyes here correctly, but they’re steely and kind of shine in the shadows. Really cool effect when you catch them right.
3 - McFarlane DC Multiverse - Superman (DC Future State)
I was pretty bummed when McFarlane got the DC license and decided to do them in 7” scale (I did see the terrible movie in the 90’s though). I had just started my 6” DC collection when Mattel lost the license (and they were just ramping up with some impressive changes to the figures…finally ankle rockers!) Plus the first year of the line seemed to be all Bats all the time (with a sprinkle of Supers and Wonders).
Thankfully McFarlane has diversified the line a lot in the past two years…still a lot of Bats, but sheer volume of output means room for more (Blue Beetle! Booster Gold! Static!), yet, the figure size still bothers me and the McFarlane diaper (the rubber overlay over the lower torso) sometimes absolutely ruins the aesthetic of the character for me.
But (almost) everything’s working for me with this figure. I hadn’t read the Future State story at the time this figure was released, but when I saw the figure I immediately needed to have it. It was only once I had it in hand that I realized why: it’s Superman in a barbarian He-Man get-up, complete with shield and axe. Unfortunately my Superman here has a bit of a black stain on his tooth (which really pops out in photographs) but other than that, I reaaaaally dig this aesthetic. And while McFarlane has improved their wrist and ankle joints to not be so rounded, here Superman has wrist and ankle bracers that help disguise the joints.
2 - Neca Original Superheroes - The Phantom
I have no attachment to the character, like, at all. I don’t think I’ve ever read a Phantom comic or pulp story. But, was it in 2021 that Dan Larson (Toy Galaxy) had Neca’s Defenders of the Earth Phantom in his top ten list at some point during the year? Whenever it was I saw the figure in his video and just knew I had to have one. I pre-ordered one, and a year later my pre-order was cancelled. I had seen the Defenders of the Earth wave reissued, but I kept missing out on The Phantom. But a while after pre-ordering the DotE Phantom, a new Phantom, as part of the Original Superheroes line, was promoed. Sporting a darker suit, and those blue and black striped overundies, I really wanted this one more than the DotE. But surely I didn’t need two Phantoms. By the time my DotE Phantom preorder was cancelled, the Original Superheroes Phantom preorders were already sold out. Sigh.
Strangey, last summer I started seeing the first DotE wave popping up all over the place…well, I would see Flash Gordon and Ming from the wave, but the Phantom would be gone. I was so frustrated, thinking I was never going to find him…until I did, and I almost couldn’t believe my eyes. I was so happy to have him, but I was even happier when I took him out of the package.
It’s a beautiful, powerful body sculpt. The articulation is good but the joints are great. The colours are just wow-inducing, and the face sculpt and paint apps look so good. He comes with his two pistols with add-on firing effects, a whip with a bendy wire (again, not great at working with bendy wires yet), and many hands (each with a sculpted skull ring on them). We got the Witcher “Roach” horse earlier this year just to have a horse, and he’s since become the Phantom’s horse. He looks good without it but he looks better with it. I know I’ve seen the Phantom riding a horse…somewhere.
Number 1 - G.I. Joe Classified Series - Tiger Force Outback
I could make a top nine list of *just* G.I. Joe Classified figures from 2022. B.A.T.T., Spirit, Zarana, Serpentor, Stalker, Croc Master + Fiona, Retro Gung-Ho…I could keep going, just a great assortment of incredibly well designed, well sculped, well printed, well accessorized figures. The fact that with most figures everything has a “home” to live on the character’s body or backpack is just fabulous. It’s the best toy line of 2022, hands down.
But Tiger Force Outback tops my favourites list because he’s just so striking. It’s not just the grey hair and beard, or the vibrant orange tiger t-shirt, it’s the weathered face that you can just see the age and experience in. Old Man Outback, though, is still out there, achin’ knees be damned, and he’s fit. Call this going grey life goals. Not just my favourite figure of the year but an all-timer for me.
