So its almost new year and we all are ready say bye to this year… I had a decent year, travel to Dubai and experienced some cool toy stores (like Hamleys, Toys R Us, The Little Things and more) that are impressive at the least. Had a baby who is taking most of my time and her toy collection is growing at a pace that puts my 5+ years collection to shame, thanks to all uncles, aunts and nieces flying back from US/Australia. Overall a cool year generally but not a fantastic year as a action figure collector! Yeah Covid is playing its part and Govt is trying its best to counteract its effect… so hobby stuff has taken a toll and practically we dint get any toy via normal import route, which otherwise would have filled our toys stores with action figures.
I miss that nostalgia of shopping in physical store, wish it comes back in 2023! So let me start with what I missed and my wishlist for 2023… shall we? Me being a movie figure collector for the most parts, dint miss that much this year! I visited Dubai so I came across this SH Figuarts Iron Man figure that can work as both suited figure or tank top version… This is the only one I wanted but I somehow missed picking him and is the only one I missed, which took its first place my Wishlist.
I actually picked some 14 action figures range from Marvel Legends, McFarlane to Marvel Select… For this post I list my “Top 10” for this Year 2022. First at the tenth place is a Old Man Logan (Marvel Legends) by Hasbro. I got this from a Facebook seller, the reason I picked this is to go with my 1:12 bike as this figure looks like a biker and he delivers his promise to the point.
At ninth place, I got a figure that I wanted in large numbers but managed to get only one! I guess most other collectors feel the same and bagged as many as possible leaving the market wanting for more. This guy came in from Sydney, which my sister picked from Target around Christmas last year but reached me only mid this year. This is crazy cool figure with lots of posing potential… so a worthy contender.
I put a single pic for my eighth, seventh and sixth as they all are in a tie and I love them all equally! They are all from movie “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” and the best if you are on a budget and can’t sacrifice much on details… Moreover they all scale well and love to put Miles Morales, Gwen Stacy, Peter B. Parker together.. I am yet to complete this set and I am working on it, maybe next year.
One of the Avengers movie I like in the recent days in “Avengers: Infinity War” (should have loved End-Game, if my favourite Tony wasn’t killed) and I am building a full character crew and this “Teen Groot” was a key character and quite rare when the movie was released. So I waited and waited till the newer Thor movie and my wait paid off! But this never made it to Indian store, so I tried other stores abroad but with no luck. Then my sister surprised me with this on my birthday and I started jumping like a small kid. Though the articulation is not that great but its a sleek one for sure, worthy of its fifth place.
My second favourite MCU movie is “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and I like the relation between Wanda and her twin brother Quick Silver, since then I was interested picking up this guy as well as he is capable of some crazy cool photos and and great pose! Though this Quick Silver is part of special release the pieces that came with it qualifies it to be here at fourth place. Yet again this dint came to India so I have to use my sister’s trip to get him home.
Now for the top-3… At third place is a wild card from a Batman movie that I hardly like but picked two bikes and two figures from the movie as I kind of liked the set pieces that movie rocked. Though I have both the figures that McFarlane made in 2022, I personally liked the Bruce Wayne figure along with drifter bike both imported from Australia. This figure is quite a looker and pegs very well with the bike. A worthy third place contender in my opinion.
Taking the second best spot is none other than Iron Monger from Iron Man two pack. This was a very nice piece though a villain character this definitely is worthy if you are into Iron Man collectibles… How could a hero become super hero without a super villain to fight with. This Iron Monger figure is quite a flexible figure and poses well in fighting and static poses… one more reason this guy get the second place.
A gold medal is awarded to best of the best and in this year top-10 the first place goes to Wonder Woman Golden Armour by McFarlane Toys. This is figure I wanted since the movie hit the theatres and trying my best to pick one locally before I taking the import route! Finally a FB seller sold one to me at a reasonable price, which made me a gold winner. This figure was in my Wishlist since McFarlane announced and was super lucky to get one. In hands, this feels far better personally. Overall the best figure gets the top spot and comes at a surprise that McFarlane got two top places this year. Have a safe and Happy New Year, hope next year gets safer and better for us collector and everybody who we love.
