Figures.com TOP 10 Toys of 2016

Every year the staff at Figures.com reflects back on all the cool toys that came out and joined our collections. Presenting our annual TOP 10, a personal look at our favorite collectibles of 2016.

Join us as we celebrate another incredible year in action figure collecting…

Happy Holidays!!

– Jeff Saylor and the Figures.com/Action On-Line Team

JEFF SAYLOR

(List in no particular order.)

1) Hasbro 6″ Star Wars Black Series: With a new Star Wars film in Rogue One, Hasbro found new action figure material to excite me with. While figures like K-2SO and the Death Trooper joined my collection, my favorite of the bunch are the Shoretroopers with their fantastic new stormtrooper armor design.

2) ThreeZero 1:6 Titanfall Pilot: When the first-person shooter Titanfall released back in 2014, collectibles were few and far between. Those that did exist were higher-end, including Threezero and their 18″ Titans (we’re talking $400). While I love the mechs in the game, the futuristic Pilots actually excited me more. While still high-end at around $200, I just had to splurge on Threezero’s insanely cool 1:6 Titanfall Pilot. It’s a decision I don’t regret.

3) McFarlane Toys Color Tops Titanfall 2 Pilot Jack Cooper: The release of Titanfall 2 this Fall made up for the collectible drought of the first game. Surprisingly, McFarlane Toys lead the charge with a very affordable action figure (SRP $19.99) of the title’s main hero, Jack Cooper. As the character is a Titan Pilot, I couldn’t have been more excited. While not the most articulated collectible (Color Tops are essentially plastic statues), the detail and dynamic pose for this figure was all I needed for awesome display.

4) NECA Cinemachines: This 6-inch, die-cast metal vehicle series is everything I want in a scaled replica and more. The right size, right price, right detail and right licenses. Kicking off strong with the movies ALIEN, ALIENS and Predator, the Cinemachines’ Colonial Marine’s Dropship, Narcissus, and Derelict Ship are all dreams come true for this sci-fi ship lover. With a wave of Terminator vehicles on the horizon, my excitement for this line is off the charts.

5) ToyQube Alex Pardee’s “The Astronaut” Statue: We buy what we like, and to this collector, this statue screamed “Buy Me”. It speaks to me on so many levels, from it’s insane design to it’s brilliant color scheme. To me Alex Pardee’s “The Astronaut” is not simply a statue, it is art.

6) Gaming Heads Fallout Vault Boy Bobbleheads Series 3: This series didn’t make my list last year… only because it didn’t arrived in time for my 2015 Top 10 list! After three long years of collecting this series, my collection of 20 Fallout bobbleheads is FINALLY complete! Silly looking to an outsider, these Vault Boy bobbleheads are nothing but pure collectible bliss to a gamer that played Fallout 3 for months on end.

7) CreatuReplicas 8″ Cryptid Action Figures: Many consider the late ’90s/ early 2000’s the “Golden Years” of action figure collecting. Jean St. Jean helped pioneer that scene, working for many toy company greats like McFarlane, DST and Mezco. His personal project entitled CreatuReplicas builds on that toy creed and carries it into the new millennium. Remember huge, chunky figures from McFarlane and SOTA Toys, figures that often came with an equally large environmental display base? That’s CreatuReplicas in a nut shell, but with modern sculpting techniques and advanced articulation. They just don’t make action figures like this anymore, especially non-licensed ones, and for this I applaud them.

8) Four Horsemen’s Mythic Legions Series 1:  Like Jean St. Jean, The Four Horsemen go way back to when action figures were made right. They continued that trend with Mattel’s MOTU, but it was their latest personal fantasy figure project – Mythic Legions – that totally captured my attention. Again, having no license means total creative freedom, and this series encapsulates that spirit and then some. With weapons and parts that are totally interchangeable with other figures in the line, the fun with Mythic Legions goes well beyond badass fantasy figure designs.

9) Triforce Revenant Statue (DOOM Game Bundle): As a gamer that grew up playing id Software’s revolutionary 1993 first-person shooter DOOM, I was pretty darn stoked to experience the new 2016 version. Not only did the new game live up to the original DOOM’s legacy, but the exclusive bundle packing a 1:6th scale PVC statue of the Revenant demon boosted my love of the game like no other game bundle released this year. Simply awesome looking.

10) VTS Toys 1:6 Wasteland Warrior (aka: Mad Max Fury Road): George Miller’s 1981’s The Road Warrior is one of my all-time favorite movies, it’s brutal depiction of a post-apocalyptic world the influence for countless properties to come. 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road topped that film with what I consider one of the most artistic, action-packed achievements put on screen. Yeah, I liked it that much. Needless to say, this non-licensed figure of Tom Hardy as Max Rockatansky was a must-have and now holds a place of honor in my collection.

DAVID YEH

(List in no particular order.)

CJ STUNKARD

This year was a banner year for my collecting hobby. My wife and I had been reduced to one income with a little one on the way (who was born into the free air in May), and we needed to make some extra change. I didn’t have the capacity to take a part time evening job where I would become beholden to erratic scheduling, so I put 30 years of loving and collecting toys to work for us and hunted eBay and the secondary market for wholesale lots and old style collections to clean, research, and flip. The gambit paid off as far as hitting are bills, and I was able to really cross T’s and dot i’s in my personal collection. Re-discovering Toy Biz’ Lord of the Rings line has been a particular treat!

… But this about 2016, and when it came to the new and exciting shelf fodder at my local store, only two lines seized my interest: the ongoing efforts of LEGO (specifically the Star Wars Advent Calendar) and Hasbro’s continuing Micro Machines relaunch.

The first item may become an annual household tradition. Last year, my mother-in-law overheard me discussing the LEGO Star Wars advent calendar in a bookstore and decided I couldn’t leave said shop with it! This year, I decided to make sure I got one again (and from the same location, no less). For $39.95, a buyer gets a new, single LEGO toy, themed to both Star Wars and winter mischief, every day in December. Plus, exclusive and rare figures are included! So, winning all around on these.

The second item is Hasbro’s Star Wars Micro Machines. 2015 saw the line’s relaunch with The Force Awakens, and this year brought us even more releases from that film and a great assortment of goodies from both Rebels and this month’s Rogue One. Distribution was significantly lower this year than last, and I fear Micro Machines may not appear at Toy Fair 2017; but if not, the relaunch had a good 12-month run, with lots of great goodies for fans of the films and canon television programs!

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