MWC's picks for Best/Worst of 2007

[Michael Crawford]

I finally have my picks up. I suspect many of them will get agreement, but there's two or three that I suspect will generate the usual 'fan mail'.

https://www.mwctoys.com

Michael
MWC

 

[tomandshell]

I think you made some good choices. I am not going to argue with Sideshow for Company of the Year, that's for sure.

I like Boushh Leia better than Asajj, but I will side with you on your choice of John Wayne--it's an extremely well done piece.

I also agree with the inclusion of GG on the worst company list--their stuff can be great but as a company they have a lot of work to do.

For example--the worst statue award winning Obi-Wan in Clone Armor travesty.

 

[Cocoboloboy]

Yeah, I think some of those would fit in a "most disappointing" category but not the worst.

Endo and Powerloader have well deserved spots.

 

[TheObsoleteMan]

I like Boushh Leia better than Asajj, but I will side with you on your choice of John Wayne--it's an extremely well done piece.

I think Boushh is a much better figure too. I'm surprised at how much people rave about Asajj. It's a cool figure and I like it, but the tailoring isn't that great, and the sculpt and paint apps. are as simplistic as it gets.

 

[tomandshell]

My wife asked me who made the Boushh figure. I told her it was Sideshow, like all the rest. She said that it looked so much better, with such a superior level of quality in the costume, that she assumed that it was a more expensive figure from some other company.

Now, simple can be done well too, and Asajj is a good example of that. I would have included both on the list, but with Leia at the top.

 

[Shai]

GREAT CHOICES....I AGREE THAT THE JOHN WAYNE PF IS A MASTERPIECE,

ALSO I AGREE THAT PF FRODO WASNT A HOMERUN...SOME SENIOR MEMBERS HERE HAD FORESEEN HE WAS GOING TO BE THE NEXT BIG THING, WICH OBVIOUSLY HE WASNT...

I AM GLAD ALSO THAT YOU GAVE PROPS TO THE PF HULK EVEN IF YOU DIDNT HAVE IT,YOU RECONGNIZE THE GREATNESS OF ANDY B. S' MASTERPIECE.


AND SHOCKER TOYS..LOLLL...ARE THEY EVEN STILL IN BUISNESS ???? LOOLL

 

[Protozaius]

I think Boushh is a much better figure too. I'm surprised at how much people rave about Asajj. It's a cool figure and I like it, but the tailoring isn't that great, and the sculpt and paint apps. are as simplistic as it gets.

Personally I thought Leia Boushh was a better crafted figure. But the bad girls seem to get all of the attention.

 

[screamingmetal]

Great choices, for the most part I agree with your picks Michael. I would've however replaced Ultimate Ghost Rider with Obi-Wan and had Elder Predator 2 for second place.
I'm also glad to see Hot Toys getting some noms and wins for best this year, they've truly excelled at most of everything they've done last year. I would've also given them first in packaging and second in articulation.
The one category I disagree the most with are the worst 12" females. Power Girl and Ripley weren't that bad.
I was surprised that the whole Gentle Giant world tour Star Wars busts exclusives didn't get worst Idea this year from all the complaining I've heard about them.

 

[Michael Crawford]

GG got the third place overall worse category for a number of reasons...the exclusives is what I meant by killing my completist desire.

As to worst 12" females - what other figures do you think were worse? It's not enough to say those two aren't the worst, if you can't come up with good examples that clearly are...

 

[Bardoon]

Some good choices.

I totally disagree with Mattel getting the Silver...that really should've belonged to Hot Toys. Mattel is a company who does not value collectors and has barely any confidence in venturing into the "collector field". Yes they've made bigger steps into that realm recently (mostly dominated by their main rival Hasbro), but not the big leaps and bounds that Hot Toys has shown from the beginning of 2007 to the end. Essentially Mattel's product design is the same, the difference is the characters and their looks.

I do agree giving Sideshow the gold....I am partial to Hot Toys again...but Sideshow offered the best variety of products overall.


Shocker Toys is TERRIBLE...on another forum I used to venture on the owner would always be posting there and trying to overly promote his "Shockinis", he wasn't rude but very, very, VERY annoying. He eventually was banned because he'd just start threads as ads for his products.

I agree with the assessment on SOTA. They have some very friendly (I can't comment on what their work ethic might be considering how much they've pushed stuff back) people working there who are VERY communicative with the fans. A little TOO MUCH I'd say as the owner, Jerry Masculo (sp?) began promising so much that he could not deliver and eventually sold the company off and left a sinking ship in the hands of others who are struggling to keep it afloat. If I had to talk about recent great companies starting and showing off some GREAT products but ultimately just going straight down the mountain, SOTA would certainly be at the top of my list.

 

[screamingmetal]

GG got the third place overall worse category for a number of reasons...the exclusives is what I meant by killing my completist desire.

As to worst 12" females - what other figures do you think were worse? It's not enough to say those two aren't the worst, if you can't come up with good examples that clearly are...

True, nothing jumps out at me as some of the worst females but Swann from Zizzle definitely earns her spot. I'm really no fan of Sideshow's ANH Leia so I'd give it third in the worst 12" female, not sure about second place.
I thought that's what you meant by the killing your completest desire, but I still think it deserves at least the second place in the Worst Idea category, I think it's far worst then McFarlane's Simpson line.

I think there's a typo in this line from Best Sculpting:
"Hot Toys. In 2007, their sculpts were good, but not outstanding. In 2008, they really stepped up the game"
Shouldn't it be in 2006 their sculpts were good and 2007 they really stepped up?

 

[galactiboy]

I guess I was somehow oblivious too, or completely forgot about GG Customz. But when I saw this picture I actually said "Ewww" aloud. Just shameful

And still say Yavin Luke wasn't that bad, other than paint I thought he was solid. But a bit hard-pressed if he's being compared to the others in the series. I probably would have thrown another DCD 13" figure under the rails

 

[EVILFACE]

Power Girl looked bad all around, the huge bewbs is just too comical.

Never heard of Shocker? What have they put out?

 

[Michael Crawford]

Never heard of Shocker? What have they put out?

I rest my case.

 

[doesitmatter]

Great job and well written as always. I was surprised to see no mention of Bowen Designs this year. I thought their Iron Man bust 3 packs were the best of the year!

 

[Michael Crawford]

Bowen didn't do anything that wowed me this year. Decent stuff, but nothing that I thought was exceptional.

They did almost end up on the worst statue list though for the Spidey vs. Venom. I really hated the weird looking version of Spidey in that diorama. But then I looked at Frodo again

 

[ProgMatinee]

Poor Tonner. Personally, I think they didn't deserve the worst mark if only because they aren't really "action figures". They're flat out dolls which on their own merit don't require realism to begin with.

 

[Michael Crawford]

Hmmmm - guess that's another reason to argue over whether Sideshow figures are dolls or not

I specifically picked out Jack, not Tonnor in general. Yes, they are designed to look a certain way, and they manage to pull that off fine with many of their releases, like the Harry Potter stuff. But Jack? Ugh. The one next year that's looking just as bad is the Joker. Ugh.

I didn't pick Jack because of the style. If I were doing that, figures like Galactic Heroes would be worse than regular action figures, no? When they pull off the style, that's fine. Tonnor's Hermione at least has a passing doll like resemblance to the character. The Jack is just...ugh.

 

[wookster]

Wow, so much stuff to take in. I pretty much try to stick to poseable 1/6 but there was a lot of cool stuff out in the last 12 months that I just had to have.
But I'm in total agreement on your vehicle/playset, it was my fave piece of the year. If the house was on fire it'd have to be-
1 Power Loader
2 Wife and kids
3 Make sure I got the Power Loader

Cheers Michael it was a great read!

 

[MANDO]

Never heard of Shocker? What have they put out?

Shockinies was it I think. They were kinda a poor man's Stickfas or minmates. I remember one SDCC they announced that had all these great properties but turned out to be bs.