Too many toys. That is not a thing. There can be no such thing as too many toys. However, when it comes to figuring out what the best toy of a year is, sometimes, just sometimes, it can feel like there are too many toys to possibly come to a conclusion.
However, to be the “best-of” there has to be one, and this year was relatively easy. Not that I didn’t have great toys coming out of my ears, but when you end up buying multiples of a certain figure just for the purpose of having some spares to keep around, you know you’ve got a winner.
This is the third attempt at Iron Man that we’ve had since the beginning of Marvel Legends, and this one did it. This one hit the right size, shape, articulation…it just did it all. As all toy collectors, I have deep connections to certain “looks” that resonate with me on a protozoic level, and this Bronze age version of Iron Man is pure spinner rack-fueled, 60 cent cover price, updated Secret wars looking, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches retro bonanza in plastic form. While other attempts have been made, I feel like I’ve been waiting for this toy for over 4 decades. And I’d buy it all over again if it were remade with comic-panel yellow instead of gold.
The 80th Anniversary figures that Marvel put out were all excellent versions of main characters. Colossus, Hulk, Thor or Captain America could all easily have made it to this top slot. But Iron Man squeaked ahead by picometers by virtue of being so damn sexy. This is a sexy toy. This is a sexy sexy toy. I said it and I ain’t takin’ it back!
