Half-way through 2024 Top Ten Figures

I feel like I’ve probably barely even bought 10 figures this year, so instead of a default top 10, here’s a top 5

Jada Toys Dhalsim 

Bring Arts Barret Wallace 

GI Joe Classified Retro Scarlet

Marvel Legends Sabertooth 

Marvel Legends She Hulk

I'm finding it tougher and tougher to remember what came out in a given year. I'm pretty sure the ones I'm mentioning did come out in 2024, which is what I'll limit myself to.

Transformers Legacy Sandstorm - couldn't put this one down. All three modes are great.

Star Wars Black Series Droideka Destroyer Droid - Almost doesn't feel like a SW figure.

Marvel Legends Zabu BAF - Very strong showing from ML in first half, but this BAF may be my favorite BAF in years. Easily one of the best ML figures this year.

Masters of the Universe Masterverse Trap Jaw - just a stunning representation and update of one of the most classic MotU designs ever.

Marvel Select Captain America - Really versatile thanks to swappable accessories, poses like a dream

Super7 Thundercats Ultimates Hachiman - A rare example of this company getting a figure right

GIJoe Classified VAMP - Great vehicle that isn't too big, but feels like an excellent value for money and play

Transformers Missing Link Optimus Prime - Takes one of the most familiar toy designs and upgrades it to modern standards. It breathed new life into something so familiar

YOLO Park Optimus Prime and Megatron model kits - This is a bit of a cheat but I can't separate the two as I received them together. Best non-transforming versions of these characters available.

Really hard to pick just 10…

Marvel Select Crimson Dynamo

Marvel Legends Iron Man (Pentagon Armor)

Marvel Legends Iron Man Neo-Classic Armor

Marvel Legends Sabretooth

Marvel Legends Count Nefaria 

Marvel Legends She-Hulk

Marvel Legends Vision

Mythic Legions Valiant Knight

GI Joe Classified Techno-Viper

GI Joe Classified Big Boa 

Marvel Legends BAF Void

Marvel Legends X-Men 97 Rogue

Marvel Legends MCU Carnage

Marvel Legends Superior Iron Man

Marvel Legends Iron Man Mark 2

This is just too hard for me in a year with an Iron Man retro wave…

The first half of the year I barely buy figures, I'm not sure why. I've bought a few figures that just aren't so great, but I like the characters, so I don't feel like counting them. So I'm gonna count the top 3 best figures I've gotten this year:

Sh Figuarts Indiana Jones - the best Indy you can get in this scale so far. Honestly might be my figure of the year. The likeness is almost perfect, and this is Harrison Ford we're talking about. The figure has such a realistic sculpt and proportions, and it gets the look of Indy right; the baggy pants, the dark jacket, the shape and color of the hat. The articulation is so well designed, it poses and stands easily in pretty much all poses I can put it in. We'll see what Mezco does with their Indy, but so far, this is what I wanted out of an Indy figure. So good.

Mythic Legions Valiant Knight - I love knights, and there aren't enough knight figures out there. So imagine how I felt when 4 Horsemen revealed they had surprise released a new knight figure. I had a hard time getting him since I'm not in the US, but thanks to a local store I was able to get mine. I love mythic legions, I don't have a ton of them but they're some of my most special figures I own, and this is probably the best of them all. People talk about how good it poses and it does, maybe slightly less than I expected, but the sculpt is so crisp and detailed that it makes it look more like a knight than any other ML knight; the edges of a lot of the pieces have that detailing that medieval armors have, tons of rivets and overlapping plates. Just the chainmail sculpted onto his arms is so realistically sculpted that you can see how each individual ring is joined by the others! The helmets are a little big and I wish he had come with a two handed sword, but apart from that this might be the best ML ever... at least until the new templar knights are released!

Star Wars Black Series Mandalorian (Glavis Ringworld) - I have two of the previous black series Mandos and while they're decent figures, the helmets were so wrong with them both that I was just never satisfied. I know there's many import versions of them but I just didn't feel like spending so much for them. But this guy is pretty much all I needed. The sculpt is great, proportions are pretty much perfect, the cloth cape drapes really nice and I can finally pose Mando with his jetpack! The helmet is just incredibly well done too, with the shiny visor always adding depth to the figure. He's not perfect, his hands are for some reason really open and just don't like holding the sword. I wish he came with extra hands, but he can still do most poses I want him to. He's just a great figure, and I'm really glad I was able to score one on amazon. Now that he comes with the dark saber he's basically a space knight, and I love that. I honestly want another one as a pocket figure!

Man this is a tough list to think of off the top of my head.   Probably going to be pretty Classified heavy, but I'll give it a go.

In no particular order:

Vamp - What can I say?   A classic Joe vehicle that has been updated for Classified.

Cobra Ferret - Again, another great update for the Classified line.

Iron Man Mark 70 (Controller BAF wave) -  I absolutely love this Alex Ross design for Iron Man.  It combines just enough updates to the armour while still evoking the classic 70s/80s look of the Mark 3 and 4.

Masterverse Roboto -   A great version of Roboto and I got him for $5Cdn so I can safely say well worth the money

Classified Action Soldier and Sailor -  Two great updates to the classic Joe figures of the 60s with a ton of accessories.

Transmetal 2 Dragon Megatron -  One of my favourite Beast Wars toys that has a pretty great update for today.

All the Jada Toys Street Fighter figures I have picked up so far.  -  Chun-Li (my personal favourite as a kid), Ken, Ryu and M. Bison.   I'm sure Dhalsim would be included if I could have picked one up, but still searching.

That's 10 for now, but I'm sure there are more to come that will easily make it into the top 10/20/100!!!!!!!!

How are we halfway through the year already?

If I can count what I've opened this year, as opposed to what was released (though most of this is late 2023 or 2024), here's my list, in no particular order. Might have to try to rank them once we get to the end of the year.

• Mythic Legions Valiant Knight
  • So fun to pose, the extra hands add a ton of character, and I can't wait to get more knights on this new body. He makes all their older knights look bad, and I'm now really looking at what I need to keep from my ML collection and what I can let go of.
• Mythic Legions Samir (Old blue wizard guy)
  • Have been waiting for wizards since this line started, and they do not disappoint. The whole wave is pretty great, but Samir is the stand out for me with some great cloth goods at this scale.
• Mythic Legions Aracagorr
  • Just a huge dragon knight. What more is there to say?
• The Worst Ultimates Robot Reaper
  • So much character in a wacky style. For once, Super7 delivers what they promised.
• The Worst Ultimates Black Falcon
  • Same as above.
• Masterverse Trap-Jaw
  • Like a mini 1:6 figure in terms of detail. SO much character in the head. The first Masterverse I bought and he got me to go back in and get some of the heavy hitters.
• Masterverse SDCC 40th Skeletor
  • I know he came out a few years ago, but I just got him, and damn if he isn't the best Skeletor released in a good long while. You can just hear him cackling the second you look at him.
• Mafex Knight Crusader Batman.
  • He's still in package until I have some time to open him and really enjoy him, but after the Hush Batman being one of my top 5 figures of all time, can't see how this one will be any different.
• Black Series Glavis Mandalorian
  • Fun to pose, cloth cape, good articulation on the new Mando body. I think my only Black Series pick-up so far this year.
• Toy Pizza Gauss Armor (in burgundy/green)
  • Wildcard figure - was difficult to track down after they sold out, but I love the sculpt and style on this guy - such a 90s anime/video game look with the one hand and blaster arm. Articulation isn't amazing, but as a long-time Glyos collector who got out a few years back, seeing them add balljoints and proper articulation is pretty amazing. Highly recommended for a fun desk toy.

I'll play! Here's my favorites thus far.

Transformers: Bumblebee DLX Arcee By Threezero - Her hips are loose and her light button is unnecessarily hard to get to, but the rest of her is pretty much perfection. Excellent paint and figure.

Figure Obscura's The Gods of Ancient Egypt Anubis & Bastet. Amazing figures with all the accessories you could ever want. The paint apps are insane. My only gripe is the lack of double-elbows and knees.

Argidae Girl BEE-04R - I got the purple version and it's a very cute figure and I love how they did the panty-hose/mesh on her legs.

Marvel Select Crimson Dynamo - Another perfect figure with excellent paint and great accessories.

Peni Parker & SP//dr Figure by Sentinel. OK, Peni is just a static figure, but SP//dr is just an amazing figure. It can get in any pose you can imagine. Fun fun figure.

Marvel Legends Sabretooth. Great size and I love the head sculpts.

Marvel Legends FA Wasp - Perfect figure with the 2 best face prints I've seen to date.

Marvel Legends She Hulk - They finally got her (nearly) right! Great height and muscle build, but she should be bustier.

McFarlane's Captain Carrot. I pretty much don't like his figures, but this is just a fun figure. Love it!

Marvel Legends Series Jack O'Lantern. Surprising excellent figure.

Quite a few of the figures I’m most looking forward to have yet to be released but these are my clear top 3 so far this year (no order):

Storm Collectibles Mortal Kombat X Goro

Mezco Collective Doctor Doom

Fury Toys Samurai Force The Master