Toy of the Year 2007

Submitted by JoshB on 17 January, 2008 - 13:45.

Toy of the Year

Thanks to all that voted in the first CollectionDX Toy of the Year vote. It was an interesting experiment for sure. We broke out the toys into four main categories and some really interesting choices got a lot of attention. Transformers sites, Vinyl toy sites and others rallied their troops to sway the votes.

Toy of the Year ($100 +)

Ex Gokin Mazinger-Z 1969

You can't deny that this is an amazing toy. Even if you didn't own one, you could just tell this thing was killer. Its weight literally crushed the competition with 24% of the vote.

Runner Up: Soul of Chogokin Ideon

This mammoth Bandai diecast captured the hearts of chogokin lovers everywhere with its intricate transformation and good looks.

Second Runner Up: Wave SDF-1 Macross

Despite the small size and fiddly transformation, fans really dug this version of the Macross. Perhaps because its the first toy of the DYRL version?

Toy of the Year ($25 - $100)

Transformers Masterpiece Megatron

If one thing became clear from the TOTY vote this year, it is that Transformers RULED 2007. In fact, if we had reviewed one that cost over $100 I bet it would have won that category too. The Masterpiece Megatron looked awesome but issues about safety concerns kept it out of hands of a lot of fans.

Runner Up: Transformers Optimus Prime (Leader Class)

In my opinion this should have taken the vote, but people just LOVE Megatron. This is one of the best transformers to come out in years.

Second Runner Up: Eyezon

kaiju EYEZON soft vinyl figure Clear Purple Guts edition

Vinyl toy fans rallied behind this mutant potato and enemy of Captain Max, and rightly so, this thing is frickin awesome. We will definitely have more vinyl on CDX in 2008.

Toy of the Year ($10-$25)

Transformers Ironhide (Voyager-class)

This big black beast of a truck was not seen nearly enough in the Transformers movie, but thankfully the toy delivered. Ironhide is another solid Transformer that is way fun to play with.

Runner Up: Revoltech VF-1S Strike Valkyrie

Are you seeing a trend here? This Revoltech really captured the anime likeness without getting bogged down with over-engineering. VF-1S + Strike Armor = awesome.

Second Runner Up: Revoltech Yotsuba

Fans apparently could not resist the cuteness of little Yotsuba. CDX readers aren't just interested in robots, and Yotsuba's strong showing supports that claim. Having a bad day? Just play with Yotsuba and Enjoy Everything!

Toy of the Year (Under $10)

Transformers Bumblebee (Concept Camaro)

One of the hardest toys to find this past Christmas was the Concept Camaro Bumblebee. Arguably the star of the Transformers movie, Bumble stole the hearts of both transformer fans and normal folks. Bumblebee turned in the strongest vote of any nominee in any category.

Runner Up: Glyos Series Space Traveler Pheyden

Onell Design's futuristic action figures were a big hit with Japanese toy fans, with tons of playability and an affordable price tag. Each one feels like love in your hands, and with more on the way in 2008 there will be plenty of love to go around.

Second Runner Up: Revoltech Miniature EVA-01

EVA-01 Rebuild of Evangelion Ver. (Miniature)

With the Rebuild of Evangelion movie release, love for EVA-01 was in the air. In an odd upset, the miniature version got more votes than the full size version! We'd love to see more Revoltech Miniatures, but the line seems to be dead.

The Big Losers

The following toys got almost NO VOTES during the TOTY VOTE. Shame on you.

Revoltech Gaiking (Face Open Version) - Fans never really warmed up to the new version of Gaiking, and this powered up version didn't have a lot of draw with american fans. Most had no idea what this version was all about.
Fantastic Four Fantasticar - A neat toy, but a bit too off topic for the CollectionDX audience. Duly noted.
Romance of Three Kingdoms Guan Yu - This was an amazing 12" figure from Chinese mythology, but once again, I think it's a cultural thing.
Sideshow Leia as Boushh - This was shocking. I loved this toy. Whats wrong with you people?
Lego Shadow Crawler - I think our Lego audience is limited anyway.
Revoltech Eva-02 Production Model (Movie Ver) - It was a fantastic Revoltech release, but I think the public is suffering from Eva Overdose. The other EVAs just don't have the same draw as the unit 01.
Revoltech GR-2 - This is another one I was shocked at. How long have we wanted toys of the Giant Robo enemies? This may be backlash because you had to buy GR-2 to get the bazooka for Giant Robo.
Revoltech Inoue Toro - People just had no idea who this was. Obscure Japanese pop culture only goes so far in the US.
Revoltech Oper. Yashima Set Rebuild of Evangelion Ver. - A weapons set for two figures that didnt gather that many votes anyway.
Transforms Nike Free feat. Convoy - I'm sorry, these Nike Transformers were just hideous.
Transformers Payload - If it wasnt in the movie, people don't seem to care about it.
Transformers Swindle - See above.
Transformers Final Battle Jazz - People generally don't like repaints, and lack of any votes for this proves it. This one just looked like a dog chewed on it.

Well, that's it. Thanks again for voting. Let us know your thoughts. Did you agree or disagree with the votes? Anything we could have done better? Let us know.

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Wow, I need to post more, or

Submitted by duke togo on 17 January, 2008 - 19:25.

Wow, I need to post more, or at least get off my duff and review some toys. Transformers taking over this site is a bit insulting.

I realize there are fans that are more casual and/or open minded than others, but when Transformers toys - movie ones no less - take up some of the top spots in a TOTY poll, something is not right.

Takara has some serious Votoms business going on, and the lack of a review of their stellar DMZ line is a failure on my part.

Here's to 2008 and the definate possibility of Mospeada toys competing against each other in several categories.

I agree

Submitted by Atom on 17 January, 2008 - 23:05.

I mean I made it very clear I thought the Bumblebee was junk... yet they all loved it. Like Josh said what is wrong with you people. You're all fired...;)

___________________
CollectionDX Writer
www.atomsantics.com

I have to say,as someone who

Submitted by kidnicky on 18 January, 2008 - 00:28.

I have to say,as someone who voted for Bumblebee,I think you got a lemon. Your experience with the figure (from your review) does not match up with mine at all. I realise different people have different opinions and so forth,but I was surprised at the quality of the toy,since after your review,I expected the worst. The paint is fine on my figure,and no parts have popped off either. Admittedly,it's a little off from the movie character,but scaling down that CGI model into a 10 dollar mass production toy is not going to happen without cutting corners. Just my two cents.

Ya know- I had exactly the

Submitted by EVA_Unit_4A on 18 January, 2008 - 01:35.

Ya know- I had exactly the same response when I saw people using up their one vote approving of the Deluxe Drive-Max Megazord... which I absolutely blasted in my review of it for CDX. And while it obviously did not make it into the top three spot in its TotY category ($25-50), I am absolutely flattened that people actually liked it more than they did some of the other masterpieces in the category!

And also, even though I read your Concept BB review, and I have become concerned about the things you mentioned in it, I am still planning on getting one, particularly the Movie Scenes version with the dark gray ABS instead of the standard black. And I agree with kidnicky's comment above, Atom- you may have gotten the short end of the stick. If more people had left comments contradicting your review, perhaps this would have become more obvious before now...? 'Cause, aside from a serious lack of paint apps (which all of the movie's line of toys have suffered from to a degree), I haven't heard that many bad comments elsewhere in more TF-oriented sites & blogs.
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CollectionDX Staff

Quick 2007 TotY results comments

Submitted by EVA_Unit_4A on 18 January, 2008 - 02:26.

Is that DYRL SDF-1 really supposed to be a "toy"!? I don't think so! And, yeah- it was too fidgety for my tastes even though it looks fantastic. (Even though I don't own one, I got to handle a store-display once.) Same for my opinion of MP Megs. But that Mazinger-Z 1969 I think truly deserves it's first-place finish.

I would have been a lot more interested in that Leader-class OP if he had more related to his CG counterpart-

he had come with the retractable orange blade seen in the movie, instead of a flip around cannon which was originally hand-held, stored on his back, and seen only in a blur
the legs had been redesigned to move the wheels somewhere else

And yes, I know that even a Leader-class figure would not have been all that accurate transformation-wise, but I would have gotten him. I had many chances to grab one, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it...

What [still] surprises me was how well Ironhide did! When I voted for $25-50, it was a close run for me between Ironhide (which I, obviously, owned and had reviewed here!) and the VF-1S Strike Valkyrie. But, since I've loved the Valk longer than I've loved Ironhide, and knowing how fun Revoltechs are, I went with the Valk. (Am I vain for thinking that how I reviewed Ironhide somehow influenced the votes of people for him...? 'Cause if so, this is perhaps the best response I've gotten on ANY review I've done in four years!)

As for the losing selections:

Hey, I liked Payload even though he wasn't in the movie! What I said was that the toy was quirky at times!

Yeah- I'm not surprised the Shadow Crawler didn't get any lovin'. I wasn't all that pleased with it even though it had a nice aura to it. Ya just couldn't pose those legs real well, and that was a real let-down for what the line had become famous for. What surprises me is that the Claw Crusher got any votes at all; I was sure it wouldn't do all that good. Oh, well...

I can agree that most people don't like repaints; I'm not a fan of them either, and with rare exception do I get them. However, what made Final Battle Jazz bad wasn't that he was a 'repaint', but rather the overall design of the toy that was such a let-down. When I [finally] get the regular version of Jazz, I'll say the same thing. What I liked about FBJazz was that it wasn't just a straight repaint, and had more than a few significant remoulds that didn't affect the overall transforming abilities or features. I'm still not a fan of the toy, but I'm not gonna knock it off so easily just because it's considered a "repaint".
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CollectionDX Staff

Yeah!

Submitted by Gigamach on 18 January, 2008 - 12:02.

Well, sadly my beloved Ideon didn't take top honors, and since I likely will never own that Mazinger (all sold out!!?) I'm a bit sad. BUT, good choices for the most part.

I agree that the TF line is a bit over-represented, but I think it's mostly cultural. We can find TFs on the shelf at Target, while finding a store that carries anything Chogokin or VOTOMS is an unlikely proposition. And frankly, ordering through HLJ or the like is great, but less impulse and "toy-hunty" than just picking up something off the shelf and getting to play with it right away.

I'd love to see those VOTOMS reviews. I've been dreaming of some Scopedog action for a while.

-----
"Hey, uh...let's volt in."

Bring on the VOTOMS, duke...

Submitted by Sanjeev on 18 January, 2008 - 14:42.

...or anyone who has 'em!

I have a 1/12 Strong Bacchus, but that's about it.

I tend to agree that this poll has been rather lacking. Certainly if we had more even coverage of all the year's top toys, it would make sense. Or...simply open it to toys other Japanese/Japanese-related toys not reviewed here.

It's kinda tough for the head writers to pump out reviews of everything we want to...on time. Basically, we'd have to coordinate who's going to be covering what top toys...and make sure that those toys are bought and reviewed in a timely manner. I mean, I didn't even get a chance to review my own top picks for the '07 Holiday Buying Guide (except for the Fewture GM...which came out after the poll!). Seriously, I *really* want to do full coverage of those Soft Garage GR gokin! They're that good.

The other thing I wanted to comment on was the TF hate. Now, while I still have my old-school love for the 80's cartoon...and the real Transformers movie...I'm not a big fan of anything from Beast whatever-on. That said, I'm not going to close my mind to a good toy. Despite my opinion that the new movie was a steaming pile, I heard good things about Leader Prime and ended up picking one up. It's amazing. Very simple, very rugged, looks great, is well-articulated...hell, it even shoots a missile. I'm not even talking about it's measly $50 price tag--it's just a legitimately good toy.

On the other hand, I got to handle MP Megatron in person at Josh's place. Horrible. Anytime you really have to *worry* about just picking something up, it's a bad sign. Floppy. Clunky. Didn't remotely want to bother spending an hour transforming it. I'll stick with my G1 reissue.

Next, we have these squabbles about the concept BB and other cheapie movie toys. Come on, people. Toy of the Year?? Perhaps "Value" of the year. These can certainly be fun toys, no doubt...but regardless of their price, can they really compete with higher end toys?? For example, if concept BB cost the same as Leader Prime...or even MP Megatron, would people vote for it over those two? Or conversely, if Leader Prime and MP Megs cost $10 like BB, who would you vote for then? I think for next year, we should remove the price categories and do more genre-based categories...whether that means "domestic TotY" versus "Japanese TotY"...or something like "TF otY", "Chogokin otY", etc.

What I'm trying to say is that TotY shouldn't be about value. But at the same time, TotY shouldn't necessarily bar TFs just because they're TFs. It should just be about pure robot toy love (and monster toy love...and Star Wars toy love...and...).

--
Sanjeev

I think it's sickening that

Submitted by NekroDave on 18 January, 2008 - 15:34.

I think it's sickening that the EX-Gokin Mazinger won. Imo, there couldn't be a clearer example of everything that is wrong with this hobby. Someone takes a robot that's already been done to death, gives it muscles and skull face and tells you it's something new. Then you have to pay $300 to get it (and it's quality control issues). And people love it! The phrase "thank you sir, may I have another?" pops into my head...lol

"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High

Man... Transformers on TOTY's first place!?!?!?!!!

Submitted by The Mazinger Z on 18 January, 2008 - 15:50.

An Ironhide instead of a Revoltech? MP Megatron instead of... anything else not Transformer??? Please, Transformers should not even be allowed to participate... well, nah, that's too rash. Better said, MOST Transformers should not be allowed to participate. The Ex-Gokin Mazinger is cool and all, but I agree the Mighty Robot has been over-done. I think the Aoshima Shin Getter 2 should have topped it, if anything, for being a NEW figure...

Oh, well...

When i buy these toys, the

Submitted by truewanderer on 19 January, 2008 - 06:22.

When i buy these toys, the thing that attracts me is the aesthetic value rather than the line it came from. Whilst i stopped liking the TF line after the G2's came out, i have nothing against them...apart from the horrid M Bay mess. What i mean is even with this in mind, if the toy or model came out and looked the part and ticks all the boxes, i would buy it regardless.
I personally go for the expensive Jp stuff, as a collector but also because i feel they create the best designed stuff. However if the majority of folk feel all these movie TF's are worthy of voting for, then who are we to argue?! Different strokes for different folks!

Agreed...

Submitted by Sanjeev on 19 January, 2008 - 18:25.

Yup. Line doesn't matter to me either. It's all about ticking those boxes. And, yeah, it tends to be the purely Japanese stuff (i.e., non-TF) that succeeds in that...though for me, my particular boxes seem to be evolving such that only the vintage stuff (and glowies, of course!) seems to be able to tick them all.

Oh, and I got a helluva kick outta Nekrodave's post above! I think his reasons for not digging the Fewture EX Gokin line are perfectly legit. I was thinking about that earlier today and for me, I think the reason I love the GM design so much is simply that it reminds me of the design aesthetic behind Mazinkaiser...only taken to a higher level. ...And, man, did I love the Mazinkaiser anime!

By the way, one quick thing so we're all clear, we generally abbreviate Japan or Japanese with "Jp", not "Jap". I'll leave it to you to research why. Knowing is half the battle. ;)

--
Sanjeev

Whoops sorry guys for any

Submitted by truewanderer on 20 January, 2008 - 16:51.

Whoops sorry guys for any offence! Just give an ignorant englishman the benefit of the doubt this time! =(

No sweat, buddy!

Submitted by Sanjeev on 20 January, 2008 - 17:29.

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Sanjeev

I am, of course, a die hard

Submitted by MINImusPrime00 on 31 January, 2008 - 13:45.

I am, of course, a die hard TF fan. I love everything TF related. Well, almost everything. I enjoyed the movie, I am ashamed to say. And I do own quite a few movie toys. What can I say? They are cheap and fun, what else could a girl want? But I find the movie toys to be fare less superior than many other figures that could be in this listing.

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger