Post by xiombarg on Feb 2, 2008 0:01:29 GMT -5
There have been some TOTYs in years past where I felt the winner was more of a popularity contest, which is fine. If we didn't love the robots we love, we wouldn't be here. But in the TOTY a figure that wins because of popularity is not the same as a figure that wins on the merit of it's design and innovation. This year I felt like Baikanfu was the deserving winner mostly because of merit. I can say unreservedly that he is a stellar piece in my collection. While the overall idea of the nesting figure design is nothing new, the almost perfect implementation of the complete package is what sets it apart. Preserving a high degree of solid structure, great articulation in all three figures and having excellent surface aesthetics combined with the nesting ability, Baikanfu is craft and engineering at it's finest and a great winner for the over $100 TOTY 2007.
For the less than $100 winners, it's a different type of win, but well deserved all the same. Revoltech deserves praise in a big way as a series. Finally a company stepped up to bat and made a figure series that has relatively low cost, great sculpts, nice surface aesthetics, and embodies the action of these characters with an innovative articulation system. It's a fun line of figures that has the ability to cover a lot of ground and thus appeal to broad audience in both age and taste, and who better to represent this line than the very cool winner Black Getter Ryoma.
Mastpiece Megatron has the distinction of being a fan favorite and a well executed, updated figure design that offers far superior modelling of the robot form in every way. This was a great year for the Transformers in general, and with the Transformers movie, it brought a whole new life and respect for the franchise that has spanned roughly three decades. With the Masterpiece line of Transformers, it's good to see these original characters receive high end treatment that upgrades their classic designs.
Some other points of interest for 2007; it's been interesting to see what companies have jumped to the forefront and really taken off. Less than two years ago Fewture was almost unheard off to the robot collecting community, but now are a household name. Fewture figures are rock solid designs with some very cool details and tons of diecast. Anyone who owns an EX gokin figure knows what this is all about. The Mazinger figures did extremely well, and one of them may have won second place if both of them hadn't made it into the final round of voting.
CM is another relatively new company that has jumped into the game with some great results and a large amount of figures having been produced in 2007. Goshogun is an excellent example of how committed CM is to making great robot figures. Goshogun has great design, a lot of diecast and lots of attention to cool details. I have to give CM credit for producing better and better results as they move forward and learn from experience.
Thanks to everyone who voted, and if anyone would like to discuss the merits (or otherwise) of any figures that I didn't touch upon in this post, pleast do!
For the less than $100 winners, it's a different type of win, but well deserved all the same. Revoltech deserves praise in a big way as a series. Finally a company stepped up to bat and made a figure series that has relatively low cost, great sculpts, nice surface aesthetics, and embodies the action of these characters with an innovative articulation system. It's a fun line of figures that has the ability to cover a lot of ground and thus appeal to broad audience in both age and taste, and who better to represent this line than the very cool winner Black Getter Ryoma.
Mastpiece Megatron has the distinction of being a fan favorite and a well executed, updated figure design that offers far superior modelling of the robot form in every way. This was a great year for the Transformers in general, and with the Transformers movie, it brought a whole new life and respect for the franchise that has spanned roughly three decades. With the Masterpiece line of Transformers, it's good to see these original characters receive high end treatment that upgrades their classic designs.
Some other points of interest for 2007; it's been interesting to see what companies have jumped to the forefront and really taken off. Less than two years ago Fewture was almost unheard off to the robot collecting community, but now are a household name. Fewture figures are rock solid designs with some very cool details and tons of diecast. Anyone who owns an EX gokin figure knows what this is all about. The Mazinger figures did extremely well, and one of them may have won second place if both of them hadn't made it into the final round of voting.
CM is another relatively new company that has jumped into the game with some great results and a large amount of figures having been produced in 2007. Goshogun is an excellent example of how committed CM is to making great robot figures. Goshogun has great design, a lot of diecast and lots of attention to cool details. I have to give CM credit for producing better and better results as they move forward and learn from experience.
Thanks to everyone who voted, and if anyone would like to discuss the merits (or otherwise) of any figures that I didn't touch upon in this post, pleast do!