I didn’t think that it would be easy to pick a Figure of the Year, but I didn’t think it was going to be this hard.
Because let me tell you: this year has been an absolute banger year for action figures. Despite grim economic clouds on the horizon, including “unfortunate” price-hikes, there has been a literal deluge of great figures this year. So what was my favorite? And is “my favorite” also “the best”?
Well, I think we can eliminate “the best” right out of the gate, because with so many innovations and must-have characters crossed off this year it would maybe be impossible to say who’s “best.”
Is that absolutely beat-perfect Hasbro Marvel Legends X-Men ‘97 Sentinel “the best”? It could be, if you want a premium figure that 100% executes a classic character to the letter.
Speaking of Marvel Legends, is the totally gonzo and outside-the-box Shuma-Gorath—oh, I mean “Gamerverse Gargantos”— is that wild mass of tentacles and friggin’ articulated *eyelids* “the best”? It could be, if you want a one-of-a-kind toy that is totally unlike any other action figure ever made.
What if it’s all about character? Maybe it’s one of McFarlane Toys’ successes like The Scarecrow or Crisis on Infinite Earths Joker, where we’ve got fantastic examples of beloved characters that look just like they leapt off of classic comic pages?
Or maybe it’s about the pure lunacy of a weird, chonky guy with gooey eyestalks? Masterverse Mantenna, I’m looking at you. But don’t look at me because you are freaky! But freaky is cool as heck, man, and that is one freaky toy.
But in the final analysis, for me it can’t be about flashy new engineering or the massive excellence that comes (as well it should come!) with a premium-format figure. Nor about just providing a solid representation of a character I love . . . otherwise you would have just read a bunch of enthusiastic paragraphs about Werewolf by Night.
For me, Figure of the Year has to take me back to why I fell in love with action figures in the first place, way back in the dark days of the early 1980s when I plucked my first Snake-Eyes off the rack at Toys-R-Us: the pure joy of playing with a fun character in toy form. And this year, that toy is: Hasbro G.I. Joe Classified Darklon.
Is he the coolest Joe character? Ha ha no, who even is he? Destro’s cousin? Drove a weird vehicle that looked like a Tron light cycle with a recliner chair? Had an absurdly large gun? Heck, man: it doesn’t matter. He’s a big, hulking monster of a man in his Classified form, sporting a scary mask with what looks like lizard-monster eyes peeking out, and a whole other scary mask that is like some ancient Celtic vampire giving the razzberries. He’s got the giant, pneumatic Gatling gun (is that what it is???), but he ALSO has a slick revolver he can tuck in the back of his belt. Oh and JUST WAIT: he’s got a huge honkin’ broadsword he can carry on his back, and a dagger for his boot because sometimes you have to stab even more. This dude exudes menace. He’s got all the benefits of Classified’s solid articulation scheme, all pinless, with a lot of newly-dedicated parts that are absolutely Darklon-specific. The only thing he is missing is a pair of fists for pounding on any Joe foolish enough to get close enough to him. He’s just incredibly fun, and really transcends the whole “G.I. Joe” of it all: he’s a quirky, creepy, intimidating “obvious bad guy” character who looks just as cool dusting it up with superheroes as he does with soldiers. He’s Pure Fun, and that’s exactly what I’m looking for in my Figure of the Year.
