My second year of "Toys of the Year". In comparison to
2013, I say that I got about the same amount despite certain months last year being 'dry'. Regardless, 2014 was a good year for collecting and I'll just briefly go through as to why within the next few selection that stood out last year! Without further adieu... here we are to the list of 2014~!
Marvel Legends: This year Hasbro is staring a trend with really coinciding with cinematic releases and boy, are they going to let it all out this year. 2014 wasn't exactly FILLED with the best Legends, but still, it was a start of the trend. So these are the Legends that stood out in my opinion:
Top Legend:
Toybiz is still winning awards in my book after all these years. Honestly, the details, the accessories, and not to mention he came from an amazing BAF set... he was meant to win this year; yes and he trampled over some of Hasbro's Legends in my book.
Build-A-Figure(ML): I got a decent amount of BAFs over the course of 2014 but honestly, not a whole lot of them are memorable except for two. So I suppose these two are the BAFs of the year for me:
Just speaking in terms of
now, 2015 will be better in terms of BAF I think. With how Odin starts and the next few in line I am planning on getting, it will be hard to say that it will turn out as sour as 2014's line up. But who knows. Sometimes it's hard for me to judge BAFs; it's either the set of figures that makes it or breaks it and sometimes the BAF itself has little influence.
Statues: Last year I named this section "Bishoujo", this year it has to be named differently since it isn't just Bishoujos parading last year's catch! And like last year, I didn't get a whole lot so I am pretty much displaying all of them; ALMOST all of them with the exception of one or two.
2014 brought forth variety in my statue collections; With Elsa joining the fray, of course it won't just be imports. So these fourth are the ones that stood out in my eyes from 2014. But who took the top?
The Winning Statues:
It was hard to just pick one out of these two since they are both great pieces. I'd say that Asuka has the most sculpt, the most height, and most definitely outshines in details but the Bishoujo Spider-Woman is just damn beautiful
and it is Spider-Woman(the
normal version of her was also pretty high on the list but--you know!). I say it's quite reasonable that these two are top of the list.
Anime Figures: This set! These four are the only ones I captured in 2014 and I have to say, it's not a bad haul. All my reviews pretty much conveys the fun factor of the
photoshoot I had with each one, and dare I say they offer a whole lot! Figmas and Figuarts usually offer a myriad of things so it's no surprise that these four are memorable and worth putting together in this list.
All four gals offered a lot and when it came down to the two, it was a real hard fought battle. Mikasa and KOS-MOS definitely offered the most even though the other two ladies were a hard hitting figure! But who between the Xenosaga heroine and the Titan killer gets the award?
Most Enamoring:
Mikasa had more accessories, more fun factor, plenty of detail to boot! Not that KOS-MOS didn't offer any of that, but Mikasa gained the victory for me. I think a big factor to that is the fact that there were times that KOS-MOS wasn't the easiest to get into positions with her weaponry(the dual gatling gun to be exact) and Mikasa was just a fluent photoshoot.
"THE ONE"
It's a given that the Hot Toy would get the award but something happened this year: Supergirl Playarts Kai. She had the charisma, the detail, the accessories, and the fun factor to almost put a scratch on my all time favorite Hot Toy version of Tony's armor. Alas, I couldn't bring it upon myself that Iron Man would be dethroned(a Hot Toy that is) so 'the one' had to be split. Honestly, both of these figures stand out in my head as 2014's hard hitters in my game room. Glad to have them both and glad they are paid off since they did take a chunk out of my wallet. Stark more so than Kara, of course. Still.... what great pair to add to my collection!
After Word: I am elated with 2014 and the growth I had. Honestly, I think there was more quality this time around than quantity. As room starts to disappear and funds starts to tangent off to someone else, I think I will be doing more quality as the days go by. Though 2015, as I have mentioned, had already lined up a LOT of prospects. Maybe next year's edition will be up to par in both quality and quantity as 2014.
Other than that, there is really nothing else to say. Happy collecting for 2015 it is!
