Happy New Year everyone! I hope you had a great (and safe) time celebrating. I had these grand plans to take a gigantic photo of all the great action figures we've received this year. I would have probably had to do this in my living room or maybe on the stairs just because of sheer space requirements; there were a lot of ladies this year! Unfortunately I got a cold and therefore was very sluggish wrapping up my end-of-the-year work duties and just ran out of time. Instead I'm compiling a post full of photos and links highlighting one of the most prolific years for female action figure collectors yet. Seriously, I'm highlighting 94 figures here - and that's by no means a complete list. I hope to make this an annual tradition. If nothing else than to remind me of the ridiculous amount of money I spend on toys in any given year. I really need to start soliciting for free samples! Anyway, onward to the first annual She's Fantastic year-end review!
I'm going to dive right in with the
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CLASSICS
series from
Mattel
The addition of the Club Etheria mini-sub really boosted the number of female characters to an all-time high in 2014 - ten in all! Released this year were Glimmer, Scorpia, Double Mischief (and, yes, for those of you keeping tabs, I know I never reviewed her. I've actually been slowly customizing her to fix her unsightly neck issue. A full before-and-after review will happen eventually), Entrapta, Madame Razz, Sweet Bee, Galactic Protector She-Ra, Spinnerella, Mermista, and Flutterina.
Next let's check out the
MARVEL LEGENDS
figures from
Hasbro
The Captain America: Winter Soldier, Amazing Spider-Man 2, and Guardians of the Galaxy films opened the doors for a handful of great figures to kickstart the year. Released this year were Black Cat, Gamora, Black Widow (with 2 heads), Medusa, Ms. Marvel, and Spider-Girl.
Now on to the smaller scale
MARVEL UNIVERSE
figures also from
Hasbro
This year we saw Mistress Death and Nebula as SDCC Exclusives, Red She-Hulk, Valkyrie, and Wasp.
I think one of the most impressive categories is
TRANSFORMERS
from
Hasbro
This category is impressive because the number of female Transformers figures before this year was so minuscule that I had my fembots randoms mixed in with other collections. This year made me dedicate a whole shelf to them. Also, I didn't even touch on the amazing 3rd party figures. Released this year was Arcee, Chromia, Windblade, Strongarm, Flareup, Flamewar, and Transmutate.
Photo of the Botcon exclusive Arcee repaints (Right to Left: Flareup, Transmutate, and Flamewar) swiped from Shortpacked.com. You should all read that webcomic if you don't already.
Another game-changer this year was
DC COLLECTIBLES
from
DC Collectibles?
I think a lot of DC fans were skeptical DCC would ever get back into the old DC Direct groove after the company switched coasts, names, and focus (ie videogames and TV instead of comics), But 2014 has proven all the doubters wrong. Released this year were Superwoman, Animated Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl, Supergirl, Stargirl, Starfire, Hawkgirl, Huntress, Power Girl, Copperhead, Harley Quinn, Catwoman (BTAS), Catwoman (Capullo), Batgirl, Batgirl (Capullo), and Li'l Gotham Harley Quinn. I didn't review at least two figures: Earth 2 Wonder Woman and Zatanna.
A new series with a lot of potential...
GAME OF THRONES
from
Funko
Released were Daenerys (ver 1), Daenerys (ver 2), and Brienne.
Another in the great new Legacy lines is
MAGIC THE GATHERING
from
Funko
Released were Chandra Nalaar, Liliana Vess, and Nissa Revane. I hope there are more of these in the future because they are beautiful and fantastically executed.
and of course
POP!
from
Funko
Some notable releases were Arkham Asylum Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, Movie-version Maleficent, and Lady Sif. There were a billion more POP ladies this year, these are just my select favorites.
Plus the weird new line
Vinyl³
from
Funko
The only female so far is Harley Quinn. I hope there's more, but I'm not sure how well these little curiosities sold.
On to more gritty properties
THE WALKING DEAD
from
McFarlane Toys
This year we got TV-Style Maggie and Carol and a Comic-style Andrea.
And the surprisingly awesome figure from
ASSASSIN'S CREED
from
McFarlane Toys
Aveline de Grandpre
The amazingly retro
PLANET OF THE APES (CLASSICS)
from
NECA
This Zira figure is perfection.
But not be outshined by this little lady
GREMLINS
from
NECA
Penny is a surprise addition to the line. She was a concept character that never made it into Gremlins 2.
Speaking of retro...
OUTER SPACE MEN
from
The Four Horsemen
Terra Firma, Ohpromatem, and Horroscope were finally added to this resurrected vintage line. As an added perk, this review caught the attention of the toy designer from both the original and modern lines, Mel Birnkrant.
up next is
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES
from
Playmates
Megan Fox inexplicably gets another action figure in the form of April O'Neil.
An unexpected passing of the baton in
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG: BOOM
from
Tomy
With the ending of Jazwares Sonic license, I never expected the new Tomy figures to meld so seamlessly with the existing figures. We received an Amy and the new character, Sticks,
Of course a few
WWE
figures from
Mattel
These year we got a new Vickie Guerrero, a new Trish Stratus, a new Natalya, and Eva Marie.
A Couple fun additions to the
DC MULTIVERSE
line from
Mattel
Although they seemed to be a little plagued with paint issues, we received a very cool Batman Returns Catwoman and an Arkham Origins Harley Quinn.
a few surprises in the
IMAGINEXT
line from
Mattel
The females in this line trickle out slowly, but this year were got a cool Wendy Waters and Poison Ivy.
And the first lady in the
MARVEL SUPERHERO ADVENTURES
line from
Hasbro
It's been a long time coming, but this year we saw a K-Mart exclusive Black Widow.
TRANSFORMERS RESCUE BOTS
from
Hasbro
The first lady in this line, too! Dani Burns finally gets a figure.
A amazing first series of
I AM ELEMENTAL
figures from
Rebel Elements
The first series, Courage, gave us seven great action figures. I can't wait for more.
POWER RANGERS - MEGA FORCE
from
Bandai
The requisite Pink and Yellow rangers were released early in the year. These were the first figures in the larger scale.
BIG HERO 6
from
Bandai
Nothing like the power of Disney to get action figures on the shelves quickly. This movie line gave us Honey Lemon and Go Go Tomago.
And a bunch of random little figures...
JULIE NEWMAR CATWOMAN BENDY from NJ Croce
KOREJANAI CATWOMAN ROBOT from McDonalds Hong Kong
DUPLO CATWOMAN from Lego
MINI MEZ-ITZ '66 CATWOMAN from Mezco
SCRIBBLENAUTS CATWOMAN from DC Collectibles
SKELANIMALS HARLEY QUINN from Toynami
ASSAULT ON ARKHAM HARLEY QUINN FIGURINE from Warner Bros
That's All Folks!
Fingers crossed for a fantastic 2015 as well!
Cheers!
Epic post! Happy new year!
ReplyDeleteYes, very long indeed! Glad you enjoyed it :)
DeleteThat was an amazing retrospective on an amazing year for female action figures.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of ironic given how bad things looked heading into the year. DC Universe Classics had finally been put out of it's misery, and both Marvel Legends and Marvel Universe crashed and burned at retail leaving a trail of unreleased figures in their wake. Sure there was Star Wars Black and MOTUC (or more specifically Princess of Power) but the former is sorely lacking in female characters to begin with, and the latter had become tedious thanks to high prices and Matty's hi-jinks.
As it turned out, 2014 was full of surprises. Hasbro's strategy of slipping comic accurate Marvel Legends into the various movie lines actually worked. Marvel Universe, rebranded as Avengers Infinite, quickly pumped out four waves of figures. DC Collectibles not only put the "action" back into their New 52 action figures, but they released an onslaught of female characters, the likes of which I've never seen.
Then there was this blog/review site called "She's Fantastic" that brought a couple of things to my attention. The first was that Funko waa producing some beautiful female figures in it's Game of Thrones and Magic the Gathering line. The second, which has had a profound affect on my collecting habits, is that wrestling figures don't suck anymore. Mattel was pumping out figures left and right, including Divas, that could stand toe to toe with any other 6" figure in my collection.
Things are shaping up nicely for 2015 with Captain Marvel and the Scarlet Witch in the first wave of "Age of Ultiron" figures, Shanna coming soon in Marvel Infinte, a plethora of WWE Divas already confirmed (Alicia, Brie, Paige, Emma, Lana, Stephanie, and Summer), DCC gearing up again in the summer with New 52 Poison Ivy and Roller Derby Harley, and hopefully some more 6" female figures from Funko.
Man, I cannot wait for Toy Fair!
You're really making feel ashamed for not applying for my Toy Fair Press Pass yet. I need to do that tomorrow. Just the thought of DCC and Funko booths fills me with adrenaline.
DeleteHasbro has really been winning me over lately (after years of subtle disappointments). What I'm most excited about is their Spider-Women. I'm absolutely floored that we are getting a Marvel Legends Mayday Spider-Girl and a surprise Ultimate Spider-Woman in the next couple months Followed by the regular Spider-Woman this summer. Add that to the Anya Spider-Girl and Black Cat from last year and we have a dizzying amount of Spider-Ladies. Plus I'm almost certain we'll see figures of Silk and Spider-Gwen before too long.
Wrestling figures are very interesting for me. This is mostly because I don't know anything about wrestling so I'm buying them just because they're gorgeous inexpensive figures. I have a ton of them and I don't even have space to display them properly haha.
It has been a great year! Soo many figures there I would love to own, especially Super Woman.
ReplyDeleteBest year for the women of MOTUC. Really loved all the designs, though as mentioned Double Trouble has a poorly designed head. But all the rest - awesome.
Also very happy to add some women to my nephew's Imaginext collection with Poison Ivy. He got Wonder Woman at the same time. Bring on Batgirl!
And bring on Toy Fair!! :D
Did you see the Imaginext witch that will be in blind bag series 4? I think she looks awesome. There's aslo a snowboarding girl which is decent looking. Imaginext usually has a poor showing at Toy Fair, but maybe this year will be different.
Delete