The Top Fifteen Action Figures of 2013 Part 1

It felt like 2013 would never end.  It came in with a bang and had a good first half of the year, but good things can’t last forever and this last quarter of the year has been a real crawl for me.  I think the site really suffered the second half of the year as well due to a lot of unforeseen circumstances.  But those issues are inconsequential to you the reader so I will not bore you with them.  Instead I want to get back to what I like which is writing about and taking pictures of toys.

A lot of action figures have come out this year, and in turn I have bought quite a few of them.  This originally started as a top five, but then it moved to ten.  There were a few figures I couldn’t leave out from the top ten so I just changed it to a total of fifteen figures I enjoyed a great deal this year.  So lets get this list started up in here:

Hasbro Marvel Legends Rocket Raccoon

[h2]15. Hasbro – Marvel Legends Rocket Raccoon BAF[/h2]

For the most part I never felt a connection to the recent run of small-sized Marvel Legends build-a-figures.  Hit Monkey seemed cool enough, but the characters he was packed with didn’t really speak to me.  Puck was a long awaited figure, but with the price hike on that Wolverine Legends wave and the omission of Rogue I didn’t care enough.  Rocket Raccoon worked out pretty well because he was packed with a few characters I wanted, and who doesn’t want Rocket Raccoon?

With Guardians of the Galazy coming out next year we will be ears deep in Rocket Raccoon merchandise.  But that was no reason not to get a very comic accurate version of the character with an articulated jaw.  Now that Rocket is out this begs the question, “when is Groot coming?

It’s also worth noting that I was really excited that one of Rocket’s parts came with Jean Grey.  I was then disapointed that Jean ended up with a real “derp” face.

008

[h2]14. Rampageo Industries – Heroic Prince Algor[/h2]

*** I just want to clarify something: Prince Algor is NOT listed here because Dr. Rampageo himself wired me $300.  Sure he did send me that amount of money — possibly more, but that has NOTHING to do with why Algor is listed here. ***

He’s a clear Remco five-inch body with Rampageo Industries’ signature slime as a head.  What’s not to love?  He’s photo bombed more of my pictures this year than I care to mention.  Usually its a bad situation for him, but thats just the cards Prince Algor was dealt.

We did a review of the prince earlier this year.  He’s a pretty chill dude and uses some of the strongest magnets I have ever seen to keep him together.

009

[h2]13. Mattel – Masters of the Universe Classics Mantenna[/h2]

Nothing brings me more glee than when a Masters of the Universe Classics figure gets a new sculpt.  I LOVE Mantenna and Mattel actually ended up doing the figure complete justice.  He’s one of the few figures of the year that I didn’t see any glaring corners cut.  They did a fan-favorite figure right, and didn’t charge more for the new or extra parts.  When dealing with Mattel you have to consider such circumstances a victory.

While his “butthole mouth” is accurate to the vintage toy I really wish they gave him a Filmation option.  This would have put him over the top for me.  I’ll just have to wait for the eventual Kevin Kosse creation to make my Filmation accurate dreams come true.  Until then it’s butthole mouth all day every day!

We also did a review of MOTUC Mantenna — feel free to check out more pictures here!

007

[h2]12. S.H. Figuarts – Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Pink Ranger[/h2]

This year I had my first experience with S.H. Figuarts.  A buddy of mine told me they were true works of art, so when I saw they were doing the lineup from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers I wanted to give it a try.  My first figure was the Green Ranger aka Tommy aka convention phenom Jason David Frank.  I wasn’t in love with the toy when I first got it.  The scale (around five inch) and price (about $40) factored into me feeling a little disappointed at first.

But he sat on my desk a few weeks and I started to notice that he was my go-to desk posing figure.  And in doing so I started to see how expressive these figures can get.  I was sold.  I then went on to grab the Red Ranger and finally came to the Pink Ranger.  So why did I end up liking her the best?  It’s gotta be the skirt.

010

[h2]11. NECA – Predator Dutch (All of them!)[/h2]

NECA has always kind of been known go to for Predator and Alien action figures.  This year they ushered in their eighth Predator wave with none other than Dutch Schaefer.  Dutch is a true action figure.  He’s scaled to the Predators, fully articulated, and looks just like Arnold.  He manages to put any previous Arnold figure to shame.  NECA then went on to make roughly 75 additional variations of Dutch in less and less clothing as the movie progressed.

We are now left with one variant we really need: the red polo Dutch.  Make it happen NECA; make it happen!

We did quite a few Dutch reviews, and we were happy to do them!  Check em out here, here, and here.

We’ll be back in the next couple days with “The Top Fifteen Action Figures of 2013” part 2 where we check out the next five figures to make our illustrious — and 100% factual top fifteen list.  See you guys in a bit!

7 thoughts on “The Top Fifteen Action Figures of 2013 Part 1”

  1. I could definitely see Mantenna ending up on my list and Dutch will most certainly be on mine.

    That Pink Ranger looks amazing, though. I really liked the Bandai Power Rangers stuff this year but I never paid much attention to the SH Figurarts stuff. Pretty cool. Darn, I love end of the year top 10/15/ whatever lists!

    1. Thanks man!

      The S.H. Figuarts stuff is really fantastic and you can generally find them for a decent price on Amazon. Pink Ranger really clicked with me over the others because of the awesome archery poses you can get out of her. The other guys are great too, but when given the bow/arrow you see what the S.H. Figuarts body can really do.

  2. Pingback: The Top Fifteen Action Figures of 2013 Part 2 « Preternia

    1. Predator figures are generally a little taller than MOTUC. Arnold is around the same size as a MOTUC figure and the Predators have about a head on them. I’ll see if I can snap some pictures soon.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Scroll to Top