[Poll] Top Ten figures of 2023

[Flaffy]

OK, so I've been thinking about it, and while most of my top 10 have already been accounted for, the Bandai MegaHouse Mawsonia that came with their Spinosaurus anatomy kit really was one of the 10 most exciting figures for me this year.

It would've peaked my interest if the poor thing wasn't half filleted

[Concavenator]

@Concavenator That's why there is several write in options, just in case. If you want to change your vote to include that under a write in vote, you are free to do so. Just remove and re-vote.

Thanks, I have re-voted, my votes being the same but instead of CollectA's Mosasaurus, I went with "Other/write in option". Doesn't let me write down the figure I'm alluding to, but in any case, it's Ancestors' Tlatolophus.

[Crackington]

Thanks for organising this @Faelrin - after my choices from the list I also voted for an "Other". This is the (London) Natural History Museum Patagotitan model from the Titanosaur exhibition.

Its grown on me a lot since getting it and I'd like to encourage them to do more of this in future!

[Faelrin]

@Concavenator I probably should have specified earlier, it would be to leave a comment below here, but you did anyways. I'll be sure to make note of it for the poll results down the road.

@Crackington Also noted, thanks.

[Eyka Dino Time]

    

[Halichoeres]

OK, so I've been thinking about it, and while most of my top 10 have already been accounted for, the Bandai MegaHouse Mawsonia that came with their Spinosaurus anatomy kit really was one of the 10 most exciting figures for me this year.

It would've peaked my interest if the poor thing wasn't half filleted

I normally don't prefer skeletal figures or ones that show injuries, but this one made sense as an anatomy figure, and the fact that the skeleton is quite accurate instead of just a generic fish skeleton, or even a Latimeria skeleton, really impressed me!

Thanks for including it, @Faelrin, and for putting together the poll!

[Faelrin]

I finally voted but I'm not 100% settled. Here's what I picked. 10 was not enough for me lol. I really wish these polls did more then top 10. So much good stuff to pick from in recent years.

CollectA Koolasuchus (I own, and a figure of a genus I wanted for years now)
Creative Beast Studio BotM Bistahieversor (high on my wishlist)
Creative Beast Studio BotM Yutyrannus (I own; figure of the year tied with Koolasuchus for me)
Haolonggood Apatosaurus (either color) (high on my wishlist)
Haolonggood Ouranosaurus (either version and color) (I own, and a figure of a genus I wanted for years now)
PNSO Meraxes (still one of my favorites from then this year, high on my wishlist)
Safari Ltd Estemmenosuchus (high on my wishlist)
Safari Ltd Utahraptor (a figure of a genus I wanted for years now, high on my wishlist)
Mattel Jurassic World Hammond Collection Brachiosaurus (have yet to open it, but one of the best Mattel has made in recent years)
Mattel Jurassic World Hammond Collection Carnotaurus (one of the best Mattel has made in recent years; high on wishlist. Could not choose between the Brach or this so went for both.

Runner up's:
Creative Beast BotM Guanlong and Proceratosaurus (I own both and they are very beautiful long needed representations of these two important tyrannosauroids)
PNSO Alamosaurus (a much needed figure of this North American titanosaur; high on wishlist)
PNSO Saurophaganax (the definitive Allosaurus for me atm; high on wishlist)
Rebor Deinosuchus and Sarcosuchus (much needed figures of these giant pseudosuchians that have been in the works for years; high on wishlist)

And others not mentioned I also like from Haolonggood, but too many to list.

Edit: I've currently added the results into a spreadsheet to keep track of, including the two current write ins posted by @Concavenator and @Crackington. Quite a few figures that were suggested earlier have yet to be voted for too, with 0 votes for them, which I thought was surprising. In any case thanks to the 30 people who have voted so far.

[Halichoeres]

I'm surprised how poorly the Creative Beast figures are doing.

[Faelrin]

  @Halichoeres Honestly I'm not. They've typically always had rather poor support compare to other brands on the forum here like Eofauna, Safari, or PNSO. In the case of most of this year's selection, most of them consist of small tyrannosauroids that rarely get made, and some of the most accurate representations on the market now. Yet so far this is one of the weakest showings I've seen for their figures yet. Yeah there's tough competition too, but still. I tried to spread my votes out to multiple companies, so I only voted for the Bistahieversor and Yutyrannus, but man if voting for more then 10 figures was a thing, I would gladly be voting for more of them (especially the Guanlong and Proceratosaurus too).

2018 was the first year of releases with the raptor series, where a few did okay (particularly the Dromaeosaurus, Velociraptor, and Mononykus/Desert set), but not excellent. Even the Schleich Psittacosaurus got more votes then all of them:
https://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=8315.msg243855#msg243855

Absent from 2019, but to be fair it was also just a few repaints that released in that year.

2020 was the initial wave of ceratopsians, where they did pretty poorly, with perhaps the exception of the Styracosaurus.
https://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=9242.0

2021 was the other batch of ceratopsians, which also didn't do well:
https://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=10024.0

Only the 1/18 T. rex did well last year, compared to the rest, but still beaten out by quite a bit:
https://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=10620.0

Not a single Creative Beast figure has ever made it to the top 10. Give me like an hour or more and I can put the data together to help visualize how all the brands do, and how they compare to the rest.

Edit: Actually several hours, but here's a sneak peak of things to come, with the votes per company of 2022's poll results. Overall I would say BotM did pretty decent, but still less then some other fan favorites here. Granted not the worst by a long shot.

[Halichoeres]

Wow, thanks for taking the time to put that together! That's way more votes than PNSO deserved last year.

[Gwangi]

I don't vote for Creative Beast figures because I don't collect them. It would seem weird to vote for a brand I have never personally interacted with. I do acknowledge that they're excellent figures though, I always give them 4-5 star ratings on the blog.

[Gwangi]

After a couple of days of deliberation I went with...

CollectA Koolasuchus
CollectA Mosasaurus
Haolonggood Apatosaurus
Haolonggood Ouranosaurus
Haolonggood Pachyrhinosaurus
PNSO Megalosaurus
PNSO Saurophaganax
PNSO Yangchuanosaurus magnus (Dapeng)
Safari Ltd Estemmenosuchus
Mattel Jurassic World Hammond Collection Carnotaurus

Oddly enough, two of those figures I might never even get. The HLG Apatosaurus and PNSO Saurophaganax. The former would be difficult to fit into my display cabinet but there is no denying that it is a monumental achievement and the best Apatosaurus ever produced in plastic. If I can cull my collection and make room for it I will but I have difficulty doing that. The Saurophaganax is probably PNSO's best ever theropod but it's an expensive one too. Maybe if I can get it on sale.

Figures like the Safari Estemmenosuchus, HLG Ouranosaurus and Pachyrhinosaurus, PNSO Megalosaurus, and CollectA Koolasuchus and Mosasaurus are exceptional figures that represent animals I've been wanting in my collection for a long time. It's unfortunate that the PNSO Megalosaurus has exposed teeth but it's still the first great Megalosaurus figure to show up since the Invicta and for that reason it has to get my vote.

The Hammond Collection Carnotaurus is the only Mattel figure to make the top 10. It's possibly Mattel's best toy in the entire Jurassic Park line. The weird neck of the Brachiosaurus keeps it off my list.

Honorable Mentions would include...CollectA Hadrosaurus, HLG  Dacentrurus, Edmontonia, Megaraptor, and Pentaceratops, Safari Majungasaurus and Utahraptor, and the entire Mattel '93 Classic Collection.

[bmathison1972]

I don't vote for Creative Beast figures because I don't collect them. It would seem weird to vote for a brand I have never personally interacted with. I do acknowledge that they're excellent figures though, I always give them 4-5 star ratings on the blog.

Same

[ceratopsian]

I voted for some of the BotM ceratopsians - I bought an awful lot of them.  But I don't vote for their tyrannosaurs purely because I don't own any.And thanks for putting the time into that chart @Faelrin.  It's a great deal more striking to see a visual representation than a list of numbers!

[Faelrin]

@Gwangi I figure that's the case for a lot of folks here, based on the current poll trends, if folks are strictly voting for what they prefer to collect.

That said, I'm curious why you don't? I know you collect some Mattel as well, so it can't be an issue of scale or that they are action figures right?

Anyways I'll try to get more charts done for the previous years today. It was late last night when I got started on that one.

[Gwangi]

@Gwangi I figure that's the case for a lot of folks here, based on the current poll trends, if folks are strictly voting for what they prefer to collect.

That said, I'm curious why you don't? I know you collect some Mattel as well, so it can't be an issue of scale or that they are action figures right?

Anyways I'll try to get more charts done for the previous years today. It was late last night when I got started on that one.

Short answer: I just have to draw a line somewhere.  I collect enough stuff.

Long answer: There are multiple factors but space is a big one. I have a display cabinet for figurines and a shelf for action figures and there's no way I can incorporate Creative Beast into either of them. The action figure shelf was originally dominated by Tyco and older Jurassic Park toys so it was easy to fit Mattel into that. Both spaces are too crowded now and I REALLY don't want a third space dedicated to dinosaurs. I also collect extant animals and have a small assortment of movie creatures/cryptids and they have their own spaces too. That's enough space taken up by toys. My toys I might add, with two kids the house is full of toys as is! 

Why I collect Mattel over Creative Beast is because it's merchandise for Jurassic Park, basically. It also fits in well with my established Tyco and Kenner collections. They're also cheap, readily available, and most importantly...not as delicate. One reason I collect Mattel is because I don't mind it if my kids want to play with them, I can't let my kids play with Creative Beast figures. I've dabbled with high end action figures before. I have some McFarlane and NECA stuff and I broke my Xenomorph just by using its articulation and my cat broke my T800 multiple times by knocking it off its shelf (they're glued together now). So I'm a bit gun shy with delicate high end action figures.

Believe me, if things like money and space weren't an issue I would have a collection of Creative Beast figures. And more movie monsters, kaiju, cryptids, etc. I have a hard time just keeping up with the things I do collect! Too much more and it would become a chore. The more crowded my shelves become the pickier I get, soon I might have to stop collecting Mattel altogether and be content with what I have. Not yet though!   

[Concavenator]

@Gwangi Have you considered the small 1:18 BotM dromaeosaurids and ceratopsians, the small tyrannosauroids, or the upcoming Deinonychus?

They're not big by any means, actually, they're on the small side! So much so, that in case you decided to stick to a 1 figure per species rule and went with those Creative Beast figures, you would most likely be saving space relative to other versions from other companies. For instance, I recently replaced Safari's Velociraptor with the 1:18 BotM and saved some space. I might do the same with Deinonychus as well.

That said, I understand that sticking to a single figure per species can be hard. And those Creative Beast figures I mentioned aren't cheap, either. In any case, if you ever get a Creative Beast figure, I doubt you'll be disappointed.

[Faelrin]

@Gwangi I appreciate the in depth response. That's absolutely understandable. Cost, lack of space, the delicate nature are all valid reasons. And as much as I love the brand, it's part of the reason I have so few at times (or in the case of the ceratopsians took me like two years making routine payments to David to get the ones I did, minus the FC Medusaceratops that came later that my mom surprised me with). I know many collectors here also prefer many static figures over the articulated ones, or because the scale is too big in most cases (a few figures excepted, but hopefully more 1/35 for the bigger species becomes a thing because it's an untapped market for dinosaur action figures, aside from the few T. rex models Kaiyodo also did). Honestly I'm in a similar situation, but I do collect them, but as a result it's meant I've had to push back getting other brands things. Same thing with Mattel. Thankfully in recent years there hasn't been a whole lot from the latter I've had interest in, which helps, but I've still fallen behind on quite a bit this year from my living situation.

[Gwangi]

@Gwangi Have you considered the small 1:18 BotM dromaeosaurids and ceratopsians, the small tyrannosauroids, or the upcoming Deinonychus?

They're not big by any means, actually, they're on the small side! So much so, that in case you decided to stick to a 1 figure per species rule and went with those Creative Beast figures, you would most likely be saving space relative to other versions from other companies. For instance, I recently replaced Safari's Velociraptor with the 1:18 BotM and saved some space. I might do the same with Deinonychus as well.

That said, I understand that sticking to a single figure per species can be hard. And those Creative Beast figures I mentioned aren't cheap, either. In any case, if you ever get a Creative Beast figure, I doubt you'll be disappointed.

I have definitely considered the figures you mentioned, especially the 1/18 dromaeosaurids and ceratopsians which I'm sure I could squeeze in somewhere. I mean, the size of them is another reason I don't collect them. On the one hand though, I figure it might be best not to open Pandora's Box. I know once I get one or two I'll want more. We'll see what happens! If the other companies ever slow down and/or I'm able to catch up with them I might stray into the smaller Creative Beast figures.

[suspsy]

I'm not happy about omitting the adult BotM T. rex. Colour scheme and paint job are major factors in the overall merit of a figure and both the KS Exclusive and the standard version were magnificent in those regards.