NoisyDvL5’s Top Ten Toys
I Didn’t Even Review in 2013!

NoisyDvL5

Vault and I were planning on putting together our usual competing Top Ten “Unreviewed” toys, but the crazy weather (I stop counting at “negative too damn cold”) has put us a little off schedule. Today, I’ll be regaling you with my list of the top ten 2013 toys I purchased but “couldn’t be bothered” to review and then Vault will be back tomorrow with his list!

There are a variety of reasons a figure doesn’t get to the review stage. The biggest reason is just a crowded schedule. I’ve wanted to get a review of the DC Direct Warth up for years, but so many new toys come out so quickly that some figures, like Warth, just get left behind.

Other times, it might be because the toy represents a particular challenge. Is it too big for the lightbox? Would it take eleventy billion pictures to do the review right? Is it an awesome toy, but just not lending itself to any funny pics?

All of these happened and some have happened over the years and in some cases apply to the toys listed below. That’s not to say some of them won’t see reviews and soon here at IAT. Some certainly will, but I wanted to give these toys a shout out for being awesome in 2013 even if they didn’t make it on the site (just yet)!

Noisy No. 10 – Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers Figuarts: White & Pink Rangers!
This one is a gimme since I specifically called out these two on yesterday’s list. The MMPR Figuarts is one of the best lines of 2013 (and it will be in 2014 too – should I get both versions of the Yellow Ranger?) and while these two aren’t as cool as the Red & Green Rangers, they are still awesome in their own right. The White Ranger is a little light on accessories, but I can’t wait to open these guys! Oh, did I ever mention I try not to open a toy until I have time to review it? Yeah, that takes willpower sometimes, let me tell you. Even unopened, I’m still putting these two on here because I know they’ll be as good as the first two (& the dozens of other Figuarts before them).
Noisy No. 9 – Iron Man 3 Marvel Legends: Iron Monger!
Okay, this is a weird one. If you can believe it, I actually had to check the Review Index to make sure I really hadn’t featured this guy! Iron Monger was simply the best BAF of 2013 (it wasn’t a crowded field, but he would’ve rocked regardless). Just knowing this guy was coming out had me selling off most of my 4” scale Iron Man figures and he didn’t disappoint in all his metallic blue glory. The best part was that pretty much every figure that he came with was great too even if I didn’t really want them all. In 2014, Hasbro is using the Monger as a buck for the Mandroid and ensuring I pick up nearly all the Captain America figures too. Thanks, Hasbro.
Noisy No. 8 – G.I. Joe Collector’s Club Subscription 2.0: Widescope!
Widescope is a great example of low or no expectations making a huge impact when a great figure arrives. I didn’t pay attention to Joes ten years ago, but, had I been, I probably would’ve like Widescope (& his Shockwave-ness). When he arrived (& recently too which is a factor in his lack of review) with one of the more recent FSS shipments, I just had to open him – I’d anticipated selling him – and I loved the figure. I love the colors and the great accessories. My favorite 2.0 Joe so far!
Noisy No. 7 – NECA Aliens: Genocide 2-Pack!
Okay, technically, I did review the figure in his single release colors and I almost thought about replacing him with the similarly red & fabulous Lava Predator, but I couldn’t do it. The Red Alien has quickly become my favorite colorway on NECA’s excellent update to their Xenomorph body. The figure is so great that I have it in brown highlights, silver highlights, & red already – and plan to pick it up again if future colors look as awesome. (Plus, possible Kenner versions!?!) For now, the Red Alien is the standout and, for once, I’m glad to see a toy company creatively stretch their mold use.
Noisy No. 6 – Transformers Generations: Sandstorm!
While Masterpiece is easily where all the great Transformers action is these days, I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t like Hasbro to do more with the cheaper, and generally more easily obtained, regular line. Prime never really grabbed me and the few FOC toys I did snag weren’t great (Grimlock? Ugh!), but two retail purchases did stand out. I had to buy the FoC Springer, that’s a given for me as I tend to favor the movie characters. He was awesome, but this mold-brother and recolor Sandstorm blew even my nostalgia away. I never had the original Sandstorm, but I love the colors and when combined with a slick Hovercraft mode and an awesome Dune Buggy mode, Sandstorm was easily my favorite not-$100 Transformer of 2013!

Continue to Page 2 for my Top Five!

Pages: 1 2

NoisyDvL5

28 thoughts on “NoisyDvL5’s Top Ten Toys
I Didn’t Even Review in 2013!”

  1. Shouldn’t the tomahawk by hung from the ceiling with fishing line? I mean, what are we, savages?

    That mongrel fig is just stupid awesome. I still don’t know how I feel about the bowling ball-style plastic used, and evidently we’re getting it again in mandroid, but thus far, it feels nice and solid. Monger has great range of motion too, for a bulky body type, so expecting good thing from mandroid.

    1. I should get around to hanging a few of the flying vehicles…

      Iron Monger really is a great figure! The look was spot on, but the articulation was a good surprise on a figure his size.

      1. that could be a “HANGtorial?” don’t feel too bad though, i’ve been threatening to hang the wind raider since i got the damned thing and still haven’t. the only toy thing i have hung is the cage for the eventual gothitropolis raven. that went up the week the wife snagged it for me.

  2. I have Widescope, Sandstorm, Jungle Disguise Dutch, and the new Tomahawk from your list. Agreed on all counts! The Tomahawk (which I never had as a kid) wins easily as Best Vehicle of 2013. I honestly thought the mold was lost by now and we’d never see it again, so that was a very pleasant surprise.

    I forgot to give props to a few of the Retaliation figures which truly stood out from the pack: The long awaited Kwinn, Blind Master, (someone at Hasbro is a fan of the 1976 martial arts film “Master of the Flying Guillotine”) Night Viper, (easily the hardest find of 2013 which I’m still searching for) Ultimate Cobra Commander, Ultimate Storm Shadow, and to a slightly lesser extent, Bruce Willis.

    Iron Monger sounds like a winner. I’ll be completing that sucker somewhere down the line as well.

    1. I had I thought I heard the mold was lost too. I haven’t done a side-by-side with my old shell, but there are a lot of different pieces that they could’ve started from scratch? That’s worth looking up for the review. 😉

      I never saw any of those newer Retaliation Joes (money saved I guess?), but I should look into some of those ultimates… it’s the Joes in the concept cases that I really want!

  3. Yep knowing and following majorly over rangers now I see how Kiba doesn’t fit. (If did a costume.change here instead how the ruination of Gokaiger is gonna happen) woulda been nice.

    Iron Monger is indeed awesome. First BaF I’ve finished in awhile (next to.Terrax but thats last year) and he us a thing of beauty. Poses well, menancing, and just fun.

    The Tomahawk oh how I loved it as a kid and think it still is the coolest vehicle of the joe verse (after the real Night Raven) Why are the big toys always outta wallet reach for me.

      1. Depending on things I may try and get Ryuu Ranger. Just wish they’d finish the other teams like Jetman (sawbwhole in an add during Akibaranger) the Goseigers (only did Gosei Knight (a better character than his.US counterpart)) the other GoBusters, the spirit rangers of Kyoryuger (both sexes for Violet) the rest of the Dairangers.

        Ofcourse Kamen Rider Gaim is growing on me. (I sorta see this coming state side for some.reason.)

  4. So the 1/4 scale Keaton Batman is a 2013 release? I just ordered one yesterday as they just arrived at BBTS. If so, I’ve got some upcoming lists to rework I imagine.

    1. I think it was supposed to drop Sept/Oct ’13, but appears to be just coming out now. I think it’s safe enough to include it as a ’14 release.

      1. I think you could definitely go either way. BBTS did just get there’s – I’ve just been tortured by some amazing pics of him for weeks on Instagram and Facebook, so he did manage to squeak out in 2013 to some places.

        There’s no real rules on top ten lists, right? 🙂

        1. i think it was hunter Knight who got his in right in time for xmas? He finally got around to removing the cowl last week and the head is FULLY PAINTED underneath, as if they had a last minute change of plans to glue the cowl down?

    1. Haha! I hadn’t seen that. Likely not, I’m not the biggest Frank Miller fan – it was MOTUC Batman that drew me in (still dying for that MOTUC Superman, Mattel. LOL)

    1. I have some pics of the DCUC GA Batman with the Batmobile somewhere… lol

      The real problem with the Adam West Hot Toys is the rabbit hole. The Dynamic Duo. The Car. The villains. Other vehicles. Who knows… I should just hold up on that trek…

      1. I wouldn’t worry too much about Hot Toys quickly going down the rabbit hole with the. ’66 Batman stuff. They are notorious for not finishing lines. To date, the most flushed out franchise is the Avengers and ’66 definitely doesn’t have that type of popularity. IF they do go deep on this line, it’s gonna been a long time coming. They got too much in the pipe right now like Cap 2, GotG and Amazing Spidey 2…not to mention all the other stuff that has been announced. Hell, we are coming up on two years since they revealed the ’66 Batmobile at SDCC and still no preorder

  7. So glad to see Sandstorm on this list (and above Springer as well). As much as I loved Springer, I really thought that Sandstorm took all of the little nitpicks that I had with Springer and fixed them. It’s just an amazing toy overall.

    Not sure if you have them or not (maybe that’s why they didn’t make either list), but Generations Metroplex and the Masterpiece Datsuns (Prowl, Bluestreak, Smokescreen) are all pretty damn amazing figures.

    1. Sandstorm is awesome! And to think I almost didn’t buy him! He takes all the good from Spring and runs with it.

      Metroplex coulda been a contender, but I never have grabbed one. I JUST got that reissue Fort Max and I haven’t been in a hurry to make him not the biggest thing in the room.

      The MP Datsuns are fantastic too. All the MP releases have been really. I could just rank those as their own Top Ten! I hope to have reviews up on them soon.

  8. I unfortunately passed on the HT 1989 Bats stuff, so I’ve been really thinking I want that NECA one. Any word on a Joker to go with? That would pull me into instabuy territory. (Of course I really just want NECA to get the 7″ license to do the whole Keatonverse.)

    If I wasn’t in such picky buyer mode these days, I’d build that Monger in a heartbeat. How cool is he? Well, let’s just say I’ve been more jealous of people’s Monger pics than I have been of people’s Grayskull pics. Yi-ikes.

    As for overlooked figures, I gotta go with Clutch on the Ultimate Joes. Those were super rad. Hopefully Hasbro will keep those going forever. As long as they’re Classic looks like that I’m a buyer. I do really dig the modern stuff they did with 30th, but I felt it kept getting dragged down into crap movie terrain, so Classic looks are a safe bet at making every fig a knockout.

    Other than that I can’t think of anything. I’ve been digging the Figuarts Dragonball stuff, probably the best DBZ figures to come down the pipe, but those are pricey and very niche, and no one fig is TOTY material really.

    Looking ahead, I think 2014 should already be sewn up and called The Ravens for the win. 😀
    The Ravens and MOTUC Blade. You guys can keep everything else. 😉

    1. Other than the rubber suit on Batman, I love it all (and I don’t mind the suit, it just scares me down the road). I’m hoping that when they finally fulfill the promise to do Batman Returns they’ll do that more armored Batsuit and it will allow for a different type of material. I’d snag him, Penguin, & Catwoman for sure. (I would have to draw a line at a second Batmissile Batmobile though… lol) Speaking of though – did you know a Hot Toys Batwing would have to have a 5ft Wingspan? O.o

  9. Nice list! I’m going to make a list “Top Ten Toys I Was Too Poor To Buy” 😉

    Reviews of Hot Toys are certainly welcome, although to be honest I don’t pay too much attention to them because they’re simply not on my radar (or in my budget). Unless of course it was a property I like (Batman) but for instance, anything Marvel related I would probably ignore.

    2013 was the year that broke the belt. There’s just so much out on the market right now and much like it was back in the ’80s I had to carefully choose what lines I collect. I also made the decision to only collect what I truly love, so that way six months or a year down the line I don’t come to regret/resent a figure I purchased. I’m done with that.

    1. Haha! That’s not a bad idea for a list!

      The funny thing that Vault and I have noticed is that the higher end stuff tends to get more hits – we’re thinking possibly because more people will look than buy, whereas nearly everyone coming here has, say, all the MOTU figures? It’s interesting.

      And I definitely spent way too much this year. I’m looking forward to come down in 2014. No DC sub, a supposedly smaller MOTU sub (we all know an add-on is coming…). And while I have 3-4 HTs on my radar, I don’t think any of the smaller lines have a big purchase lined up yet (but we haven’t seen Toy Fair). I think the MP line will be the only thing increasing in cost for me next year.

    2. I was pretty bad this year, too. And I still haven’t picked up Metroplex or the G1 reissue of Predacons. Normally I’d have been all over that stuff. But a castle, masterpiece Transformers, tons of MOTUC figures … It was a crazy year. I think that’s why we won’t see a Snake Mountain this year. Matty knows we’re broke.

  10. I found the Tomahawk to be a big disappointment. Modern figures do not work very well in the cargo area — they’re too big for what was even a tight fit for smaller vintage figures. And forget trying to seat them reasonably — even with double joints at the knee, foot-pegged figures still sit awkwardly in the seats. Simply put, leaving out a back peg or seatbelt severely limits how you can play with this thing. If you fly it, your figures are falling out, and that sucks. I could almost be content with stuffing a Lift Ticket into the cockpit and calling it a day, but even there the windshield is so dark (and the bottom glass now a painted plastic) that you can’t see anyway. So it’s a nice thing to look at, I guess, just don’t plan on touching it.

    1. That is amazing! Thanks for the link!

      The Hot Toys one can not do that actually. The HT figure has three interchangeable chins to swap out expressions and the inside of the head itself has the mechanism to move around the eyes. There’s no Keaton sculpt to be had.

Comments are closed.