And the Most Requested Round One Semi-Finalists are…

Last year, we featured eighteen Most Requested articles asking for figures from all over the toy kingdom. The requests ranged from cancelled lines to current lines, from 2″ Minimates to 8″ Hellboy figures, and we even threw in a juice drink for good measure. At the end of the year, we started our first annual tradition, a runoff between those requests to see which one was really the Most Requested Figure of 2009. Our readers chose Mera (DC Comics) for that honor. This year (with a little help from Geoff Johns) Mera is getting her first action figure from DC Direct.

This year, we’ve broken the voting into three semi-final rounds and over the last seven days votes have been pouring to choose which four of our first twelve requests will go on to the Final Round this December. With over 1500 votes cast and counted, it’s time for the results.

Twelfth Place. Offered up by our very own Adventure Vault, Solomon Kane was a last minute addition to our first round. Sadly, Kane wasn’t able to pull enough votes to come in above dead last. But hey, it’s not his fault. Someone has to come in last. We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that his standing would’ve probably been helped by the 2009 Solomon Kane film that still hasn’t been released domestically. Until then, Solomon will probably stay off most folks radar and collectors wanting puritan action figures will continue to wait.

Eleventh Place. We were surprised by the lack of love for the only DC Classics request that made it into Round One poll. At only 4% of the vote we had to ask, did we just go too far back? Did a guy in a suit just not appeal to you? If it’s the latter, we have to point out that we ran a poll where the suited version of Crimson Avenger won in a land slide over the later, spandex-clad version. Personally, I blame the Geoff Johns explanation that his symbol was, in fact, a bullet hole. Or the Ostrander origin that had him deciding to fight crime after he we watch Doomsday kill Superman decades in the future. Those make me cringe when I think of the Crimson Avenger. Either way, if Mattel decided to include the Crimson Avenger in DC Classics, he better have a good C&C piece.

Tenth Place. Oh, DST. You might be the company that breaks our heart the most. Some companies may confound us, some may annoy us, but you beat us up again and again. Looking at your offerings at Toy Fair feels like reloading the unmade Palisades toy page at the Muppet Wiki over and over before crying yourself to sleep. We’re still holding out hope for the General Hammond figure you displayed – our Stargate collection is incomplete without him. Our figures just sit on the shelf waiting to be told they “have a go.” Sadly, only 5% of readers shared our lament.

Ninth Place. We’re not sure what kept U.S. Agent so low in the polls. Even though he was the lone representative of the Marvel Universe, he garnered only a small percentage of the vote. We have to wonder if it was because we made it a Marvel Legends request. Have ML fans just given up? Are they buying MUs? We want a U.S. Agent in that line too, but he still has a spot reserved on our Marvel Legends shelves. This guy is due. He hasn’t made the cut in any line but ye old Marvel 5″ and as a minimates. He’s a repaint of Captain America that companies don’t do. And we have a soft spot for overlooked repaints. Says so right there in the banner.

Eighth Place. This one was another shock to us here around the IAT offices. Again, we think the ship has simply sailed. Maybe the movie versions satisfied the fans that really wanted action figures. Maybe we’ve just given up on the near 25 year old property ever getting merchandise. Still, we’re down for DC Direct to revisit the notion that there should be action figures on the tenth anniversary of their killing them the first time. Julius Marx from AFI let us know that the molds for the kiboshed figures might not even exist anymore. Still, we’ll leave the light on for comic-based Watchmen figures.

Seventh Place. Samus Aran pulled in just 7% of the vote. Really, this shouldn’t be a surprise since there is a complete dearth of Nintendo-based action figures. Does no one really mind that? That whole stable is dying for the action figure treatment and at this point, it just seems rather unlikely they’d start now. There have been a few attempts. I have a decade-old Donkey Kong, Yoshi, & Link from Toy Biz. But that’s those guys. We don’t have anything for Samus. She’d make for one killer figure – or two actually, we’d need a Zero Suit Samus to go right along with the armored version?

Sixth Place. If any one candidate rose and fell in this competition, it was the Movie Masters line. In the early voting, it was as high as second place, but then, with each day, it fell down the list. It settled in at sixth place, falling just three votes shy of the next spot. I don’t know what’s in the future for this line. Whatever amount of Zod or Reeve Superman that Mattel will sell in 12″, they can surely expect to sell far more in 6” form. Even if DC Movie Masters is destined for limbo after Two-Face is sold on Matty collector in two weeks, I imagine it will be a short-lived vacation with Green Lantern in the works. With proper case pack outs and preparation this line can be a success and we hope Mattel will be on the ball for the next movie that gives them the opportunity.

Fifth Place. We admit it. We put Mr. Fallon into our poll as a bit of a lark. Sure, we’d buy one, but do we think that a TV personality action figure line has legs? Not really. Then you voted and put Jimmy in fifth place! What’s up with that? Jimmy might not have made the top four, but you can bet they’ll be a few more TV personalities in our Polls. If we can find the right person to be immortalized in plastic, maybe the floodgates will open. Space Ghost can’t have the corner on our interviewing our other action figures forever…


And the Four Semi-Finalists Are…

Fourth Place. Did we mention Jimmy was tied for fourth place for a long time? Yep. It wasn’t until late into the last night that another request got the final push to move past Mr. Fallon. Yep. Jimmy got beat by a big purple cat. That’s respectable, right? Obviously, Panthor has been made in plastic a few times before, but he’s never been given the justice that Battle Cat just received. With many a collector already calling for Battle Cat to be the toy of the 2010, it’s only a matter of time before Panthor gets his time in the sun.

Third Place. Power Rangers toys have been going strong for nearly twenty years. In poll after poll, Power Rangers fans cite Rita Repulsa as the primary Power Rangers villain. And yet, she doesn’t have an action figure. Can you imagine a MOTU line without Skeletor? Or a Batman line without the Joker? I think it’s fair to say that’s impossible to conceive and yet PR fans have been waiting for a Rita Repulsa since the early 90s. It’s no surprise that she made it into the top three in our poll. Power Rangers fans are a force to be reckoned with. Will they have the drive to put Rita over the top this December? Time will tell…

Second Place. I didn’t have any of these as a kid, but apparently, I was the only one. Dino Riders was never in danger of not being in the top three in our poll. Through research, it looks like Mattel should have the rights to these figures, but we’re not certain. Regardless of who owns the license, it looks like there’s some money in a revamp based on our results. I think even kids today would be excited by dinosaurs with laser beams on their head and collectors seem to be willing to gobble them up. And, of course, if Mattel does have the license to make Dino Riders… there’s a few Dinosaurs we’re going to need in MOTU Classics…

First Place. Crisis on Two Earths was awesome, but I’m still surprised to see it take the top spot in our first round. It’ll have to duke it out equally in December, but for now they’re the reigning champion among IAT requests. Was it the movie itself? Was it the designs? What made this movie catch on with so many DC fans? We loved it too much to know for sure, but calls for toys based on the movie were loud when it debuted and haven’t subsided much in the ensuing months. It’s a shame that both DC Direct and Mattel passed on making toys for this installment (even sadder that Mattel chose to back the abysmal Public Enemies). This movie was ripe for a toy line and we’re still annoyed that we were left out in the cold by the big companies. We’re surprised that it took the top spot, but we’re certainly not disappointed. But will it have the legs to be the Most Requested come December?


Again, we thank you for voting and encourage you to send in your requests for the Most Requested column!

28 thoughts on “And the Most Requested Round One Semi-Finalists are…

  1. I have to say I have mixed feelings about the results. I don’t think COTE should be in the top spot over say, a real possibility like the Movie Masters line.

    I’m happy to see Dino Riders in the top three though and Rita Repulsa is one of the biggest blights on Bandai’s record.

      1. I voted for Movie Masters, but I can see how people could have given up on Mattel making the line – they’re only coming out with Dark Knight Two Face now, and the movie’s been out for two years already! As much as I would love to see 4H-sculpted versions of Keaton’s Batman and Reeve’s Superman, I’d be more willing to bet that we’ll see them done by DC Direct instead of Mattel.

  2. Sad to see Samus go so far down the list. There has to be a market for Metroid merchandise.

    Very happy to see Dino Riders make it though!

    1. Definitely, I would love to see at least an armored Samus Aran in a easy to get and pose-able toy line.

  3. Over on Rangerboard, fans are continuously shooting emails at Bandai asking about the possibility of a Rita figure in the 2010 line. They’re all met with the same stock response (“Currently no plans, but the lineup’s always changing so who knows?!”) Fans see it as some sort of secret message, so they keep posting THE SAME EMAIL over and over in the thread.

    Honestly though, with reports of poor sales, Walmarts resetting without Power Rangers and little hope of seeing anything from Toy Fair released, the odds aren’t looking good in Rita’s favor.

    It’s funny–I’ve actually been accused of being anti-Rita and a Bandai apologist. I’m neither, but like I’ve said before, after following several lines (Transformers, G.I. Joe, MOTU, DCUC) you get a little insight into how the toy business works; you see patterns and signs that fanboy-ism and nostalgia tend to obscure. I’m not saying I’m a toy genius, but there are those of us–including several review sites–who can approach this with logic and rational thought.

    We are the Dr. Manhattan figures that can see the little clear rubber bands.

    1. It is it doing that poorly? Vault is our PR guy, I don’t keep up really. That’s a shame!

      The secret message thing makes me laugh. MOTU fans do that with any mention (or lack thereof) the Filmation license.

      I love the Manhattan line.

  4. Dino-Riders has nothing to do with MOTUC…..if Mattel have sense to release these magnificent toys they should just release them in the shops and be done with it.
    If MOTUC needs any dinos let 4H do it….leave the amazing Dino-Riders toys alone.

    1. Nothing wrong with a multiple-purpose dinosaur mold.

      Think of it this way, DR fans would get magnificent 4H sculpted dinosaurs!

      1. Just to clarify I am sure 4H could scuplt amazing Dino-Rider Dinosaurs like their other products, I was meaning Mattel should just re-release the original toys…as they would be out of scale for MOTUC.

  5. Well, one of my picks made it. That’ll make the next round easy. Maybe people aren’t excited about Movie Masters because it’s hard to separate the line’s potential from the horrible handling of TDK. Something like CoTE, where the window was probably closed months ago, still seems more likely to go well than an MM expansion.

    That doesn’t explain Samus’ poor showing. Could be due to no company being attached to the request and no one knowing who would make a Samus if it happened. If NECA grabs the license and makes her on par with Ryu Hyabusa, great. If she’s like all the other Nintendo-related figures… meh.

    Anyways, woo! Go, Dino Riders!

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