Top 5 Personal Favorite Action Figures of 2009

I made the big mistake of missing out on the first release of Mattel's online-only revamp of the '80s classic Masters of the Universe line, and regretted it immediately. Luckily, Mattycollector, the producers, promoters and sellers of Mattel's "adult collectible" lines, found it in their hearts to reissue the He-Man figure with a few small improvements. I wasted no time in ordering one for myself and as soon as it arrived in the mail, it was love at first sight.

This figure represents everything I want in sculpt, paint application, articulation, nostalgia and all around sheer awesomeness. The MOTUC He-Man figure is the reining king of my collection and probably will be for a long time.

This figure hit me out from left field! After hearing about it from several fellow collectors on a toy collecting message board, I picked one up for myself on a whim. It took about 4.7 seconds to fall madly in love with this figure with it's astonishingly brilliant, yet subtle, simplicity in design coupled with stunning articulation. This deadly assassin droid takes on amazing poses and is simply a joy to play with (okay, I admit it, I played with this one, a lot). My only regret is that I didn't buy five of them.

There have been a number of awesome figures from 2009's G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra line, but none was more all-around satisfying than the Paris Pursuit Snake Eyes figure. Always one of my favorite characters of any toy line, this Snake Eyes was taken to another level with his sleeker mask (ie. no weird molded mouth) and the addition of his killer black hooded trench coat. Finally seeing ol' Snake Eyes back with his trusty four-legged cohort, Timber, was nothing but gravy on an already brilliant figure.

Fan response towards the Avatar line of action figures has been mixed. Some people loved the human figures but hated the Na'vi (the blue people) figures, others vice versa, while many other people were simply dumbfounded by a line of action figures hitting toy shelves a good month or more before anyone had even seen a preview for the movie.

I picked up the Movie Master Jake Sully (the Movie Masters figures are of a larger scale than the more extensive 1:18 line) and this figure totally blew my mind. It's sculpt was exquisite and the articulation was out of this world. Despite some online grumblings from other collectors about quality control issues, mine had beautiful paint applications and I couldn't have been more pleased.

The DC Universe Crisis figures have gone over like a lead balloon. Odd sculpts and lack of accessories had these toys warming the pegs of toy stores everywhere, possibly due to high prices. And for the most part, I would have to agree. But there's just one catch; I love these figures!

I ended up buying several of these figures this past year and truly enjoying them for reasons I simply can't put my finger on. Perhaps their simplicity reminds me of the simpler days of 3 3/4" figures, or it's just fun to have a handful of brightly colored superheroes, or maybe it helped that I kept finding them at discount stores for 1/4 of their original retail price. Whatever it was, these figures stood out in my mind for great toys of 2009.