My Top 10 Toylines of 2025

 

I was originally going to announce these live on my YouTube channel but I've not been having great luck with a solid feed so I'm just going ahead and posting the traditional list first. I'll delay a livestream now and save it for a later event. 

   

   Every year when February rolls around I know it's time to put together my annual Best Of lists for the previous year. I know most collectors put theirs out in December but November and December are so packed with releases that I find it's tough to really give all of those new items that are still 2025 releases a fair shake, so I like to wait until February to give me some time to think. I also try to really go through my list and make sure that the releases I'm basing my picks on really did get released domestically in North America during the appropriate year. I did see more than Best Of list on YouTube tin the last two months that had releases from the end of 2024 and items that were pre-release items or early samples for 2026 but that hadn't truly been released yet, which seems kind of unfair. I have three lists that I do every year and you'll see one a week for the next three weeks or so. I'm starting off with my top honors, though: My Top 10 Toylines of 2024.

    

   I saw it every year but it's still true: Creating my "Top 10" lists is always one of my favorite things to do at Action Figure Barbecue and I always spend quite a bit of time pouring over my notes and reviews from the previous year to determine which toylines were my favorites to collect. This is the fourteenth year I've created a list (the first couple years were posted at The Epic Review) and it's always interesting too see how my lists change from year to year, often reflecting my changing interests and collecting trends. 2024's list feels very standard in that it didn't have too many shifts from 2024 but just enough to keep things interesting. 

   If anything dominated action figure collecting in 2025 it was increased costs and the influence of tariffs. Prices went up, sometimes ridiculously so, and importing stuff was was more expensive than ever. It really sucks to be a fan of import lines right now! Between tariffs and even the mainstream toy industry now publicly acknowledging that adult collectors are now the largest demographic of toy buyers, prices just kept going up and I'm not sure that trend will slow down anytime soon. 

   While mainstream companies like Hasbro, Mattel, McFarlane Toys, NECA, Jada, and Jazwares kept a wide selection of collectible toys and action figure lines at major retailers, we're still seeing that traditional retail just isn't necessary anymore, particularly for smaller companies: Great e-tailers, companies having their own webstores and distributing their wares through smaller stores, the growing industry of smaller conventions, and Kickstarter funded projects are the home of so many impressive toylines that do not depend on the whims of the retail giants. More import lines are getting easier to acquire, too. 

   One of the biggest stories for action figure collecting in 2025 was RossCon, the odd phenomenon where Ross discount stores (and later Burlington) were getting incredibly new, sometimes not even fully released, action figures, toys, and other collectibles at wildly discounted prices. It's somewhat of a mystery and definitely makes up for the fact that Ollie's still seems to be stuck with a glut of overproduced toys from 2021-2022.

       A number of years back I divided my Top 10 list into two separate categories: My Top 10 Toylines and My Top 10 Individual Releases. I always start with My Top 10 Toylines as it's my standard best of list. These are the 10 toylines (action figures, statues, minifigures, etc.) of the past year that I had the most fun collecting and enjoyed the most. They may not always be the best or the most expansive lines, but they're my favorites for one reason or another. As I reiterate every year, the two key word for this list are "my" and "favorite." My list isn't necessarily based on a toyline's true merits and I really don't go outside of what interests me. Take this as a snapshot of the ten toylines I had the most fun collecting in 2025. As always, these are listed alphabetically rather than by any order of merit. And now, for My Top 10 Toylines of 2025...

DC Multiverse by McFarlane Toys

DC Multiv. also made the list from 2022-2024

 * While prices have gone up (which is the story of 2025) and there wasn't much innovation, McFarlane's DC offerings continued. While there were still a lot of Batman and Superman figures, as a Batman fan and overall DC fan I was still pretty happy with the figures we received. A Batman Returns series, some solid Batman villains like comic versions of Two-Face, the Riddler, Deathstroke, Kite-Man, and Deadshot, more Batfamily members like Spoiler and a couple different Batgirls, and some great overall releases like Powergirl, a S:WOT Supergirl, Sandman, and Red Tornado. Sadly, 2026 seems to be McFarlane's last year with the line before Mattel gets it back and asks collectors to rebuy everyone in a new scale and style.

G.I. Joe: Classified Series by Hasbro

GI Joe: CS has made the list ever year since 2020

* Did you have any doubt in your mind that the G.I. Joe: Classified Series was going to be on this list? It very likely could be my favorite toyline of all time at this point (it's still duking it out with MOTUC) and 2025 was another stellar year. New characters, new concepts, plenty of vehicles, and a continued commitment to great design and quality figures makes this one of the most exciting lines out there. Crystal Ball, the Ghost Viper, Monkeywrench, Sci-Fi, Budo, pilot Baroness, Breaker, Slice & Dice, Cover Girl,  Zandar, or Darklon are all figures that could very likely have been a favorite from the year for me. Here's to 2026!

Marvel Legends Series by Hasbro

ML placed in: 2014, 2016-2018, 2021-2022, & 2024

* Marvel Legends has something for everyone this year. The Gamerverse stuff was a big hit, lots of solid Spider-Man releases, X-Men '97 was treated well, and Hasbro really went deep with some missing persons in the mutant roster (Marrow, Feral, and Rachel Summers all come to mind) and some real gems like ROM the Space Knight. As an X-Fan who primarily collects mutant related Legends, I was very satisfied this year. I'm not loving the minicomics over the BAF pieces, though, and the Maximum Series seems to be a bit of a letdown. Prices are always an issue here, though the figure quality is nearly always impeccable.

Masterverse by Mattel

Masterverse has placed every year since 2021

* Last year Mattel's MOTU got bogged down by many crossovers and, likely, preparations for the move this year. Most of their lines left me rather bored but Masterverse continued to offer some unqiue and fun figures, particularly in the New Eternia/ New Etheria subsets. I love seeing new concepts in MOTU and New Eternia largely delivered. This line could be tough to find at times due to store shelves filled with He-Man and Skeletor variants (the Mattel Creations exclusives were easier to get than regular retail figures) but I did end up acquiring everyone (I wanted with some patience. Masterverse's fate seems up in the air for 2026 due to the new (initially) movie focused MOTU Chronicles line, but hopefully we'll continue to see new concepts there, too. 

Operation: Monster Force by Big Bad Workshop and Fresh Monkey Fiction

OMF also made the list in 2024

* Other than the early 2025 release of Kiloworg, Operation: Monster Force was pretty quiet for most of 2025... until October. It was then that they released the figures from Chapter 0 and Chapter 2, putting out a ton of new militaristic takes on classic monsters. This line scratches me right where I itch and I absolutely adore it. Other than a couple minor QC issues, I was thrilled with what we got. I do hope that in 2026 Big Bad Workshop and Fresh Monkey Fiction are better able to space out releases. They're an ambitious partnership with lots of new stuff slated for 2026, but Operation: Monster Force still seems to be their signature brand. 

S.H. Figuarts: One Piece by Bandai Namco/ Tamashi Nations

* After being exposed to it for a few years due to my wife actively watching it all the time, 2025 was the year I finally started paying attention to One Piece and I'm loving it. Bandai Namco puts out so many different toys and non-articulated statues across so many different product lines but the S.H. Figuarts ones are my favorite. Great sculpts that capture the expressive cast, lots of fun faceplates, and great articulation make these excellent collectibles of the Straw Hats, their allies, and their enemies. 2026 looks to continue to have some exciting new releases so this will be another one to watch for in 2026. 

Star Wars: The Black Series by Hasbro

SW:TBS also made the list from 2013-2022

* After a two year hiatus from my list, Hasbro's Star Wars: The Black Series returns. Why? Simple: They went back and released excellent, affordable versions of the original cast: Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, and Han Solo. They also released some Shadows of the Empire characters with Dash Rendar and Prince Xizor which caught the attention of someone my age who had the POTF2 figures and was a preteen during the release of that multimedia project. It's no secret that it's been a couple years since any newer Star Wars media has really grabbed me but I'm still down for some excellent versions of the classics and this year delivered enough to earn a spot on my list.

Toony Terrors by NECA

* I always enjoy looking at NECA's new Toony Terrors releases and while I don't purchase many of them these days I did have to grab every one of their second series of Universal Monsters. These are all just fantastic and with the Bride of Frankenstein, the Phantom of the Opera, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and the Invisible Man, they nicely complement the first series that hit at the very end of 2024. Will we see more in the future? I really hope so, though it feels like NECA might be slowing down a bit with the Universal Monsters and Classic Horror releases. I hope I'm wrong, though, and that next year I'm writing about more of these groovy ghouls!

Ultra Street Fighter 2: The Final Challengers by Jada Toys

This line also appeared on the list in 2024

* Jada Toys is definitely continuing to gain momentum from collectors with quality figures at fair prices from a diverse roster of properties but their Ultra Street Fighter 2: The New Challengers line still seems to be their action figure bread and butter. This line is more about quality than quantity with fewer than ten releases in 2026 but those were all pretty impressive releases with some killer extras, including the amazing "flaming" effects for when characters get lit up by fire attacks. As of the end of 2025 Jada had released 14 of the 19 USFII:TFC characters and in 2026 Akuma seems to already be out with Balrog and E. Honda on the way. T. Hawk and Zangief can't go up for preorder soon enough!

Universal Monsters. Classic Horror Collection by NECA 

This line also appeared on the list in 2024

* 2025 might have been somewhat of a slow year for NECA's Universal Monsters/ Hammer/ Classic Horror Collection, but it wasn't a bad one. The Metaluna Mutant was a new monster, Peter Cushing's Van Helsing was a new hero, and we received quite a few variants like Ardath Bey and new versions of the Bride (Glow in the Dark), the Invisible Man, and the Phantom in his Masque of the Red Death costume. I don't think there's anything on the horizon except for the Classic Movie Monsters set based on the Imperial toys from the 1980s but New York Toy Fair is next week so I'm hopeful we'll see something new.

Another year in the books! That's My Top 10 Toylines of 2025. What were your favorite toylines of last year? Remember that I still have two more lists coming soon: My top 10 favorite individual releases that weren't part of these toylines and my annual Missing in Action report, so those may shed some light on the lines that didn't make it onto the Top 10 for 2025. 

And, as always, here are some fun facts:

# of lines that have appeared on this list multiple years: 8

# of lines returning from last year: 7

# of lines from NECA: 2

# of lines from Mattel: 1

# of lines from Hasbro: 3

# of lines from McFarlane Toys: 1

# of lines from Jada Toys: 1

# of lines from Bandai Namco: 1

# of lines from Fresh Monkey Fiction & Big Bad Workshop: 1

# of lines featuring He-Man: 1

# of lines featuring Batman: 1

# of lines featuring the Bride of Frankenstein: 2

# of lines based on or featuring figures from films released in: 2024: 2

# of toylines featuring figures based on video games: 4 

# of toylines that I never saw hide nor hair of at Wal-Mart: 1

# of toylines that I was a completest on and bought everything offered: 0 

# of toylines that were only available through Kickstarter, a limited sale online, or an online subscription method: 1

# of toylines in a 1/18th scale or smaller: 0

# of toylines with no articulation: 0

# of toylines with irritating, hard to obtain exclusive or chase figures: 5

# of toylines that are just modern updates of toys I had as a kid: 6

# of toylines featuring characters who have been around for over 100 years: 3