February has arrived yet again and it's time for me to start releasing my annual "Wrap Up" lists for 2023 at Action Figure Barbecue.
So, what were the highlights of 2023 in the toy world? Box office bombs at theaters meant less product on store shelves or stuff that went almost straight to clearance, lots of overshipped merchandise heavily clearanced out both online and at retail, Funko scrapping $30 million dollars in unsold product, the usual retail mixture of feast or famine on shelves, Hasbro ditching their plastic free packaging, laying off employees (or planning to down the road), cancelling the Selfie Series, and hiking prices, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles once again being a retail toys juggernaut, toy sales overall dropping from previous years, and stuff either getting delayed like crazy or showing up early and in large numbers.
Once again, toys are still available at retail (this year 7 of my top 10 lines had a mass market retail presence) and while it felt like more companies were offering product at retail, most companies continue to grow their dedicated online stores. Face it; most collectors are ordering their stuff online, now. Previously it seemed like some of the larger companies didn't want to upset their retail partners, so online offerings directly from the company were more limited, but now you can find most everything direct from the manufacturer. While I still love browsing stores, very few of us want to truly hunt for toys that retailers often carry in sparing numbers.
Who dominated at retail this year? Unofficially, I'd say Playmates'' Rise of the TMNT movie line and their assorted tie-in stuff was a huge hit as were Jakks' Super Mario Bros. movie lines and Michael Keaton's Batman at retail. The Flash itself might have bombed, but that didn't seem to hurt anything with Batman from McFarlane and Spin Masters. DC Multiverse and other lines from McFarlane seemed to do well, though more exclusives seemed to move online with McFarlane Toys this year. Hasbro is still a dominant force in the action figure retail toy aisle, though they suffered with toys from some box office flops (D&D, Indiana Jones: DoD, The Marvels) and lots of product going to closeout chains like Ollie's and Ross. Hasbro had multiple lines that died quickly like Dungeons & Dragons, Indiana Jones, and their Fortnite: Victory Royale series. Oddly enough, Walmart didn't even carry Hasbro's Indiana Jones: Adventure Series. Mattel still had a decent presence at retail in 2023, though the MOTU line is still dealing with severe over shipments from previous years, something that Funko dealt with, which made major news. Jazwares, NECA, Super7, Jada, and the Loyal Subjects continued to have small but respectable retail offerings, typically in designated collector focused sections. Walmart's collector area is usually pretty picked over with some stuff that just lingers but Target seems to have a nice selection from my experience. GameStop and Books a Million are not bad places either, though Books a Million does charge a premium for some reason (not as bad as FYE, but still noticeable).
The specialty companies and import lines continue to offer cool stuff and just keep becoming more and more competitive with the mainstream companies as the mass market retail lines raise prices. Delays hit these companies hard, though, and there were a few I just don't recall seeing or hearing from last year. Companies like Four Horsemen Studios, Mezco, Valaverse, Plastic Meatball, Storm Collectibles, Nacelle, and Boss Fight are really keeping things going with good product at prices that most collectors seem to be OK with. Still, you do have instances like Super7, who had a lot of product that was delayed, cancelled, or cleared out by retailers and e-tailers. I have a feeling that e-tailers and the owners of smaller retail stories might be less forgiving of product that they just can't move than larger retailers. Remember back in the very late 1990s and early 2000s how it seemed smaller toymakers were in a race to make figures of the most unusual properties imaginable? I've been getting that feeling more and more over the past year or two. We're seeing some really deep stuff with a limited audience, but since it's sold so directly it has more of a chance at surviving.
Creating my "Top 10" lists is always one of my favorite things to do at Action Figure Barbecue and I always spend a good chunk of time pouring over my notes from the previous year to determine which toylines I thought were the coolest and most fun to collect. This is the twelfth year I've created a list (the earliest ones 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. 2023's list had some absolute shoe-ins that I always knew would be on it, some wild cards that surprised me, and some long time favorites that just didn't cut the mustard this year. While I'm still quite devoted to the G.I. Joe: Classified Series and Mattel's MOTU lines, I did cherry pick more this year from a wider variety of lines.
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 last year. As always, these are listed alphabetically rather than by any order of merit. And now, for My Top 10 Toylines of 2023...
