2011 Battlegrip.com Awards
Another year has ended, which means that it’s time for the annual “Awards” post. My 2009 awards and 2010 awards posts are sitting there waiting for you to see what I’ve said before, but for now I want to jump right in and talk about my favorites of 2011.
Biggest 3.75-Inch Action Figure Surprise of 2011
My absolute biggest shock of the year when it comes to 3.75-inch scale action figures had to be walking into a Target in Massachusetts and finding a wave of new Iron Man 2 action figures. I’m still surprised that I ever saw these and very happy that I grabbed as many of the wave as I did (even if the Mark V Stealth Armor — review here — wasn’t as cool as I expected).
Best New Series of 2011
Coming right at the end of 2011, and not finished since we’re expecting the last two members this year, is the unofficial Transformers not-Devastator but Hercules series. These unofficial Constructicons are truly amazing . . . and they should be for $100/each. I posted reviews of three of the toys last year (Exgraver review here, Structor review here, and Heavy Labor review here) — and you can expect the next review soon — and I’m going to continue to recommend this series to every Transformers fan on the planet. At roughly $50,000 to $75,000 in tooling for each figure I’m shocked that these were made by an unofficial producer of Transformers toys and would love to know where they got the cash.
Best Custom Toy of 2011
It’s probably just because it was a surprise gift, but I’m calling Jesse Moore’s (Callgrim) giant vinyl custom the best custom of the year. See this post for photos, and then keep your eyes open for more giant vinyl works in 2012. I really do need to snap some better photos of this toy so that everyone can get a better idea of just how complex and crazy the build and paintwork is.
Best Playset of 2011
There just aren’t enough playsets out there, and very few indie/designer toy producers ever even think of creating playsets, but The Tarantulas (blog, Twitter) decided to just go ahead and make a giant playset just for guys like me. The Fishtank Castle (review here) stands out as the biggest, most insane playset of the year. I just hope that someone else makes an even crazier playset in 2012.
Best Site of 2011
This is always a tough decision to make — there are a lot of fun sites out there — but after thinking it over for a while I’m going with It’s All True as my choice for the best site of the year. I love the mix of reviews and almost always learn about something new whenever I visit the site. And we can’t forget that the photos are often a little goofy, which is a nice way to watch someone else play with toys.
Honorable mentions in this category, because I want to be sure to direct you guys at some other fun sites, are:
- Infinite Hollywood — From Doctor Who to kaiju there’s all kinds of craziness at the site. The reviews are often of toys I don’t own, so that alone makes the site a fun read for me.
- Kaiju Korner — Even though the site often shows me things I cannot have it’s still a fun place to visit and gives us a good look at the Japanese vinyl toy scene.
- Toyriffic — For looks at DC toys and a really enjoyable, conversational approach to blogging I direct you here. Just don’t blame me if you start looking at toys as playthings after a few visits to the site.
And that ends another year of battlegrip.com awards. Overall I think 2011 was packed with a lot of fun toys and I want to thank everyone who visited the site. A special thanks goes to all of you who took the time to interact with me — either through calls, mail, tweets, or by posting comments at the site — and I hope to see you guys stick around for 2012.
I’d like to give a personal award to you Phil for such a great site. Only been lurking here a few months now and am always looking forward to more news and reviews.
Keep up all the great work and see you in the New Year.
@Court – Thank you! I try to cover the things that interest me, and it’s always cool when I find out that the odd mix I post here at the site is entertaining for you guys. I hope I can keep up the craziness in 2012.
I’m thinking those non-Constructicon people might be really smart and have gotten everything done at once, with all six sets of yellow plastic on one mold, all six sets of purple on one, etc. I’ve been surprised at what people can fit on a single mold. And factories can be really good at working with companies that are trying to save money vs. not being able to do a project at all.
@John Maddening – If they stuck all of those parts into three molds (green, purple, and black plastic) then those would be some giant molds. I could see where it would work; if that’s the approach they took then I’m even more impressed, because it would mean they’ve been slowly staggering release photos and information while having all of the plastic parts shot at once.
Thanks for the Honorable Mention! And I second Court’s award to Battlegrip. I love it here, it’s always one of my first stops in my daily blog readathons!
we like the BattleGrip!
Site of the year…. Battle grip by far!
@bubbashelby – You’re welcome. You have a fun site and I should link to it a lot more often than I do.
@superdupertoybox and E – Thanks, guys! I hope you enjoy the fun stuff in 2012. I’m gonna try to do a couple of new things to mix it up around here.
Wow! Thank you, Phil! You know that Vault & I really just strive in hopes that IAT might be as cool a site as Battlegrip though, right? 😉
Keep up the great work and a huge thank you from all of us at IAT!
@NoisyDvL5 – You guys are doing an excellent job with the site. Don’t stop!