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The 2022 Poppies Judges
Panel


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Introduction
This is the
fifteenth year (15!) for
our awards, and as always
we have judges from 5
different categories
- Companies,
Websites, Collectors,
Retailers, and
Artists. The final
list includes a total of
146 people. They
come from all aspects of
the industry - large
companies to small,
general websites to niche,
online to print, contract
artists to customizers,
and fans of just about
every major license.
I'm also happy to say that
there's a global
influence, with judges
from North America, Asia,
Australia and Europe.
And so
without further ado,
here's the folks that will
be selecting the winners
of the 2022 Poppies:

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Companies:
In this
category of judges, the
companies are represented
by 32 different
judges. The
companies represented
range from one guy
operations to
multi-billion dollar
organizations, from mass
market to specialty
market, with headquarters
around the world.
- Zach Oat.
Zach Oat, a.k.a. DSTZach,
a.k.a. MSWord, is the
Marketing Supervisor for
Diamond Select Toys and
Gentle Giant LTD. Before
that, he was the editor of
ToyFare Magazine, where he
co-wrote and photographed
"Twisted ToyFare Theatre."
He is the co-author of the
book "Pop Sculpture: How
to Create Your Own Toys
and Collectible Statues,"
considers C.O.P.S. and
Crooks one of the greatest
toy lines of all time, and
is completely addicted to
Minimates. Find him online
@zachoat.
- David Igo.
David Igo, Creative
Director for Tweeterhead,
has over 16 years of
experience in the high-end
collectibles industry.
Designer turned full-time
emailer, phone-call'er,
and delegator, David also
teaches ZBrush to working
artists, and produces his
own art inspired by the
magical randomness of the
80's that was his
childhood. Lover of
Chipotle, Snow Walkers,
Venom, Mer-Man, and Slash
(from TMNT.)
- Steve Forde.
Steve Forde is the founder
and principal of GoHero.
Since 2001, GoHero has
been a creative force at
the forefront designer
toys, first-ever licensed
collectibles, and original
brands like the Forgotten
Future, Mechabot, and
more.
GoHero's award-winning
works have been enjoyed in
TV, film, print,
galleries, museums, and
private collections around
the world. Our consumer
products sold through
specialty retail like
Sideshow, Kid Robot,
Super7, Big Bad Toy Store,
Toys R Us, ToyTokyo,
Funko, and Phillips
auction house.
Steve also runs an agency,
offering business, brand,
and creative strategy and
services. Learn more GoHero.com.
- Adam Van
Wickler. Adam
Van Wickler is Director -
Creative Services at
Gentle Giant Studios. He
has been involved
professionally in the toy
industry since 2001 and is
lucky enough to be making
new toys of many of the
same beloved characters
that he grew up with.
#ForTheCulture is a tag
team joint column for
TOYCOLLECTR magazine by
David Vonner and Adam with
their takes on various pop
culture topics with a
toy-centric focus. You can
occasionally find him on
the @toymigos "They're Not
Dolls!" podcast and he's
@playing_with_myself all
over the internet...
- Dan Lujan
- Marketing Manager at
Kotobukiya Co., Ltd.
While the Japanese toy and
hobby manufacturer is
celebrating its 70th
anniversary this year Dan
began his career roughly
10 years prior during
Kotobukiya's 60th
anniversary. Getting his
start with a US
distributor, Dan has had
many great opportunities
including working on
Kotobukiya's Marvel Fine
Art, ARTFX and ARTFX+
lines, assisting with
obtaining the My Little
Pony & G.I. Joe
Bishoujo license from
Hasbro, writing marketing
copy for various products
including the Ghostbuster
Bishoujo and last year's
Yoda Fountain statue and
attending numerous events
and trade shows throughout
the years. A life-long toy
collector, Dan's current
favorites are 6" and 12"
action figures from Star
Wars, Marvel, GI Joe, WWE
along with the
collector-focused Monster
High horror dolls.
- Damien Glonek.
DAMIEN GLONEK is Director
of Development at Mezco
Toyz for over 15 years and
Co-Creator of Living Dead
Dolls now in it’s 25th
year, which holds the
record for the longest
continuously running
horror themed doll series.
He also is a co-host
for Discover the Horror
podcast whose purpose is
to entertain and educate
by giving you reasons to
explore horror you’ve
never seen and share new
ways to see horror you’ve
loved for years. In
Damien’s spare time he
collects horror movies
posters, watches horror
movies, reads about
watching horror movies and
talks about reading and
watching horror movies to
anyone that will listen.
- David Stephan.
David Stephan is the
Director of Licensing and
Business Development and
Creative Director for
EXO-6. Formerly he was
Product Manager for 1/6
figures at Quantum
Mechanix (QMx). He
comes to collectibles
after a career in
television producing
documentaries about pop
culture.
- Scott Tipton.
Scott Tipton is a New York
Times Best-Selling author
and comic-book historian
with a wide variety of
both graphic-novel and
prose works to his credit.
Scott has written numerous
comics and graphic novels
for publishers IDW
Publishing and Archie
Comics, including such
titles as Star Trek: The
Next Generation – The
Mirror War, Star
Trek/Planet of the Apes:
The Primate Directive,
Star Trek: The City on the
Edge of Forever, The
Original Teleplay, Star
Trek: The Next
Generation/Doctor Who:
Assimilation Squared and
many more. Readers looking
for Scott’s latest
ruminations on comics past
and present need only tune
into his weekly column
Comics 101, posted every
Wednesday without fail at
www.comics101.com.
Scott has also long served
as design consultant and
copywriter for Toynami,
where he's worked on
product lines like
ROBOTECH, VOLTRON, THE
HERCULOIDS, THUNDARR THE
BARBARIAN, and FUTURAMA,
as well as the company's
CINEMAQUETTE line. He has
a startlingly large toy
collection, but in this
crowd it's probably about
average.
- Jim Wampler.
Jim is the Sales Director
at Factory Entertainment
Inc. He has over 30 years
experience in the toy,
hobby, and collectibles
industries. Being fan and
collector himself since
his early teen years he
has an appreciation and
passion for toys,
collectibles, and prop
replicas related to
everything from comics to
horror to science fiction
and fantasy.
- Barry Eldridge.
When Barry grows up he
wants to be Jim Wampler.
Barry is Creative Director
at Factory
Entertainment. He
has been both
strategically
disappointing and
delighting people in the
toy and collectibles arena
since the 90’s. He hopes
significantly more of the
latter than the former but
he’s also a realist. An
amateur toy historian
Barry has been an expert
on the Antiques Roadshow
and has consulted for both
Christies and Bonham’s. He
still can’t believe he
gets to do this for a
living.
- Mike Horn.
Mike is a career
entrepreneur with several
businesses, all based in
the creation of pop
culture merchandise. He
has shepherded more than
$100M worth of products to
market, ranging from
action figures to statues
to apparel. He has
experience with just about
every pop culture brand
that one can think of,
also with a wide
range—from the NFL to Star
Wars to Warcraft.
Mike currently maintains a
consulting company, Golden
Strategic Development
and is a founding partner
in a startup, Cubles.
Cubles is a patented, Made
in USA mashup of puzzle
meets origami and turns
into a poseable action
figure—all with zero
plastic.
- Creative Beast
Studio designs
and manufactures action
figure collectibles
specializing in natural
history and dinosaur
subjects. Run and owned by
David Silva, who has
worked in the action
figure industry since 2003
as both a designer and a
sculptor for such
companies as McFarlane
Toys, Hasbro, and NECA,
Creative Beast Studio
merges the realism of
natural history with the
excitement of science
fiction creating unique
and dynamic products that
are artistically inspiring
as well as educational.
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Other Company Judges
include Randy
Falk (NECA), George Gaspar
(Double G Toys), Ed Catto,
Michael Polis, Joe Reiter
(Symbiote Studios),
Charles Howell (Toy
Factory), Eric Leferber,
Michael Zolotorow, Bob
Fulkerson, Rick Phares,
Pat Linden (Playmates),
Joe Amaro, Joe Ahearn,
Deihl Betz (Jakks), Georg
Brewer (Brewing Factory),
Guy Klender, Jared Chapman
(Super7), Erik Arana (Boss
Fight Studios), Cody Fultz
(threezero), Brock
Otterbach.
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Media:
Where would
our hobby and the industry
be without the many
websites and podcasts out
there that report the
news, promote the
collectibles, and provide
the social networks for
our geek selves. The
judges in this category
represent websites,
podcasts and print
publications that cover
every aspect of the
industry, from niche
licenses and products to
general themes and
news. There are 44
judges from a wide variety
of outlets, some of which
I'm sure you'll recognize.
- Arnie
Carvalho: Arnie
has been hosting toy
podcasts for 18 years,
starting with Star Wars
Action News in 2005,
discussing solely Star
Wars collecting. Then in
2010 adding Marvelicious
Toys podcast discussing
toys, statues, and
collectibles based on
Marvel Comics and movies.
He also co-hosts the movie
review Now Playing
Podcast, for which he
co-authored a book of
movie reviews. He has also
been a writer for Movie
Magic Magazine.
- Jerry Reed.
Barbecue17, AKA Jerry
Reed: In 1986, a three
year old's parents bought
him a General Hawk action
figure from G.I. Joe, lots
of random Masters of the
Universe figures, and some
Kenner Ghostbusters. The
three year old promptly
tossed aside all other
youthful pursuits and
escaped to the toy aisle.
Today, still wanting every
action figure he can get
his hands on, he survives
as a toy collector. If you
have articulation... if
you're highly
collectible... or if
you're a Masters of the
Universe product... maybe
you'll get reviewed by...
Barbecue17.
Barbecue17 has been
reviewing action figures
online for over fifteen
years and has been
collecting them for over
35 years. He currently
spends his days working in
affordable housing, his
evenings reviewing action
figures, and as much time
as he can playing with his
9 year old daughter who,
fortunately, seems to be
following in his footsteps
in toy collecting and
nerdy pursuits. He enjoys
horror fiction, anything
related to Masters of the
Universe, tabletop gaming,
sequential art, flavored
carbonated water, Asian
Cuisine, and plaid. You
can find more of his
reviews at Action
Figure Barbecue.com.
- Jon Clarke.
Jon is the host of
"Caffeinated Comics",
celebrating its tenth year
of podcasting with two
video spinoffs "MCU ReVU"
and "Top Men: An Indiana
Jones Podcast". Jon got
his start like every one
of you, wanting to write
comics. Scripting indie
series like "Horseman" and
"A.D.A.M." led him to
become the staff writer at
Art Asylum, writing
articles for "Go Figure!"
magazine and creating
packaging copy for lines
like "Star Trek" well into
the company's transition
to DST Collectibles. Jon
was one of the original
reviewers and journalists
for figures.com, covering
SDCC and NYCC for the
site. As a day job, Jon
has spent over 20 years in
the advertising industry,
where every now and then
he gets to write for
Anthony Daniels and George
Takei, but mostly is the
guy telling you not to
take a medicine if you are
allergic to a medicine.
- Newton Gimmick.
Newton has spent well over
a decade reviewing toys,
movies and general pop
culture goodness over at InfiniteHollywood.com.
During that time he's
written hundreds of toy
reviews and worked in the
media industry covering
other pop culture and
collectibles. He continues
to build his plastic
empire, one toy at a time
and hopes to continue to
provide insight and
analysis from a grounded
perspective on the
plethora of toys that
inhabit toy aisles today
or have been forgotten
into the labyrinth of
time.
- Peter Cass.
Pete, co-host of OFAC
podcast, the U.K. arm of
the Collecting Weekly
Network. Collecting 1/6
scale figures for the last
12 years, focusing on Star
Wars, Indiana Jones, Lord
of the Rings and 80s
movies.
- D. Martin
Myatt. D.
Martin Myatt is cofounder
of Blue Milk and coauthor
of their book The Vintage
Collection Archive
Edition. Before this, he's
been an active member of
the toy collecting
community for over twenty
years, writing and
photographing archives and
events. Keeping close to
the subjects many of these
products represent, he
spends most of his time
working in the Properties
Department on feature
films and television
programs.
- Daniel Lynch.
Daniel has been writing
about action figures since
"the year 2000". A
former contributor to a
variety of web sites under
screen names like
Daniel313, Son of
Hawkgirl's Mace, and
NoisyDvL5, Daniel is
forgoing the pseudonyms on
his newest project, CardbackHero.com.
The new site features
various 6" checklists
designed to emulate the
roadmaps of our youth: the
cardback. You can find
Daniel on various social
media as CardbackHero,
trying to make collecting
easier and injecting some
fun into the serious world
of toy collecting.
- Ian Ashton.
Co host of the Only Fools
and Collecting podcast on
the Collecting Weekly
Network is a UK based pod
cast that covers all the
latest 1/6 scale news and
releases.
Ian has been collecting
1/6 scale figures and
customising for ten years.
- Justin Bell.
Justin is an author and
lifelong toy collector,
cutting his teeth on G.I.
Joe: A Real American Hero
and Masters of the
Universe way back in 1982.
He's been an avid fan and
collector in the years
since, and built GeneralsJoes.com
in the early 2000s as a
place to find G.I. Joe
action figure reviews and
dio-stories. For twenty
years, GeneralsJoes has
gone through many
iterations, but Justin has
remained an avid and
enthusiastic fan ever
since. As one of the
co-hosts of The Full Force
podcast, he talks about
his love for G.I. Joe and
even occasionally still
posts a review or two of
one of Hasbro's excellent
G.I. Joe: Classified
action figures.
- Jason Spiller.
Jason "Slick McFavorite"
Spiller has been
collecting his whole life,
but kicked it into high
gear about 15 years ago.
He, along with an amazing
team of toy aficionados,
hosts the action figure
podcast, Open Your Toys
Cast. OYTC is dedicated to
the four greatest action
figure franchises of the
80's and all time: Star
Wars, Transformers, G.I.
Joe and Masters of the
Universe. Check out www.OpenYourToys.com
for more on one of the
community’s longest
running podcasts.
- Jeffrey Lyles.
Jeffrey started Lyles
Movie Files to just focus
on movies, but quickly
expanded the site to
include another major love
-- action figures. Now
spanning over 400 reviews
of figure lines including
Marvel Legends, WWE, Star
Wars, DC Multiverse,
Masters of the Universe,
Transformers, Storm
Collectibles, Hot Toys and
his current favorite, G.I.
Joe Classified Series, he
continues building up his
collection while trying to
figure out the age old
collector's dilemma --
where to put all these
wonderful toys. In
addition to the website,
check out the Lyles Figure
Files YouTube channel
where he breaks down all
the big news and
controversies about our
favorite hobby.
- Jed Keith.
Jed wears many hats: high
school history teacher;
editor-in-chief of the pop
culture site
FreakSugar.com; social
media coordinator for a
variety of companies;
educational and technical
writer; and Head Referee
and Public Relations Head
for his local roller derby
league. He's busy but
happy, living in
southeastern Kentucky with
his fiancee, dog, and two
cats.
- Mark Picirilli.
Mark is the admin and
webmaster of Yodasnews.com,
a daily news site for Star
Wars news and
collectibles. He has been
involved in the collecting
online community for over
25 years. He also owns and
admins several other
collectible fan sites and
is a regular contributor
to many online and print
publications as a
collectible and movie
memorabilia expert. In
2015, Mark started to do
work as a Topps Sketch
Card Artist, he has
sketched cards for Star
Wars Chrome Perspectives:
Jedi Vs. Sith, Journey to
The Force Awakens and Star
Wars Finest coming out in
December. Mark's
collection has grown a lot
over the last 25 years, he
now mainly collects Hot
Toys, Gentle Giant,
Sideshow, Funko, Hasbro
Black Series,
Kotobukiya and eFX
and is a longtime
autograph and trading card
collector. He often
posts collections room
photos and videos on his
Instagram account,
@Yodasnews, which has over
10,000 fans.
- Josh Long:
Computer Technology
Educator and Collectibled
Editor at TheOneRing.net.
Josh joined TORn in April
2011 joining an amazing
staff of fans of
Middle-earth. His reviews
and podcast cover all kind
of collectibles and
companies who cover
Middle-earth with their
products. Josh doesn’t
just cover products of
Middle-earth he collects
them. His Middle-earth
collection covers amazing
collectibles from Weta,
Sideshow, Asmus, DST, etc
showing off all the
goodies of the last 20+
years.
- Matthew
Kaplowitz -
Editor-in-Chief of Nerd
News Today since 2011, a
YouTube channel dedicated
to all levels of nerdom
ranging from comics,
movies, video games, and
of course, toys. He is
also the host and producer
of the Trek Untold
podcast, a weekly
interview show that
spotlights actors,
writers, directors, stunt
performers, behind the
scenes crew, and others
who have contributed to
the Star Trek universe.
It's available on all
major audio platforms and
in video form on YouTube.
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Other Media Judges include
Daniel Pickett (Action
Figure Insider), Craig
Moore, Dylan Poehls, Paul
Nicholasi, Blake Wright,
Eric Resnick, Frank Patz,
Bradley Jacobs, Ron
Mirasol, Jack Muramatsu,
Brian Slivka, Khalil
Quatop (Kastor's Korner),
Brian Heiler, Sohaib Awan
(Fictional Frontiers),
Billy Cooper, (ITCE),
Roger Froilan Jr., Paul
Wolf, Michael Skram II,
Michael Richardson, Justin
Gammon, Jordan (Toy Shiz),
Sean Long, Richard
Gottlieb (Global Toy
Experts), Tom (Toys and
Tomfoolery), Colin Dorman,
Cat Eldridge, Ben Mulder,
Ryan Aston, Stacey Raider.
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Artists:
You can't
produce amazing products
without designers,
fabricators, sculptors,
painters and other
artisans. These
judges come from that side
of the business.
Many are freelancers, but
some work for specific
companies. Others are well
known and respected
customizers, who do
commission work for
individuals, magazines and
others. There are 30
judges in this category:
- Jeremy Sung:
Jeremy Sung is President
and Head Designer of Spy
Monkey Creations Inc.
Originally starting with
hand cast resin accessory
items, Spy Monkey
Creations eventually
joined the Glyos family of
products moving into full
factory
production.
Products have included the
Spy Monkey Armory, The
Weaponeers of Monkaa, and
Battle Tribes: Weapons
&
Warriors.
Battle Tribes has since
expanded to include both
ninjas and wrestlers in
addition to classic
fantasy
figures.
Jeremy is based in
Southern California where
he lives with wife Heather
and a menagerie of furry,
feathered and finned
friends.
- Ken Davis.
A professional cartoonist,
storyboard artist for TV
animation, and comic book
artist for over 38 years,
Ken has been a collector
for as long. He's
worked on numerous
prominent animation and
cartooning projects, such
as Ren & Stimpy,
Freakazoid, Baby Huey, 101
Dalmatians, Action Man,
Wing Commander Academy,
Reboot and many
others. He's been an
animation studio
co-founder and co-owner
and an instructor at
several film schools in
western Canada.
An avid action figure
collector, a nutty detail
and articulation-junkie,
he's collected at least
something from most major
action figure lines from
the past 50+ years, with
the exception of Wrestling
figures.
Cuz, sweaty people just
ain't his thing...
- Cason Pillod.
Cason Pilliod has been
building custom toys since
before we called them
“customs.” What started
out as cardboard and tape
now involves epoxies,
dyes, and 3D printing. His
website, Inanimate
Objects, is entering its
third decade, and still
documents how customs are
made. In fact, his customs
have been around so long
that several people in the
industry claim Inanimate
Objects as an influence on
their career choice.
Whether it’s taking
questions from new
enthusiasts, or talking
shop with old masters,
Cason encourages everyone
to “make their own stuff!”
- Derek Handy.
Derek Handy - VP of Design
for Mattel Action figures.
With a stable of brands
including Jurassic World,
WWE, Masters of the
Universe, Minecraft, and
Pixar, Derek and his team
have won 4 TOTY awards for
best action figure as well
as numerous industry
accolades. Prior to his 15
years at Mattel, Derek was
Sr Manager of Gentle Giant
Ltd. and concept sculptor
at LEGO way back in 1999.
He’s been at this a while.
- Hellraiser
Designs - two
nerds decided they needed
more Nerdy pins, so in
2016 Aaron Rainbolt and
Jimmy Palmquist created
Hellraiser Designs to do
just that. Their first
release consisted of a
TRON Lightcycle enamel pin
and a Blade Runner Spinner
enamel pin. The original
release sold out almost
immediately, which
inspired them to continue
to create more designs and
more merchandise. Together
they design the artwork
and work with
manufacturers to create
pins, t-shirts, hats,
keychains, coins, and much
more for popular fanfare
like Star Wars, Blade
Runner, and John Wick, but
also for underrepresented
classics like TRON, The
Expanse, Condorman, Attack
the Block and many more!
To learn more and see all
the Nerdy designs, visit -
www.hellraiserdesigns.com
- Mike
Thain. I've
been modding my action
figures and toys since I
was a little kid. More
articulation, new
costumes, making them
cooler, scarier or just
more fun. I kept it up
right into adulthood where
I started with customizing
Marvel Legend and
Wrestling figures to make
toys that I couldn't buy.
Then I discovered Jim
Maddox and his cool 1/6
scale action figure head
sculpts. I ordered four
and learned to paint them
using forum posts and
other helpful hints and
was hooked. I'm not
Picasso (well maybe I am
haha) but I am usually
satisfied. I also love
SteamPunk and Dieselpunk
and often fabricate
cyborgs and other horrors
to fill out my shelves. I
even had Tom Savini tell
me that my stuff was scary
and to keep up the good
work.
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Other Artist Judges
include Matt Cauley,
Jonathan Mathews, Tim
Miller, Joe Dunaway, John
Guzman, Jim Maddox, Joe
Allard, Baas Gert, Brian
Stevenson, Hauke Sheer,
Nate Baertsch, Guillermo
Barbiero, Dayton Allen,
Tim Bruckner, Scott
Beatty, Hugo Dourado,
Eamon, O'Donohuge, John
Harmon, David Vonner,
Hunter McGarry, Andrew
Mann, Mathew Black, Allan
Bradley Freeman, Scott
Rogers.
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Retailers:
Without
retailers to sell the
stuff, there'd be a whole
lot less to buy. In
fact, that's one of the
current issues for the
industry, as fewer and
fewer retailers carry the
figures, statues and busts
we love. These 13
judges represent some of
the best known specialty
and mass market retailers,
from small to large.
- Todd Jordan.
Todd Jordan, co-owner of
Kokomo Toys &
Collectibles with his wife
Amber since 2008. Home of
the largest selection of
action figures and toys in
the Midwest. Avid
collector of Gi-Joe,
ThreeA/Underverse and
USSR/Soviet Union made
robots and toys. He enjoys
spending time with his 3
children, granddaughter,
basset hound and his 2
guinea pigs.
- Roger Mack.
Roger Mack is owner of
Choking Hazard Toys in
Bremerton, WA and a
collector of all things
pop culture. His passion
for toys has led to a
lifetime devotion to them
and to sharing that love
with other collectors and
his community. Beyond his
love of all things
Ghostbusters, Marvel, and
Transformers, running his
shop, and scouring remote
antique shops for vintage
toy treasures to restore,
his greatest passion is
toy philanthropy. Having
been a kid who’s family
had financial insecurity,
sometimes toys were the
last thing on the list of
priorities. Every year
Roger and Choking Hazard
Toys arrange for 100’s of
donations to Toys for Tots
to keep the dream of
imaginative play alive for
kids in his community who
otherwise wouldn’t have
access to it.
- Michael Shah.
Michael Shah is the owner
of Mike’s
Toys and Stuff, a
brick-and-mortar store
located in the city of
Orange, CA. Specializing
in action figures, he’s
there selling Hasbro,
NECA, Mezco and more stuff
most Saturdays. An avid
and lifelong comic book
collector he fulfilled his
dream of opening a comic
book related business in
2019.
- Wyatt Edwards.
Wyatt is a blog writer and
editor at FUN.com.
He also helps plan content
and product launches, and
outreach to websites and
social media. FUN.com
makes and sells
collectibles, apparel,
accessories, and also runs
HalloweenCostumes.com,
the world's largest
online-only costume
retailer.
- Lee Ward.
Lee is quite possibly the
longest serving
independent of 1:6 figures
in the UK.
He heads up The Good The
Bad & The Robots
online store and has
enjoyed serving his
customers since
2007. He strives for
the best service and
recently earned 5/5 on
Trustpilot….
The store mainly deals
with preorders but stock
is available
occasionally……
He’s a huge fan of
everything Star
Wars/Marvel/DC and 80’s
movie.
- Other
retailer judges include
Michael Hickmott (Apogee
Comics), Steve Loney
(Toynk), Steve Anne, Kit
Chen (OneSixthKit), James
L Parker, Elias Ortiz,
Adam Stinson (Capstone
Comics), Troy Emmi (Fanboy
Collectibles).
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Collectors:
In the end,
it's the buyers that
decide what gets made and
what doesn't. They
vote with the money in
their wallet, and smart
companies and retailers
listen. I selected
27 collectors that I feel
are opinionated,
respected, and
experienced. Some
are collectors of very
specific lines, while
others buy just about
anything, but they all
know the industry well.
- Monte
Williams. Monte
collects, customizes, and
photographs action
figures. He seldom updates
his @geek_creek account at
Instagram.
- Will Ripamonti.
Will is a 6" scale
collector, for most part
focused on superheroes and
Star Wars, he has a pretty
decent Batman collection
he's very proud of. For
most part he's a low
end/domestic collector,
occasionally he flirts
with import figures. Will
lives in Italy, in a nice
little house in the
woods... where no one can
hear you scream.
- Kevin Hawkey.
Kevin is a 40-year-old
life-long collector from
Philadelphia, PA. Kevin
specializes in Hot Toys,
Marvel Legends, random
TMNT and Horror offerings
and a little bit of
everything else. His most
anticipated 2023 figure is
the Hot Toys Pattinson
Batman.
- Adrian
Faulkner.
Adrian is former Editor-
In- Chief and owner of
Action- Figure. He
has written for ToyFare,
Memorabilia Magazine and
Action Figure & Toy
Collector. Adrian
lives in Wiltshire,
England and has been
collecting Star Wars and
GI Joe action figures for
over 40 years.
- Kevin Clarkson.
Kevin is a collector from
the UK, who much like many
kids of the 80s cut their
teeth on a staple diet of
Hasbro, Kenner &
Mattel offerings during a
decade of inspired
merchandise based toys,
such as Star Wars, MOTU,
TMNT and Transformers.
It wasn¹t until the early
noughties in adulthood
when he started collecting
again, buying 6” figures
that interested him and
Gentle Giant mini-busts
and statues. These days
his collection and focus
are primarily 1/6 scale
articulated figures from
high end companies such as
Hot Toys. But being a
father of two children
means his eye has recently
been drawn once again to
the entry level end of the
market. Kevin is a
well-established member of
many 1/6 social media
groups/forums, and enjoys
showcasing his collection
using photography.
- Paul V Rudolph.
Paul was obsessed with toy
collecting at a young age,
eventually turning his
passion into a blog called
Toy Bender and then later
Robots Pajamas. He's now
shifted to running the
table top gaming company
Table Cat Games, but he
still collects a lot of
toys. Way too many toys.
- Daemon Bintz.
Daamon “GeneralZodLives”
Bintz started actively
collecting comic books and
toys in grade school in
the early 80’s. His
collection has evolved
over the past few decades
to include comic books,
art prints and giclees,
celebrity autographs,
action figures and statues
of every scale, custom
prop replicas/statues, and
even a Star Trek: The Next
Generation pinball
machine. After being
active on several
collectibles forums over
the years, he now runs a
small collectibles forum
called
BanishedtothePhantomZone.com.
Throughout the year, he
travels the country
attending several comic
book conventions including
SDCC, NYCC, Planet
Comicon, and others while
taking thousands of pics
to share with other
collectors.
- Thomas Wheeler.
Thomas, known to some
parts of the collecting
community as "GI Trekker",
is a freelance writer and
photographer (and
definitely for hire!) who
has maintained an
extensive action figure
collection since G.I. Joe:
A Real American Hero
arrived in the scene in
1982, and as a child,
counted Captain Action,
Major Matt Mason, and a
host of very varied Megos
among his prized
possessions. Today his
collection features
everything from G.I. Joe,
to Masters of the Universe
Classics, to Star Trek, to
DC Universe Classics, to
Gundam, and much more. He
has written reviews on a
wide range of action
figures for various
sources, and contributed
file cards to the 1997*-
98 run of G.I. Joe for
Hasbro.
-
Other Collector Judges
include Jeff
Parker, Jason Chirevas,
Terry Rosler, Joseph
Dunnigan, Amanda Burns,
Robert McCloud, Thomas
Arashikage Brandt, Brian
Ashmore, Steve Woolner,
Mike Kelley, Jason Jerde,
Nathan Dewitt, Kenneth Yu,
John Morey, Matt Guzy,
Greg Iacono, Alex MacPhee,
Chris Karukas, Chris
Lawrence.
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And there you have the
146 judges for 2022!
I'll be looking to expand
this group of judges in
2023, so if you or a
colleague are interested,
please drop me an email.
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Please share
with your friends!
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