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 The 2007 Poppies - the ballot!

Hello readers!  The illustrious judges for the 2007 Poppies put in their nominations for the best pop culture collectibles in ten categories - Best Overall Company, Best Overall Line, Best 18" and up Male Figure, Best 12" - 18" Male Figure, Best Under 12" Male Figure, Best Female Figure (any size), Best Statue, Best Mini-bust, Best Vinyl and Best Misc.

I tallied up the nominations, and the results are below.  These are the nominations that the judges will now be voting on for the final 2007 winners.  To make it more interesting for you, the readers, I thought I'd give you a chance to guess who the winners would pick!

Pick the choices you think the judges will pick - not your favorites, but the ones you think will win.  I'll take the reader submissions that match the most votes, and randomly draw one to win the big prize - at least 15 carded or boxed figures!  What are the figures?  It's a secret!  But there will be at least 15 (perhaps more!), and all will be in the original packages.  There will be some Marvel Legends, some Mcfarlane Dragons, some Justice League, some DC Direct, some Marvel Select...it's a cornucopia!

The contest will run until January 20th, and on the 21st I'll be announcing the winners of the 2007 Poppies, and the reader that matched the most answers AND was drawn! Let me know if you've got any questions by emailing me.

I'll also be doing my own set of Best and Worsts this year, but I thought I'd make some comments on the items that got nominated.  Let's start with some general observations:

- Marvel Legends were pretty much non-existent.  I think there were some good items this year, but clearly I'm in the minority.  A couple judges nominated a figure here and there, but there just wasn't the love we've seen in the past.

- there are some very clear favorites.  In fact, I bet I can predict the winners in at least half the categories, just from the way the nominations went.  I suspect the winners in most categories will get the title by a landslide.

- I was shooting for around 10 nominees in each category, but I wanted to be fair and include any that made it with the same or more number of votes.  That means you'll see a variety of numbers when it comes to nominees, although most of the categories ended up with around 12.

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Best Overall Company: 

Art Asylum Attakus Bandai bbi
Character Options  Cool Rockets Creatus Maximus DC Direct
Diamond Select Disney Dragon Enterbay
Gentle Giant Hasbro Hot Toys JAKKS
Jazwares Joyride Studios Kaiyodo Kotobukiya
Marvel Toys Master Replicas Mattel McFarlane
Medicom Mezco MGA NECA
Noble Collection Plan-B Toys Playmates Sideshow
SOTA Takara Tonner Toynami
Yamato Zizzle

This was the one category where I already pretty much had the list set, and I only ended up having to add a couple companies that folks suggested.  I wanted to be fair to the major companies out there and let folks have a chance to vote for just about anyone, which might make this one the most contested winner.

Best Overall Line:

25th Anniversary Joes    Aliens/Predators (Hot Toys) DC Direct 13" Deluxe   DC Mini-mates  DC Superheroes
Legendary Comic Book Heroes Pirates of the Caribbean (Hot Toys) Revoltech Sports Picks Star Wars (Gentle Giant)
Star Wars (Hasbro) Star Wars (Sideshow) Star Trek (DST) Transformers  World of Warcraft

I had a few surprises with this category.  First, there's still plenty of love for Star Wars, with three companies getting their unique lines in the list.  I was also surprised to see DC mini-mates getting the love (although I think they deserve it), as well as DST's Trek line.  Oddly enough, while both Trek and Revoltech got plenty of love from the judges in this category, almost no one nominated specific figures from these lines in the individual categories.

Best Figure 18" or more (both male and female):

Captain Teague  Harry Potter Jack Sparrow (AWE)  Michael Myers (Rob Zombie) Ultimate Bumblebee

This was a mighty thin category this year, and only time will tell if it remains a category next year.  There were some suggestions to put the Sideshow PF's in this category, but I balked for two reasons.  One, they're really statues, let's be honest.  And two, their price point makes competing against them with a $40 or $50 all plastic figure almost impossible.  To me, it makes more sense to have the PF's in the statue category, where the other nominees are likely to be in the same price/quality range.

Best Male Figure 12 - 18":

Ash Zombie (Peril)  Boba Fett (Medicom)
Darth Maul (Sideshow) Endoskeleton (Hot Toys)
Jabba the Hutt (Sideshow) Jack Sparrow (Hot Toys)
Kratos (NECA God of War) Obi-Wan Kenobi (ANH Sideshow)
Silver Surfer (Hasbro Icons)  Spawn (Medicom)
Ultimate Ghost Rider (Hasbro)  Warrior Alien (Hot Toys)

Obviously, Sideshow, Hot Toys and Medicom dominated this category, but it was nice to see Hasbro get some love for a couple of the Icons, as well as NECA's Kratos, all of which I think were deserving of the nomination.  I was surprised to see Peril Unlimited's Ash Zombie make it in, since I hadn't realized he'd gotten that wide of coverage.

Best Male Figure (under 12"):

Blood and Lightening Hellboy (Gentle Giant)  Clayface (DCSH) 
Concept Boba Fett (Hasbro) Deluxe Concept Bumblebee (Hasbro) 
Hagrid (NECA) Hippie Hunter Cartman (Mezco)
Jack Bauer (Mcfarlane) Judge Dredd (LCBH - Marvel Toys)
Kratos (God of War - NECA) Leonidas (NECA)
Orc Shaman (WOW - DCD) Pitt (LCBH - Marvel Toys)

There's lots of good variety in this category, and I thought the nominees were all quite deserving.  Hippie Hunter Cartman surprised the Hell out of me, but clearly he made an impression on some folks.

Best Female Figure (any size):

Asajj Ventress (Sideshow)  Batgirl (13" Deluxe DCD)
Donna Troy (Wonder Woman DCD)  Dorothy (12" Mcfarlane) 
Elizabeth Swann (Hot Toys) Gorgo (300 - NECA)
Lara Croft (NECA) Mrs. Claus (Mcfarlane)
Tia Dalma (NECA) Vixen

I think Batgirl is the first figure in any list that wouldn't have been in my top 10 or even 20, and I was a little surprised by the love that Tia and Lara got, after seeing a lot of complaining online on those two.  Of course, this is just the nominations, but you never know...

Best Statue:

Alex Ross Batman Black and White (DCD)  C-3PO/R2-D2 (Kotobukiya) 
Captain America (Sideshow PF) Darth Maul (Sideshow PF)
Emma Frost Comicquette (Sideshow) Hulk (Sideshow PF)
Jabba's Throne (Sideshow) Mary Jane Comiquette (Sideshow) 
Slave Leia (Gentle Giant) Zombie Spider-man/Mary Jane (DST) 

Since I included PF's here, I wasn't surprised to see them do well in the nominations. Sideshow had some very nice ones come out this last year, along with several good comiquettes, allowing them to dominate.

Best Mini-bust:

Batgirl (Woman of the DCU - DCD)  Captain Britain (Bowen)
Chewbacca (Gentle Giant) Commander Cody (Gentle Giant) 
Darth Maul (Gentle Giant) Obi-Wan Kenobi (Gentle Giant)
Mad Eye Moody (Gentle Giant) Ringwraith (Gentle Giant)
Voldemort (Gentle Giant) Zatanna (Women of the DCU - DCD) 

Just as Sideshow dominated the statues, Gentle Giant dominated the mini-busts.  But Bown and DCD got in there two with some very strong contenders.

Best Vinyl:

Bart Simpsons (Toy2R) Big Lebowski Walter (Bif! Bang! Pow!) 
Bossy Bear (David Horvath)  Dink (Miss MIndy)
Gorillaz (Kid Robot) I.W.G. (Rocket World)
Mighty Muggs (Hasbro) Monkey Boy (Frank Cho)
Subcasts (Upper Deck) Yoda VCD (Medicom)

Best Misc:

3D Posters (Mcfarlane)  Aliens Power Loader (Hot Toys) 
Cars (Mattel)  Classic Marvel Magazine lead figures
Harry Potter Wands (Noble Collection)  Kermit Photo Puppet (Master Replicas) 
Living Dead Dolls (Mezco) Millennium Falcon (Lego)
Millennium Falcon (Master Replicas) Star Wars Chubbies (Hot Toys)

Please include any additional comments or suggestions:

 

  
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