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 The People's Choice Awards for 2003

Here it is, another year gone by.  And it's time once again for the People's Choice Awards at Michael's Review of the Week.  This is the fourth year we've done these, and comparing the results is always interesting.  I'll be doing my picks for best and worst of the year after the poll closes, to avoid swaying any voters.

I'm going to combine a big giveaway with this year's voting as well.  Everyone who votes in the poll and provides a valid email address will be in the running to win one of six terrific prize packs:

- Superheroes - comes with Ultimate Hulk; Ultimate Iron-Man; TMNT Leonardo; a bunch of I-Men (especially Dragonball Z); a Robotech VFA-6H; and both versions of the Ultimate Venom (one still MOMC!)

- McToys and more - comes with Twisted Oz Lion, Toto; Matrix series 1 Trinity; Dawn, Death, the Death variant; and Matrix 2 Neo plus the Neo/Smith set!

- General Monsters - comes with Dark Carnival Stitches, Browning Brothers; Underworld Raze; Blood Wolves Wulv; and Gangsters Inc. O'Brien.

- Girls and more - comes with regular Dark Angel; full set of animated Witchblade; set of Witchblade Jr. PVC's; Lara Croft, Lara in wet suit, the Shadow Guardian; and Matrix 2 Trinity and Niobe!

- Animation - comes with Herculoids Zandor and Zok; Davey, Goliath (standing), Dad (and variant Davey), Mom, and Sister; baseball playing Quisp; and Gil, Ranier and Plow King Barney!

- This and That - full set of Tron figures; both vinyl Insane Clown Posse figures; and the vinyl Snoop Dog figure.

Remember that all of these are loose, and mostly there...hey, I can't be sure the cat didn't eat something.  Be sure to select which prize pack you're most interested in.  I can't guarantee that's the one you'll get, so the wise man selects more than one!  Thanks for voting, and watch for the results in early January!  I also reserve the right to add some things as the month progresses, so watch for new additions to the prizes!

Oh, and only one entry per email address.  I will delete any that are from a duplicate email address before pulling the winners, so it won't do you much good anyway.  Thanks - on to the voting!

 

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Enter your email address:

Which prize pack would you prefer?  Select at least two for a backup:

McToys Superheroes Ladies
This and That General Monsters Animation

Best of 2003 Poll

NOTE - for categories like articulation, sculpting and packaging, I always think in terms of companies rather than lines.  That's why the suggestions are all companies, but feel free to use the Other box on any question to vote for your particular favorite.

Also be sure to read through ALL the choices before voting.  There were a lot of lines, companies, and figures this year, and you might forget something or someone from earlier in the year.  I tried to be relatively comprehensive, but the other box is always there for your specific needs.

You'll also notice that many of the same figures or lines might end up in best or worst categories.  I know that folks have highly varying opinions on this stuff.  Also, my suggestions are meant not as the end all, be all list, but as a reminder of all the companies and lines that were out there in 2003.

Best Overall Company:

Art Asylum Hasbro Bandai Dragon
bbi 21st Century McFarlane DC Direct
Playmates Sideshow Toy Mezco Toybiz
Playing Mantis Mattel Play Along Jakk's
Stan Winston NECA Majestic Ignite
Toycom/Mirage Marvel Select Toynami Drastic Plastic
Equity Palisades Disney Graphitti Designs
Diamond Select Dusty Trails

Other:

Best Overall Line:

DC Direct Marvel Legends Marvel Select Muppets
Movie Maniacs 6 (Predator/Alien) Universal Monsters Modern Monsters (Freddy, Jason, etc) Hulk
Lord of the Rings Spawn 23 Twisted Oz Monty Python
Beast Wars Tortured Souls 2 Sideshow Bond Justice League
Sports Picks Spiderman Classics Dragonball Z Transformers
Star Wars Living Dead Dolls Gundam Mattel Batman
Simpsons TMNT Armies of Middle Earth Blood Wolves
Matrix Marvel Minimates Terminator 3 Hellraiser
Kingdom Come Gremlins Star Trek Original Masters of the Universe
Soul Caliber X-men 2 Peanuts Island of Misfit Toys (Rudolph)
Spawn 24 Christmas Story Star Wars Unleashed Clerks
SpyTroops Herculoids King of the Hill Thundarr
Animal House Dark Carnival Extreme Atheletes Mez-itz Monsters

Other:

Best Male Figure:

Pinhead (7") Whiplash Koozebane Kermit SDCC Kirk
Kraven 10th Ann. Spawn Sentinal T-850
12" Freddy Kilt Willie ML Colossus Predator
 KC Shazam Rizzo Zipline Batman Stripe
S-mart Ash Mr. Plow Homer Silent Bob (Clerks) ML V Blade
Nightcrawler Punisher (ML) Statler/Waldorf Herman
Stephen Hawking DCD SA Joker DCD Modern Superman SDCC Keldor
Crusader (Ignite) Creature from the Black Lagoon (12") 1/4 scale Vampyre Super Poseable Aragorn
Future Burns Thundarr Santa Spawn Barnes (Platoon)
Brosnan Bond Pit of Carkoon Fett Dueling Club Harry Potter Xmas Story Dad
Custer (DP) Camp Ambush Tusken Raider Rotocast  10" Hulk Rotocast Legolas
9" Gollum (Talking) The Collector Pinhead (18") Super poseable Clone Trooper

Other:

Best Female Figure:

Aurora (Cy Girl) T-X 12" Shi Evil Lyn
Destiny (Cy Girl) Uhura Niobe Madam Mortuus
MS Black Cat Leia Unleashed Ms. Botz PIS Miss Piggy
Dorothy (Oz) Eowyn (armor) Janice JL Hawkgirl
Xena (WOS) Lara Croft Princess Kashmir Pussy Galore

Other:

Best Articulation:

Art Asylum Hasbro Bandai Dragon
bbi 21st Century McFarlane DC Direct
Playmates Sideshow Toy Mezco Toybiz
Playing Mantis Mattel Play Along Jakk's
Stan Winston NECA Majestic Ignite
Toycom/Mirage Marvel Select Toynami Drastic Plastic
Equity Palisades Disney Graphitti Designs
Diamond Select Dusty Trails

Other:

Best Sculpting:

Art Asylum Hasbro Bandai Dragon
bbi 21st Century McFarlane DC Direct
Playmates Sideshow Toy Mezco Toybiz
Playing Mantis Mattel Play Along Jakk's
Stan Winston NECA Majestic Ignite
Toycom/Mirage Marvel Select Toynami Drastic Plastic
Equity Palisades Disney Graphitti Designs
Diamond Select Dusty Trails

Other:

Best Packaging:

Art Asylum Hasbro Bandai Dragon
bbi 21st Century McFarlane DC Direct
Playmates Sideshow Toy Mezco Toybiz
Playing Mantis Mattel Play Along Jakk's
Stan Winston NECA Majestic Ignite
Toycom/Mirage Marvel Select Toynami Drastic Plastic
Equity Palisades Disney Graphitti Designs
Diamond Select Dusty Trails

Other:

Best Vehicle, Deluxe Set or Playset:

Treehouse of Horror 4 APU Kitchen/Swedish Chef Pigs in Space
Freddy's Furnace TMNT Lair Terminator 3 set Moe's
Matrix Chateau AOME Helm's Deep Geonosian Starfighter Star Trek 1701
Sentinal Alien Queen AOME Moria

Other:

Best New Idea or Innovation:

Rotocast 10" Marvel Minimates Mega Muppets
WOS Rereleases Armies of Middle Earth Disney Magical Collection
Mini-Muppets Tons of mini-busts Plastic Souls

Other:

Worst Overall Company:

Art Asylum Hasbro Bandai Dragon
bbi 21st Century McFarlane DC Direct
Playmates Sideshow Toy Mezco Toybiz
Playing Mantis Mattel Play Along Jakk's
Stan Winston NECA Majestic Ignite
Toycom/Mirage Marvel Select Toynami Drastic Plastic
Equity Palisades Disney Graphitti Designs
Diamond Select Dusty Trails

Other:

Worst Line:

DC Direct Marvel Legends Marvel Select Prozone
Indiana Jones (Disney) Universal Monsters Modern Monsters (Freddy, Jason, etc) Hulk
Lord of the Rings Spawn 23 Twisted Oz Monty Python
Beast Wars Tortured Souls 2 Underworld Justice League
Sports Picks Spiderman Classics Dragonball Z Transformers
Star Wars Living Dead Dolls Gundam Mattel Batman
Simpsons TMNT Armies of Middle Earth Blood Wolves
Matrix Marvel Minimates Terminator 3 Hellraiser
Kingdom Come Gremlins Witchblade Masters of the Universe
Soul Caliber X-men 2 Peanuts Island of Misfit Toys (Rudolph)
Spawn 24 Christmas Story Star Wars Unleashed Clerks
SpyTroops Herculoids King of the Hill Thundarr
Animal House Dark Carnival Dick Tracey Alias

Other:

Worst Male Figure:

MS Blade II Creature Walks Among Us Cartman German Mechanic (Indy)
Arena Confrontation Mace Attack Armor Martian Manhunter Fly Fishing Spider-man Hulk (movie)
12" Mummy Flick Database 12" Ewoks
Spider-man (MS) Prologue Bilbo Indiana Jones (Disney) Hulk (Marvel Select)

Other:

Worst Female Figure:

Dorothy (Oz) Marion Ravenwood Trinity
Witchblade Xmas Story Mom Miss Hoover
Elektra (ML) Black Cat (MS) Niobe
JL Hawkgirl Alias Sydney T-X

Other:

Worst Articulation:

Art Asylum Hasbro Bandai Dragon
bbi 21st Century McFarlane DC Direct
Playmates Sideshow Toy Mezco Toybiz
Playing Mantis Mattel Play Along Jakk's
Stan Winston NECA Majestic Ignite
Toycom/Mirage Marvel Select Toynami Drastic Plastic
Equity Palisades Disney Graphitti Designs
Diamond Select Dusty Trails

Other:

Worst Sculpting:

Art Asylum Hasbro Bandai Dragon
bbi 21st Century McFarlane DC Direct
Playmates Sideshow Toy Mezco Toybiz
Playing Mantis Mattel Play Along Jakk's
Stan Winston NECA Majestic Ignite
Toycom/Mirage Marvel Select Toynami Drastic Plastic
Equity Palisades Disney Graphitti Designs
Diamond Select Dusty Trails

Other:

Worst Packaging:

Art Asylum Hasbro Bandai Dragon
bbi 21st Century McFarlane DC Direct
Playmates Sideshow Toy Mezco Toybiz
Playing Mantis Mattel Play Along Jakk's
Stan Winston NECA Majestic Ignite
Toycom/Mirage Marvel Select Toynami Drastic Plastic
Equity Palisades Disney Graphitti Designs
Diamond Select Dusty Trails

Other:

Worst Vehicle or Playset:

ProZone baseball sets Simpsons Next Century Terminator 3 set
Snoopy's re-released Doghouse Batcave (again!) Matrix Chateau
12" Leia/Speederbike AOME Moria

Other:

Worst Idea:

Toyfare Lunchbox exclusives Limited Muppets Increasing prices
Excessive convention exclusives Plastic Souls all mini-figures
Mini-bust boom WOS re-releases

Other:

The line/figure in 2004 you're most looking forward to:

Star Trek Simpsons 1/4 scale horror
Mattel Batman MOTU Star Wars
Lord of the Rings Marvel Select AOME
Spawn Kill Bill Live by Sword
Muppets Marvel Legends DC Direct
Hellboy Universal Monsters (Jakks)

Other:

Please include any additional comments or suggestions:

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