I left Galactus off my first list for top ten of 2022, and than Moonstone was a big surprise, so I’m rethinking my list, and will repost later, but it’s going to be hard to choose because we got some great figures for 2020, including some in the box sets.

*2022…Lol

2022 was a funny year for me ML wise. I bought less than I ever did (roughly fifteen figures total), but I was consistently impressed with almost every figure I *did* buy. 2023 is looking more expensive: I have as many figures on pre-order for 2023 already as I bought in 2022 total! Anyway, here’s my top ten:

1. Spinneret- not a popular pick, but man, it made me really happy. MJ is my favorite comics character ever after Peter Parker, and I loved “Renew Your Vows.” I was never expecting to see figures based off of it, I was over the moon when she was announced.

2. Spider-Man (Renew Your Vows)- pretty damned close to a perfect Spider-Man figure. The articulation, the hands, the alternate headsculpt… my only quibble is that he’s based on modern art rather than the Romita & Andru I remember from when I was a kid.

3. Daredevil- holy shit. Again, a near perfect classic version of an all-time favorite super hero. Sure, there’s a few accessories that could’ve augmented him (alternate head, mostly), but I haven’t been able to put him down since I got him.

4. Elektra- wish she was in red, but this is easily the best Elektra figure ever. The head-sculpts are some of the best in the whole line, and she can finally hit all the action poses I could ever want! So glad they finally put the tooling dollars down for double-jointed female arms.

5. Lizard- I can’t believe he’s number five, because this figure is just incredible. It’s seldom that Marvel Legends delivers a figure that feels truly “silver age,” but goddamn. He might as well have stepped off the cover of “the Amazing Spider-Man” 44#. Lizard was always my favorite Spider-Man bad guy as a kid, so this satisfies a want I’ve had my whole life.

6. Rhino- after Lizard, Rhino would unquestionably be my other favorite. I remember vividly reading “the Amazing Spider-Man” 41# on the school bus in eighth grade (it was a reprint, obviously. I’m old, not that old), and the issues following it. That’s been my favorite Spidey story-line since eighth grade, but somehow Rhino never found his way into my collection until last week. Sure the articulation is dated, but he’s everything I need him to be.

7. Shocker- my dad’s favorite Spidey bad guy, so classic Shocker has been a want for a long, long time. And he turned out amazing! They put such effort and detail into his costume, and it’s a level of love I’m “shocked” Herman received. Unique sculpts for comics characters are fairly sparing, so I’m glad that a personal favorite got one.

8. Spider-Man (Black Costume)- a really simple, obvious repaint, executed wonderfully. Great representation of the bronze age black costume. I’ve had so much recreating covers from my high school reading with him. He does highlight my desire for a better Black Cat, and the Rose.

9. Controller- obscura like Controller is always awesome to get. He’s this year’s Xemnu for me: old favorite who you assumed never had a shot in the line. Controller’s silver age stories freaked me out when I was younger (seriously, “Iron Man” 12# is a freakshow), and this figure looks exactly like my nightmares! I dunno, body snatcher/ mind control stuff always bothered me. Excellent reuse of Thanos, and a great addition to my too-small shelf of Iron Man rogues (Unicorn next, please!).

10. Nova- literally speaking, I did not think I’d get this figure. I have loved Nova’s character and look since I was introduced to the character, and she’s hovered around my top twenty wants ever since. When she was announced, I was so disappointed that it was as a pack-in for Galactus, as it left me two choices: overpay on the secondary market, or don’t get one. Fortunately, Blue Marvel came through for me, sending me Nova (along with Morg & the Silver Surfer, which are also dynamite figures!) for an extremely generous price. She’s been on my desk since then, and I couldn’t be happier with her. Thanks, BM.

There’s a couple figures that I haven’t gotten around to buying yet (Razorback, Amazing Fantasy Spider-Man, Black Panther), who I’m confident would make the list if I had them.

This year was pretty rough for me, right up until the end when Spiral, Mojo, and Longshot really turned things around. Avalanche and Sabretooth should’ve been top 10 material, but just weren’t. Bonebreaker absolutely rules, though, and Spiral is the best figure released in years, and—honestly—maybe of all time (sentinels not withstanding).

1: Spiral
2: Mojo
3: Havok
4: Longshot
5: Toad
6: Apocalypse
7: Dazzler
8: Binary
9: Multiple Man
10: Beast
BAF: Bonebreaker

^ All X-men stuff on that list. I don't even really like Spidey, but somehow I think I bought more Spidey stuff last year than X-men stuff. That's definitely not gonna be the case this year though with all the 90's X-stuff coming out.

I see everyone is posting their top 10. I'm actually working on a video for that, so I'll post it later. In the meantime, I was having trouble sleeping last night and I started thinking about the possibility of getting all the Starjammers this year. While most of the team had fairly consistent looks, Hepzibah has had a few different ones. I what's everyone's preferred look? I personally want the 90's looking one, but there have been others. Thoughts?

Definitely first picture for me. I’m classic Cockrum Starjammer designs all the way, as that’s the era I remember them from.

That third picture looks more like Minerva Mink from Animaniacs wanted to audition for the role of Wonder Woman. It's quite creepy.

The middle one, or at least some other approximation of 90's Hepzibah. Seems the most likely option for Hasbro, too, given their X-Men track record.

Id love this hepzibah
https://www.toyark.com/forums/attach...9&d=1672673913

I only really collect X-Men Legends, and don’t pay much attention to the rest of the line, but it was tough coming up with ten great figures this year. Spiral, Mojo, Bonebreaker, Havok, Longshot, and Toad were all great, and there were definitely other fine figures, but it was a slow year for X-fans. Hell, four figures on my top ten were basically repaints/rereleases. I legitimately considered including Longshot and Mojo twice each, for their two different versions. Honestly, Darwin and Maggott are both great figures too, and maybe should’ve made my list, but I just don’t really care about the characters. Maybe I would’ve had a better year if I cared about any of the animated series stuff, but those were all basically repaints of figures I already had, this time with unnecessary cel-shading.

I definitely prefer a more modern Hepzibah, myself. Always thought her earlier designs were pretty lackluster.

Overall, I prefer the 90's look, seconded by a more modern tank top and pants. The original look always looked like something out of Looney Toons to me. I never liked it, but to each their own.

:thumbs

Agreed. The third illustration from the Rise and Fall of the Shi’ar Empire story arc is my preferred of the three looks. I’m hoping they give us that version because it would increase the likelihood of getting Vulcan in his kingly raiment, the Havok design from that story, along with a redrafted/modern Warpath and possibly a new green and yellow miniskirt wearing Rachel. Most may not be aware, but the first Polaris we got was from the same storyline.

As far as 2022’s best Marvel Legends:

1. Galactus (really top 1-10, but…)
2. Dr. Strange
3. 60th Spidey
4. Morg (despite the shoulder markings for (L)eft and (R)ight)
5. Blue Marvel
6. Baron Zemo
7. Hammerhead
8. Shocker
9. Daredevil
10. Black Panther (comic)

EDIT I also agree with the sentiment that Spiral might just be the most innovative Marvel Legend of all time, but that's because she has six arms...beautiful figure with excellent proportions and far superior to their previous effort.

Honorable mentions:
Skrull grunt
Nova
Binary
Knull

Interesting Rehashes:
Ulik (The new head, hands and necklace made more of a difference than I would have thought)
Ragnarök Thor (spinning Mjolnir made the purchase well worth it)
West Coast Avengers non-phasing Vision (a nice call-back addition for those of us that picked up the three pack phasing version years ago)
Retro War Machine
Retro Scorpion

Cool odd-balls:
Jigsaw
Bombastic Bagman
Maggot
Toad

I made a video for my top 10 Legends of the year. I also included some honorable mentions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0v9CxLa43E&t=935s

I don't remember Doctor Strange being a 2022 figure. Glad I saw this list before I made up my own because now I have to rethink things.

Right now I know my top favorite is the Amazing Fantasy 15 Spider-Man. I've had so much fun with this guy. More than any other ML last year. Probably more than almost every other figure period.

Galactus would be #2 for sure, while I'm not sure of the ordering to everyone else. Shocker and Lizard would most likely make the list along with possibly Rhino.

Thankfully, I didn't have to redo my displays for Galactus because I preplanned for him when I was setting up my collection room in the new apartment.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...257bd0c9_b.jpg
Picked up the lone She-Hulk at my local Target. In the photo above Jen is wondering why Hasbro gave her such a neutral expression. Seriously I really like the figure and the face is well done but her lack of any visible emotion is weird to work with when her only hands are fists or fingers-spread pushers. The elbow joints are also a bit odd, just using the lower bends looks fine but things get unnatural real fast when using both bends. Everything moves well though and while there are a couple of smudgy paint spots on mine it's still an overall good looking figure even if I achieve some poses and immediately feel compelled to undo them because it doesn't look right with her uninterested gaze.

Both list all are comic figures.

My Top Ten:

1. Captain Britain
2. Morg
3. Rictor
4. Mojo
5. Bonebreaker
6. Firelord
7. Daredevil (3 pack)
8. Scorpion (Retro)
9. Venom (3 pack)
10. AF Spiderman

Honor Mention (And, why they are not in my top ten, but are easily top ten figures.)

1. Galactus (Figure is just awesome but comparing a 400-dollar figure to ones that cost between 20 to 100 at the most seems kind of unfair.)
2. War machine (Retro) (I love him, and in his classic colors, finally! Was very hard to leave him off my top ten.)
3. Spiral (Because I am still waiting for her to be delivered to me, LOL.)
4. US Agent (He is plain jane, but I think he is amazing, glad to have an updated US Agent. Another figure that was hard to leave off my top ten list.)
5. Spiderman Symbiote (Simplicity at its best, another great figure that was worthy of being on my top ten list.)
6. Controller (Great figure, I know he is on a past BAF mold, but I am happy with him, he easily could have made the top ten.)
7. Rhino (Retro) (Love the figure, the paint apps are amazing, but he is on a past mold, which I took some points away from.)
8. Captain America (Figure is a great but displaying him with holes in his shield is offsetting.)
9. Spiderman (3 pack) (Great figure, but the head sculpt just seems a little too big for his body, and I already have 2 other Spiderman figures on the list.)
10. Lizard (Retro) (Great figure, I just wish he had some bulk to him.)
11. Ultron (BAF) (Great figure but felt Hasbro could have done a better job on the leg.)
12. Doctor Strange (Nice figure overall, but wish the cape was removeable, and the hair on the head sculpts is kind of puffy.)

People must really like Galactus... I don't remember the Sentinels getting as much love at the end of year.

I think most of the figures in the new wave have pretty dull expressions, but Jen is probably the worst. Maybe she's sad because she realizes she finally has a new figure but it's in an entire wave that feels rushed and also reeks of budget cuts?

I agree there. She should have gotten the Tatiana/She-Hulk smirk.

https://www.cnet.com/a/img/resize/28...675&width=1200

Our Wallets get a break for the first month of the new year

https://i.imgur.com/vR9WnQ3.png

^ That sux! There are still a bunch of stuff from the leaked list that didn't get reveals... like the Winter Soldier reissues or Penny Parker. I guess the new Spiderverse figs never got an official reveal either, but we already saw pics of most of them. Also there is a rumor that the '97 X-men cartoon might get delayed on D+, so maybe their figs might get delayed too. Don't care about Ant-man 3 stuff though.

There's like 11 months and 25 days left of the year for that list.

Found the Peter & Ned two-pack at Target today marked down to fifteen dollars!