Favourite Toys of 2020

It's that time again! Every year I like to sit down and pick my favourite ten toy releases from the past year. 2020 is a year that's involved a lot of sitting and not much else, but even though the world practically came to a standstill thanks to COVID-19 the year's toy game has been EXTREMELY strong. There were so many excellent figures to choose from, that narrowing it down to just ten proved rather difficult (and for the first time ever, I've properly included an honourable mention). As usual this list is limited to figures that were NEWLY released in 2020, so reissues and older figures I picked up don't count. Not to say older figures don't get some sort of representation on here though, since there seems to be plenty of repaint/remould love on here. Anyway, click on for the full rundown and what's sure to be a few surprises!

Toybox REVIEW: Storm Collectibles Mortal Kombat 3 Classic Sub-Zero

Release Date: February 2020

RRP: $70

Hong Kong-based manufacturer Storm Collectibles have created quite a name for themselves over the past few years with their range of action figures, particularly in the realm of video games in which they specialise. Their repertoire includes the likes of Street Fighter, Tekken, Darkstalkers, King of Fighters and more, but there’s one franchise particularly that they’ve set the standard for - Mortal Kombat. Focussing on the classic era of the overly bloody fighting game, Storm Collectibles have released a range of characters from the first three games in the series. Among these is their Mortal Kombat 3 classic Sub-Zero, based on the original masked version of the iconic Lin Kuei ice ninja. The classic variant of Sub-Zero appeared in the expanded Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 version (as well as Mortal Kombat Trilogy), alongside his younger brother who has held the mantle since Mortal Kombat 2. The classic Sub-Zero’s identity within the game’s narrative is presented as a mystery (the original Sub-Zero having become Noob Saibot by this point in the timeline), but the truth is to many players it didn’t really matter - all they saw and wanted was an updated version of the classic and instantly more recognisable iteration.