[TOY OF THE YEAR RESULTS TO FOLLOW, PLEASE VOTE]

Apologies for the lateness of this. Covid wiped me out for a good few weeks and even now staring at a screen for too long gives me a headache.

So, 9 years of 3rd Party Year in Reviews. If you want to see previous years results, we have a brief summary below courtesy of CZ Hazard (up to 2018) and myself.

2012 was the year of Hercules Vs Giant.
2013 was the year Fans Toys hit the scene with fan favourite MMC Hexatron taking second place to the game-changing Quakewave.
2014 was the year where MMC finally took the coveted top spot with Toy of the Year in Feral Rex and Company of the Year, narrowly beating out Scoria for Toy of the Year. Unique Toys took most improved, and Warbotron took newcomer of the year.
2015 was a busy year, with MMC narrowly missing out on company of the year to Fans Toys by just two votes. With MMC Spartan, UT Ordin and XTB Apollyon winning in their respective categories.
2016 was the year that Maketoys finally got the top spot beating out Fans Toys with their wide variety of styles, but with Fans Toys Stomp winning overall toy of the year.
2017 was a return to form for Fans Toys, winning company of the year, Citybot of the year with Omega, MP style and 3P toy of the year with Phoenix. MMC did well overall with Kultur winning CHUG, Iron Factory stormed the Legend style, Fans Hobby took best newcomer, and DX9 won most improved
2018 was very fractious, and MP won out with FansToys taking Toy of the Year with Quietus, but XTB were right on their heels with the most MP nominations and Most Improved Company, enough to also score them Company of the Year. So, so many Legends nominations!
2019, despite a higher number of releases, followed the same pattern as 2018, with FanToys taking MP of the Year and company of the Year, but losing the coveted Toy of the Year to TE’s Op Leader, which also ensured they won Best Newcomer of the Year. MMC took 2 of the other categories as well – Giant Toy/Combiner Category and Most Improved Company.

The voting for overall 3P Toy of 2020 closes on 23rd <Edited> February based on the ten most nominated toys, click here to check the nominations for this year, and below we'll look at the top nominations for each category. These nominations determine the finals for the poll above, and directly decide Company of the Year results.

What will be the most popular category? Is it still all about MP or have people moved on to Legends? Is CHUG still relevant? Let’s find out together.

(But first; Disclaimer: Thank you to everyone who voted in all of the polls. TFW is nothing without its members, and your voices on the 3P thread do get seen and heard by the majority of 3P companies. These are your choices and are presented here based on your nominations. Please do not attack the choices as being "wrong", biased, or in any way of my choosing, they are all correct as they are subjective. Having said that, there are thousands of board members and barely any people got involved and a lot of people outright ignored formatting and many categories. Your vote counts, but only if you take part!)

Third Party Toy of the Year results

3P MP style Category

1) Fans Toys Thomas (Astrotrain)


2) Studio Cell Core Star (Unicron)


3) Mastermind Creations Probus (Brawl)


FansToys did it again, with Thomas taking the top spot, following in the shoes of previous FT winners Roadking, Phoenix, Stomp, Scoria and Quakewave. Collectors have been asking for a MP version of Astrotrain for some time, and FansToys delivered with a high quality package, though their pre-order policy stirred up some controversy.

Runner up went to Studio Cell’s Core Star. Again, this figure initially caused some controversy by going head-to-head with HasLab’s Unicron, but with some finagling here and there, it got released in 2020 anyway, and to many, is the ’86 Movie Unicron of their dreams, representing the animated aesthetic far better than HasLab’s stylised take. This figure also scored highly in the Giant Toy category, and overall got the highest number of nominations of any figure, so let’s see if that translates to the 3P figure of the year vote.

Third place goes to MMC’s Probus. This is the third MP Brawl to market, but to many it defined the characters animation model better than those that came before – Zeta’s being toy-based and Unique Toys considered too small. Combine that with the fact that this was the final piece for the first all-in-one MP combiner to market, and you have a lot of pleased collectors.

Unsurprisingly, the MP category received the largest number of nominations and votes again, cementing itself as the premiere tier of 3rd Party collecting, with 28 different MP products nominated – 1 more than last year. G1 dominated again; however, a handful of Movieverse styled figures, IDW inspired and even stylised figures got nominated, with some doing quite well.

Honourable mentions go to Unique Toys Dragoon (TLK Megatron), Transform Element Speed Star (Mirage), FT Magnum (Wildrider), Big Firebird Nicee (Arcee) and Cang Toys Landbull (Tantrum) which placed 3rd through 8th respectively. There were very few votes difference between third and eighth place, so a few more nominations could have completely changed that order.

3P CHUG style Category

1) Mastermind Creations Mors (Helex)


2) Mastermind Creations Tortor (Tesarus)/ Mastermind Creations Mnemo & Motif (Chromedome & Rewind)


3) Mastermind Creations Vexo Prominon (Batman)


MMC dominated this year, with not just all three top slots taken, but sharing the second place with two of their own products. Clearly the IDW aesthetic is still a big draw for a lot of collectors, and MMC have little competition and a lot of experience in this field.

Mors (Helex) took the top spot, with Tortor (Tesarus) placing joint second. The satisfaction of seeing this long awaited DJD line-up finally complete, especially since it’s been 6 years since the first figure was announced, clearly pleased a lot of people.

The other joint second place went to Mnemo (Chromedome) and Motif (Rewind), a pair of fan favourite characters from the comic, which were only announced at the end of 2019, but generated a lot of hype upon their reveal.

A surprise third place went to MMC’s con-exclusive Batman crossover, Vexo Prominon. Given how well this went down, maybe we’ll see more experiments like this in the future from both MMC and other players.

Honorable mention for TFC’s Astaroth and Mammon for taking fourth and fifth places respectively and showing there’s still room in the game for stylised figures.

Planet X were noticeably absent this year due to not releasing anything in 2020; however, they have a few products due in 2021, so let’s see if they can return to glory.

A drop in votes from last year with only 13 toys nominated, and 3 of those being from 2019. Is CHUG once again losing it’s popularity?

3P Giant Toy / Combiner Category

1) Studio Cell Core Star (Unicron)


2) Mastermind Creations Assaultus (Bruticus)


3) DX9 Attila (Menasor)


The winner is Core Star, but it was not as overwhelming a victory as would have been expected. MMC’s Assaultus picked up a large number of votes, possibly because they tried (and succeeded) in trying something new in the MP combiner arena (all-in-one). But at the end of the day, we have had several Bruticii before Assaultus, and Core Star is the first (and possibly only ever) MP Unicron we will see, so was hugely anticipated. Both nominees also obtained votes in the MP of the Year category as well, though combining them wouldn’t have changed anything.

Third place goes to DX9’s Attila (Menasor), the first of the MP Menasor’s to be completed, and DX9’s Swansong. So it’s a nice tribute to see this take a place in the years rankings.

Honourable mention goes to Fans Hobby Lightning Eagle (Thunderclash), the only other eligible nomination, and which also received nominations in the MP and CHUG category, which suggests that Fans Hobby figures are being appreciated by all types of collectors; however, even combining all those nominations, it would not have placed in any category.

3P Legends / Small Scale Category

1) Newage Scaramanga (Soundwave)


2) Magic Square Doomsday (Megatron)


3) Magic Square Voice Ripple (Soundwave)


As I announced when I took on this task, I know very little about Legends, so forgive me if some of this write-up is a little incorrect.

Iron Factory dominated the top spot for 5 years in a row, but this year the best they could hope for is an honourable mention in fifth place with Heat Death (Transmetal 2 Beast Wars Megatron). It does seem that the trend in Legends is moving towards ‘toon accuracy now, as Masterpiece did before it, and the stylised look that IF are keeping to is hurting its popularity somewhat.

As CZ Hazard stated last year, New Age was nipping at Iron Factory’s heels in 2019, and this year they sailed past them to take the top slot with Scaramanga, their version of Soundwave. It must have been the year of Soundwave, as Magic Square also managed to take third place with their version of that character, Voice Ripple. But second place (a very close second place) was also taken by Magic Square with Doomsday (Megatron). So Magic Square lost out on the top spot, but can take consolation with silver and bronze.

Honourable mention goes to Mech Fans Toys/Mechanic Studio for their Iron Sky (Astrotrain), in fourth place, which was the only other figure to get more than 10 votes.

It looks like Autobots were not that popular with Legends collectors in 2020.

18 nominations in this category this year (despite several being released in previous years), but I don’t know how that compares to numbers in years past. Maybe CZ Hazard can let us know if this is better or worse than 2019.

OVERALL 3P Figure of the Year:

To be announced

3P Company of the Year Results

Most Improved Company of the Year

1) Mastermind Creations


2) X-Transbots


This was again a very close race which ended up with identical results to last year.

Again, not many votes this year, with no single company hitting double digits, but looking at the amount of MMC’s Reformatted figures nominated in the CHUG category, and it’s domination of that category, it's easy to see that this is where the votes came from. Well done MMC, previous Company of the Year. Is Most Improved Company enough to make it a comeback to Company of the Year as it was for XTB in 2018? Keep reading.

Best Newcomer

Cang Toys.

As per last year, there was only one real contender again, with Cang Toys securing 19 out of 30 nominations. Technically not entirely a newcomer, as the design team has been around for a while producing designs for the likes of TFC and Toyworld, but as a first effort by themselves (as far as anyone knows), their first 2 stylised Predacons were highly praised, and off the back of these there is great anticipation for their future figures.


A nod to second place goes to Big Firebird. Whilst their aesthetic might have ruffled a few feathers, the high quality build and finish of Nicee couldn’t be argued about.

3P Company of the Year
Congratulations to MMC. Being the most improved company of the year may not have been the only factor towards bringing the crown back for the first time since 2014, but it certainly helped. Dipping into Masterpiece, Combiners, and IDW style CHUG figures, all of which had high quality throughout, enabled a decisive victory. Completing both the first all-in-one MP combiner and the long awaited DJD set was clearly appreciated by a lot of fans.


Honourable mention goes to Fan Toys, last year’s winner, and the only other company to garner more than 10 votes. With 6 new releases and a further 6 reissues/repaints, Fanstoys kept their much loved product churning out, despite the worldwide pandemic causing so much disruption to production and shipping.


Next year will be another bumper year for MP scale combiners, with no less than 6 companies (FansToys, Cang Toys, Zeta/Moon Studio, X-Transbots, MMC and Dream Star Toys) all delving into that arena; however, with 2 of the only 3 likely to be completed in 2021 being FansToys first 2 offerings, on top of a number of stand-alone releases from them, I can see FT dominating again next year.

Summary

Given the state of the world during 2020, and how few releases a lot of people seemed to think the hobby had got, there seemed to be as many, if not more releases than in 2019, so it seems 3P is not slowing down at all. If the world itself hadn’t slowed down in general, we can only guess as to what else we would have got in 2020... but we’ll see those figures all trickle out in 2021 (hopefully).

Very few Movieverse figures got nominated overall, and whether that’s got anything to do with the reported crackdown on Movieverse IP by HasTak limiting the number of releases, or that the figures themselves haven’t made much of an impact, you be the judge.

MMC is the only company to have multiple products go to the voting stage this year, with 5, so that deserves a nod, but could work against them; however, given the sheer number of votes Thomas and Core Star received, it probably won’t make a difference.

Similar to last year, the category with the least participation was Company of the Year, and this was joined this year with Best Newcomer of the Year. To reiterate what CZ Hazard said last year, there are hundreds of us active in this forum, and very few people voted. As it was my first time doing this, I stuck with the formula he had used, but maybe if there are too many categories or people think the categories need tweaking or changing altogether, say so, and I'll look at streamlining the process next year. Your vote counts though, so get involved!

2021 Predictions



MP once again dominated and this again looks to continue into 2021. As previously stated, at least 6 companies will be starting, carrying on with, or finishing their MP combining figures, with at least 3 expected to be complete by year end. We’re even expecting a couple of CHUG combiners to be completed as well. Will X-Transbots, Planet X and Iron Factory make a comeback?

With HasTak revisiting Beast Wars in its Kingdom CHUG line, can we expect to see 3P to start showing an interest in those characters? With the G1 well drying up further every year, and with Fans Hobby leading the way into later G1 releases and Japanese exclusive characters, might we see more 3P companies exploiting that niche? Same with T-Beast design which have seen some popularity in 2020. Who knows? Maybe we’ll even see some more cross-over figures.

Come back next year and take part!

That's all!

Thanks for taking part in nominations, voting, buying and supporting 3P, and for reading this every year.

And a huge thank you to CZ Hazard for starting this and carrying it on for so many years before.

And if he would like to comment on his predictions, that would be great.

I have the tally saved on Excel if anyone would like to see it... just PM me your e-mail address.

 

Thanks to you and CZ Hazard for keeping these going! Always love reading them

 

Thank you the oaf for all the effort you put into the write-up for 2020.

Have to give it to Assaults. Not because he is flawless but because they tried something new with the all in one gimmicks.

Like with all new ideas it needs some refinement like the aesthetics of the core bot and the stability in combined mode.

But all in all the limb bots are super fun even without the combining gimmick which is a great success in itself.

For Maximas Pro I wish MMC would work on their overall fit and finish and the QC.

The other toys on the list are just not as impressive (Thomas) or as good (Core Star).

For 2021 FansToys should work on their supply issues. I can deal with one company doing that (Bandai) I don’t need another one that gives me preorder nightmares especially when they don’t have a fixed announced/release schedule.

 

You put an XTB picture for DX9 Attila...

But otherwise, thank you writing up and doing this.

 

Thanks again, guys! I never cease to have fun reading these. Some random thoughts on all of the results:

MMC ABSOLUTELY deserves the most improved and the company of the year, they have just been slaughtering it recently and it looks like that ain't gonna stop (Locking it in now, Optus Pexus is the best Chug of 2021) along with Cang Toys also absolutely deserve their spot as the best newcomers.

It seems like Planet X is rolling again, they just dropped their shockwave and have an IDW Grimlock and Victory Leo coming out later this year, so I have a feeling they'll be in the running. Same with IF, they seemed to have a bit of a break (if I had to guess, production time lapse due to the beer bug) to strike hard this year.

The 3P Combiner Wars will certainly be interesting next year. XTB is locked in to at least finish their toy Menasor set and start the first MP 3P Defensor team, with no word on their G2 set. Along with that, MMC will also be tackling an all in one version of defensor to go against their version of Bruticus. Fans Toys is the most interesting one to me at the moment with where their combiners are. We haven't heard anything about a Bruticus or Defensor, their board rep has been dropping subtle hints at a Devastator, while they are locked to finish their stunticons this year, with no word on the aerial bots this year with their packed schedule. It will certainly be fun to watch  

I'm just sitting here, impatiently waiting for MMC Ring...Rang?... What was his name again?

 

Cheers. Made the change.

 

This deserved to be front paged. Great write up!

Get your votes in everyone.

Predictions look pretty spot on. I would like to see 3P take more risks next year and bring us items that HasTak meber would, but I imagine MP and Legends scale will continue to rule for a while.

 

Voted for Studio Cell, though I will say I probably had more fun with TorTor and Mors. Tough call.

 

Happy that Core Star did well and that Cang Toys got deserved recognition.

 

Initially voted Core star, but changed to Attila after thinking it over. DX9's transformations are way more fun and I got more enjoyment out of that guy.

 

Right, I really dropped the ball on this... but I have a good excuse. I lost my job a year ago, just as the pandemic was starting to bite. My company had auditors in, and they advised getting rid of all contractors... which they did. Unfortunately, I had no warning of this, as I was in NZ getting married, and I actually got the termination of services e-mail on my wedding day. The only lucky thing about that was that due to the time difference, I received it late at night over there, and didn't see it until the next day, so the big day wasn't ruined.

Anyway, once I was back in the UK, the restrictions started hitting, and those on top of the delayed Brexit negotiations meant that literally no-one was hiring... and it's been like that for a long while.

3 weeks ago, I was contacted by an internal recruiter who found my CV, and due to my expertise being very niche, I matched a role they really needed filling. I still had 4 rounds of interviews, but long story short, I got it.

Obviously my attention has been solely focused on the interview process recently, and this poll slipped, but I've got 2 weeks before I start, so can finish this off. I've reopened the voting for another week, and I'll try to keep it bumped to the front page as often as I can so as many people as possible see it.

Please spread the word.

Cheers,
Matt.

 

Bump.

 

Not on the list, But Im voting for GCreations MSTS 01 Wrath. Best figure I bought last year

 

Studio Cell

Time for a poll for 3P figure of the last decade, isn't it?   (Hercules, Quakewave, Feral Rex, Apollyon, Stomp, Phoenix, Quietus, OP Leader, Core Star/Thomas)

 

It got a few nominations, but not nearly enough to secure it any placings.

 

Bump.

 

Next year will be the 10th edition of this, so that would be a good time.

 

Unicron is great to see it actually happen but it's from TFTM, where Thomas is G1 toy and early seasons of the cartoon and that's more important to my collection and nostalgia, so Thomas gets my vote.

 

Nice write up. I missed the voting this year.

 

Cheers.

(Bump)