Happy New Year everybody! It's now
2022 (or "
2020: 2 - The Sequel") and what better time to take a look back at all the things that happened in
2021, which has been a wild year in terms of toys and collectibles.
So much new action figures! Many announcements! Wow! Here are a few points that made 2021 so undeniably 2021:
DELAYS, THE CARGO SHIP CLUSTERF$@#!
It's been a rough year for
container ships. Cargo ships are full, ports struggle to unload them, boats have to wait for days, weeks, months... which means that our toys keep getting
delayed all the time. Because of that, all the brands are starting to act like
MAFEX or
Mezco, with figures planned in
January coming out in
November. (Don't worry though,
MAFEX and
Mezco are still champions in that category).
MCFARLANE TOYS: DOUBLE THE AMOUNT OF FIGURES, DOUBLE THE FUN!
In the wrap-up of
2020, we were already astonished that
McFarlane Toys produced
49 figures in the first year of the new
DC Multiverse line.
49 figures in 2020 was wild, right? Well...
In
2021,
over a hundred came out!
100+! And that's just the
DC Multiverse line, we are not counting the
Spawn,
Mortal Kombat,
Warhammer 40k,
Princess Bride (!),
The Witcher, etc... figure lines that are also appearing on our store's pegs.
Oh, and in case you thought it would slow down, it's
January 3rd and there are already
79 figures announced for 2022...
"Okay, from now one, I will pick and choose", he said... (Special thanks to
@krysalid on instagram for the permission to use his checklists!)
LET THERE BE LEGENDS!
Hasbro also had a very productive year. While the very popular
G.I.Joe Classified Series line saw about
15-16 new figures released in 2021, the
Marvel Legends team said "
Hold my beer" and released
waves on top of other
waves, so much so that some stores were carrying
4-5 different waves at the same time! Between the
Disney+ wave, the
Spider-verse wave, the
Super Villains wave (which gave us
The Hood, aka
the real toy of the year), the
Ursa Major (or Build-a-bear) wave, the
Shang Chi wave, the
House of X wave, the
Eternals wave, the
What if? wave, a second
Age of Apocalypse wave and the
Armadillo wave, along with a couple
retro Spider-man and Fantastic Four waves, those
Marvel Legends shelves were always plentiful. Add a few store exclusive, pulse exclusive, single releases and 3 packs and you've got close to
100 new Marvel Legends figures in 2021.
My wallet! It hurts!
2021 WAS SO HARD ON THE KNEES...
The
knee seems to have been the Achilles's heel for a few company this year. First,
NECA released the long awaited
April O'Neil figure from the
90's TMNT movie line, and... well, her
knees left a lot to be desired. Later that year, the
Haslab Sentinel finally arrived to those who participated in the campaign, and the first few units seemed to have
floppy knees. Luckily, a quick fix with a screwdriver would solve (temporarily?) the issue. I don't want to sound (k)needy, but the
knee articulation on a toy has been around for a certain number of years, and it should be a given at this point, no?
CROWFUNDING IN 2021
There were so many
toy related crowdfunding campaigns this year. SO MANY! Kickstarter "kickstarted" the
Animal Warriors of the Kingdom by
Spero Studios, the
Futuristic Combat Soldiers by
Invincible Toys, and the
RoboSkull MkII by
Skeletron, to name a few.
Hasbro also had several projects ongoing as part of their
HasLab campaigns, such as a gigantic
Galactus figure for the Marvel Legends line, a replica of the
Ghostbusters proton pack, or the
Skystriker combat jet for their G.I.Joe line. Unfortunately, not all projects reached their goal, or some were cancelled before the end. We'll
pour one out in their memories, and hope they'll eventually come back in some shape or form.
Here's to you, Rancor!
What were the
highlights of 2021 for you?
Let us know in the comments!
More news at 11:00... 2022 style!
*ToyFarce News is parody news for laughs and not meant to be taken seriously! 
