General discussion

[stargatedalek]

I think we should at least display the results somewhat taxonomically
since there is (I don't think any of us fall under this, but many people do) a general bias towards mammals it would be nice to be able to view the results taxonomically to see which figures from different groups were most popular, rather than the top few being most likely nearly all mammals with a few reptiles and birds tossed in

just my two cents

nothing in particular comes to mind, but if there's anything left I can see what I can do to help out

[sbell]

I think we should at least display the results somewhat taxonomically
since there is (I don't think any of us fall under this, but many people do) a general bias towards mammals it would be nice to be able to view the results taxonomically to see which figures from different groups were most popular, rather than the top few being most likely nearly all mammals with a few reptiles and birds tossed in

just my two cents

nothing in particular comes to mind, but if there's anything left I can see what I can do to help out

It's all about the fish, man. We finally got a decent piranha! To say nothing of some pretty fantastic sharks...

[animaltoyforum]

I think we should at least display the results somewhat taxonomically
since there is (I don't think any of us fall under this, but many people do) a general bias towards mammals it would be nice to be able to view the results taxonomically to see which figures from different groups were most popular, rather than the top few being most likely nearly all mammals with a few reptiles and birds tossed in

just my two cents

nothing in particular comes to mind, but if there's anything left I can see what I can do to help out

I'm not sure if there really is a bias for mammals... the poll will tell us, either way.

[stargatedalek]

I meant amongst the general population

@sbell
Indeed! a good piranha on that scale is something that I'm sure many people have wanted for a long time!

[brontodocus]

While personally I would favour arranging figures by taxonomy, too, I think in this case the companies already give us an easy-to-handle theme-based division and the names of many of each manufacturer's series are familiar to most collectors (although some companies seem to rename them every year). I do see a bias towards mammals, too, but perhaps not necessarily a collectors' bias - I counted 12 "reptile" figures representing 10 species versus 154 mammal figures and only two invertebrates in the list by the six best known non-japanese brands here. However, when we add the Japanese figure, too, we'll have lots of reptiles, fish, invertebrates, and other non-mammalian figures

[animaltoyforum]

Since you have done all the hard work creating the lists, I'll now create the polls
We can create polls for the Japanese figures later...

[animaltoyforum]

I'm going to add the polls to the existing 'New for 2014' company threads to keep things all together. Not all lines have such threads yet, so first I must create the threads!

Edit: So, polls have now been added for Bullyland, CollectA, Mojo Fun, Papo, Safari Ltd, and Schleich. Lots of options to consider there while we build the Japanese figures lists...would anyone in particular like to volunteer to do that?  

[brontodocus]

Ah, I see, some polls have three votes and others have five - I guess it's because the latter had much more releases this year?

[animaltoyforum]

Ah, I see, some polls have three votes and others have five - I guess it's because the latter had much more releases this year?

Yeah, I made the number of votes roughly proportional to the number of options. Seemed only fair. Otherwise those companies with fewer releases will be over-represented in the final.

[brontodocus]

Ah, I see, some polls have three votes and others have five - I guess it's because the latter had much more releases this year?

Yeah, I made the number of votes roughly proportional to the number of options. Seemed only fair. Otherwise those companies with fewer releases will be over-represented in the final.

Okay! I've seen that there's only one vote possible in Mojö Fun but Papo would probably allow as many votes as I want, so I think some of the limitations are not working properly, yet

[bmathison1972]

While personally I would favour arranging figures by taxonomy, too, I think in this case the companies already give us an easy-to-handle theme-based division and the names of many of each manufacturer's series are familiar to most collectors (although some companies seem to rename them every year). I do see a bias towards mammals, too, but perhaps not necessarily a collectors' bias - I counted 12 "reptile" figures representing 10 species versus 154 mammal figures and only two invertebrates in the list by the six best known non-japanese brands here. However, when we add the Japanese figure, too, we'll have lots of reptiles, fish, invertebrates, and other non-mammalian figures

my suggest for a taxonomic scheme was for the purpose to better incorporate the Japanese figures. Oh well, maybe we can revisit the idea next year. It's better to see a Kaiyodo piranha up against a Safari piranha rather than a Sarfari piranha up against a golden retriever puppy   

[animaltoyforum]

While personally I would favour arranging figures by taxonomy, too, I think in this case the companies already give us an easy-to-handle theme-based division and the names of many of each manufacturer's series are familiar to most collectors (although some companies seem to rename them every year). I do see a bias towards mammals, too, but perhaps not necessarily a collectors' bias - I counted 12 "reptile" figures representing 10 species versus 154 mammal figures and only two invertebrates in the list by the six best known non-japanese brands here. However, when we add the Japanese figure, too, we'll have lots of reptiles, fish, invertebrates, and other non-mammalian figures

my suggest for a taxonomic scheme was for the purpose to better incorporate the Japanese figures. Oh well, maybe we can revisit the idea next year. It's better to see a Kaiyodo piranha up against a Safari piranha rather than a Sarfari piranha up against a golden retriever puppy   

That could still happen in the final. The top 3(?) from each company poll will go into a poll to decide the best figure over all.

[brontodocus]

Currently, I'm putting up a list of Japanese figures released in 2014 for additionall poll(s) for the best 2014 figure (note: we don't have any Japanese brands, yet). I've finished Kaiyodo CapsuleQ Museum (there are a great many) and Kitan Club (surprisingly few releases, other than the Nankyoku set I only know of a set of flapjack octopi and the life-size Giant Isopod with a release in 2014). The only Favorite that comes to mind at the moment is Hirokazu Tokugawa's Giant Squid as part of the Marine Life Series and a few, larger, soft vinyl figures (do we need soft play figures at all?). Any other suggestions from Epoch, Takara Tomy A.R.T.S, other lines by Kaiyodo or anything else?

[postsaurischian]

Any other suggestions from Epoch, Takara Tomy A.R.T.S, other lines by Kaiyodo or anything else?

"Eikoh - Miniatureplanet" comes to mind: http://animaltoyforum.com/index.php?topic=1078.0

Have to think about others.

[brontodocus]

"Eikoh - Miniatureplanet" comes to mind: http://animaltoyforum.com/index.php?topic=1078.0

Have to think about others.

Many thanks, Helge! So Eikoh's Miniatureplanet is in.

Oh, by the way, the polls we have currently only have very few votes. So come on everybody, here's your chance your favourite figure makes it to the finals (Japanese figures yet to come)!
So you may vote for...
...your favourite three Mojö Fun figures here: http://animaltoyforum.com/index.php?topic=727.0
...your favourite five CollectA figures here: http://animaltoyforum.com/index.php?topic=606.0
...your favourite four Schleich figures here: http://animaltoyforum.com/index.php?topic=723.0
...your favourite two Bullyland figures here: http://animaltoyforum.com/index.php?topic=1356.0
...your favourite three Safari Ltd figures here: http://animaltoyforum.com/index.php?topic=699.0
...your favourite three Papo figures here: http://animaltoyforum.com/index.php?topic=789.0

[animaltoyforum]

"Eikoh - Miniatureplanet" comes to mind: http://animaltoyforum.com/index.php?topic=1078.0

Have to think about others.

Many thanks, Helge! So Eikoh's Miniatureplanet is in.

Oh, by the way, the polls we have currently only have very few votes. So come on everybody, here's your chance your favourite figure makes it to the finals (Japanese figures yet to come)!
So you may vote for...
...your favourite three Mojö Fun figures here: http://animaltoyforum.com/index.php?topic=727.0
...your favourite five CollectA figures here: http://animaltoyforum.com/index.php?topic=606.0
...your favourite four Schleich figures here: http://animaltoyforum.com/index.php?topic=723.0
...your favourite two Bullyland figures here: http://animaltoyforum.com/index.php?topic=1356.0
...your favourite three Safari Ltd figures here: http://animaltoyforum.com/index.php?topic=699.0
...your favourite three Papo figures here: http://animaltoyforum.com/index.php?topic=789.0

I will promote them on Facebook and Twitter...

[brontodocus]

Great!
Meanwhile, I'm still thinking about what to do with Kaiyodo - other than the CapsuleQ Museum (of which I compiled 65 figures, I'll treat colour variants as the same figure) there's very little I know about. There was this Deep-sea Life set with six figures (plus one secret colour variant) but I don't know about other 2014 releases. If we cannot gather more information there's another option: I could set up one poll for Eikoh Miniatureplanet (32 figures) one for CapsuleQ Museum (65 figures), one for Kitan Club (apparently only ten figures, even though one of them comes in eight colour variants)... and maybe some sort of a "wastebasket thread" where everyone can throw in other figures that were released in 2014 and I'll unite those together in one poll? Maybe not the perfect way of doing it but it seems more practicable than painstakingly gathering every Japan release of last year... Favorite (currently only one figure) may be included in that "wastebasked thread"/poll, too.

[sbell]

Great!
Meanwhile, I'm still thinking about what to do with Kaiyodo - other than the CapsuleQ Museum (of which I compiled 65 figures, I'll treat colour variants as the same figure) there's very little I know about. There was this Deep-sea Life set with six figures (plus one secret colour variant) but I don't know about other 2014 releases. If we cannot gather more information there's another option: I could set up one poll for Eikoh Miniatureplanet (32 figures) one for CapsuleQ Museum (65 figures), one for Kitan Club (apparently only ten figures, even though one of them comes in eight colour variants)... and maybe some sort of a "wastebasket thread" where everyone can throw in other figures that were released in 2014 and I'll unite those together in one poll? Maybe not the perfect way of doing it but it seems more practicable than painstakingly gathering every Japan release of last year... Favorite (currently only one figure) may be included in that "wastebasked thread"/poll, too.

Wasn't there also a Kaiyodo microbes set of some kind? And Colorata released version 3 of their fossil fishes.

[brontodocus]

Wasn't there also a Kaiyodo microbes set of some kind? And Colorata released version 3 of their fossil fishes.

Thanks, Sean! Yes, there is the CapsuleQ Museum Microcosmos set, I've already included that in the CapsuleQ Museum list I'm compiling. As for Colorata, if this third version would have contained a new sculpt I'd definitely consider that, too. But apart from different colour they are all the same as the previous version.

Edit: New polls - Kaiyodo: http://animaltoyforum.com/index.php?topic=946.0 - Kitan Club: http://animaltoyforum.com/index.php?topic=1385.0

[brontodocus]

Okay, it seems we're slowly getting there... So now that we have eight polls (Bullyland, CollectA, Kaiyodo, Kitan Club, Mojö Fun, Papo, Safari Ltd, and Schleich) but there are still a few leftovers by Japanese brands. Eikoh Miniatureplanet with 32 figures and Favorite with one (albeit apparently very good) figure. Currently, I'm considering throwing these together in one poll thread with three possible votes. We could still add figures which I may have overlooked to that poll. But this way I could solve the problem with Favorite, choosing one out of one figure wouldn't really make sense (and I have the feeling Hirokazu Tokugawa's Giant Squid has good chances to be serious competition for the others even in the "finals" so it should be in one of the polls). What are your thoughts about it? And again: Anything I have overlooked which should be in this or any of the other polls? Thanks for all comments & contributions!