Although I made protestations and claims this way in the years preceding, 2007 was definitely the year my toy collecting went "smaller, more awesome" which is something that probably should have happened way sooner. Now, I have bins and bins of old Hasbro Star Wars figures under my bed that I'll probably never drag out again. But in the plus column, the stuff currently on my shelves rocks all kinds of the socks. Here are the highs:

#1: Jabba the Hutt (Sideshow)

It's big, it's barely articulated, and the throne weighs more than my girlfriend (and I had to carry it home from the Silver Snail on the TTC in lousy Smarch weather). But if I own a single thing that fully expresses my lifelong love affair with the sheer gorgeousness of Return of the Jedi, it's this. Absolutely, in every way, a flawless rendition of a piece of my soul.

#2: Big Fucking Megatron (Takara Masterpiece series #05)

When I was a lad, Megatron was my favourite Transformer... in fact, I can't recall owning any other Transformers although I suppose I must have. Well anyways, with the new movie upon us with its abysmally redesigned Megatron, I got sentimentally oldschool on the leader of the Decepticons, and since buying a vintage Gen-1 Megatron toy costs about as much as buying this Masterpiece Series edition from Japan, I went with the latter because he is, after all, BIG FUCKING MEGATRON. Now I have the Megatron my grandmother bought me when I was 10, and the sheer fricking awesomeness of this toy which does, in every way, express every single thing I thought was cool about the character when I was a kid, right down to the glowing red light in his arm-cannon. Takes too fucking long to transform, but otherwise brilliant.

#3: Sao Feng, the Pirate Lord of Singapore (Hot Toys At World's End Series)

Oddly enough, the Hot Toys Pirates toy I almost didn't order ended up being the one I like the most. The Jack and Elizabeth are both somewhat disappointing, but Sao Feng is fucking spectacular. The costume, the sculpt, the accessories... this couldn't be done better. Oddly enough the Will Turner being released in the spring looks to be along the same line... now let's have a Barbossa to complete the set, yeah?

#4: Boromir, Man of Gondor (Sideshow)

After stumbling awkwardly with Aragorn and, to a lesser extent, Leggy, this Boromir is actually the best human Sideshow toy I own. It's perfect. The costume detailing literally boggles the mind (even if it did take me a solid hour to figure out how the fuck they tied their belts in Middle Earth, because it didn't come assembled), and I can't imagine a better Sean Bean sculpt if I tried.

Unfortunately, the perfection of Boromir brings out the weaknesses in Faramir, but they both look pretty tight standing side by side so no complaints. This is the height of Sideshow's work on LOTR, and unlikely to be challenged.

#5: Ace and Ion (Kidrobot)

Aw c'mon. They're just so gall-darned cute!!