The Top 10 - 2023

2023 was a good year and a slow year.  Overall, site traffic was actually way, way up.  Pages were viewed over a quarter of a million times.  And,  there were over 400 comments posted on various profiles and articles.  Individually, though, post views were somewhat down.  Most profiles sat right around 200-225 page views.  But, a few items broke through and got some good engagement.  The theme of the year, though, is Super7.  They occupy 3 of the top 10 slots.  But, that's about all that's really happening in the 3 3/4" Joe world.  So, their popularity isn't surprising.  (Especially, with the "hate views" that Super7 stuff tends to get.)

Aside from that, there's nothing that really stands out other than the 2000 ARAHC Big Ben.  I have no idea why he resonated so well with the community.  But, he was the most mundane entry in this list.  The Black Major Steel Brigade Ranger and the 1991 Badger were the last two posts to fall just outside the top 10.  So, the year was more standard than others we've had, recently.  

So, onto the list of the site's most popular posts in 2023:

#10 - 1993 Street Fighter Blanka (328 Pageviews)

I haven't looked a ton of the Street Fighter figures from the vintage Joe line.  And, among them, Blanka is one of the most visually distinctive.  That added up to the 10th most viewed page of the year.

#9 - Satan - Plastirama Exclusive (342 Pageviews)

There was a time when this profile would have lapped the field.  But, those days are past and Satan, despite the current high pricing, is a bit passe in the Joe world.  This still was popular enough to break the top 10.  But, I thought it might have done better.

#8 - 2023 Super7 Tiger Force Shipwreck (380 Pageviews)

Shipwreck is the first of three Super7 appearances in the top 10.  This figure is neat due to the Brazilian origins of the design.  Super7 figures are what they are.  And, in 2024, Joe fans will see what the company can do with o-ring figures.  I fully expect them to just be sculpting similar to this figure but with the additional joints.  Regardless, I'll take their line as a supplement to my Joe collection and use it to fill out missing holes and such.  But, there's just no way I'll buy more than a handful of figures from the first few waves.

#7 - 2022 Super7 Ninja Ku (402 Pageviews)

The first Super7 figure I looked at clocks in as the 7th most viewed profile of the year.  Ninja Ku is well known.  But, being a Target exclusive, he was also clearance fodder.  And, that's how I got him.  We have seen from the Target computer that Duke, Snake Eyes, Ragnar and a blonde Cover Girl are planned for the first wave of o-ring figures from Super7.  (I expect there's more, unannounced figures to come, too.)  It will be interesting to see how they play at retail in late 2024.

#6 - Kickstart V2 (Red Laser Army) (405 Pageviews)

I miss Red Laser Army.  There was a hoax going around that he was returning.  But, he's focused on his Kickstarter o-ring line of ninjas that looks great.  Figures like this Kickstart version are a great supplement to a Joe collection.  You can use him as a different look for Snake Eyes or as a new character.  The blank slate is something we're missing in the line these days.  

#5 Rarities - Mega Marines Toy Fair Catalog (413 Pageviews)

Rarities month was a dud this year.  But, this Mega Marines Toy Fair Catalog post did break out.  It has tons of action and features some pre-production figures among the displayed toys.  I don't have much for Rarities Month in 2024.  But, it will still go ahead, even if it's just a handful of posts.

#4 - 2000 Big Ben (446 Pageviews)

Yeah, I have no idea.  This Big Ben is the compulsory oddball in every year's top 10.  The upside, though, is that this really is a great figure and one of the better repaints not only of that time, but in any era.

#3 - 2023 Soundwave Announcement (501 Pageviews)

In my 2022 Top 10, I mention there were rumors of a Soundwave with Zartan and Zarana.  Well, it turned out to be true.  The reveal of it was the third most viewed page of the year.  It was also the only 3 3/4" G.I. Joe that Hasbro released to retail in 2023.  For 2024, we have a Hawk/MOBAT that's confirmed and rumors of a Triple T with Sgt. Slaughter and another, unknown Transformer coming with Leatherneck.  All three sound like bigger duds than the Thunder Machine.  We'll see what we end up getting, especially since the smaller retailers that Hasbro duped into buying the Thunder Machine are currently sitting on really expensive stock that isn't moving and won't be buying any future offerings in this ill-conceived line.

#2 - 2023 Pilot Scarlett (589 Pageviews)

The Skystriker figures were the talk of the community upon their release.  And, this Scarlett did very well.  Now, the figures are both old news and relatively forgotten.  The aftermarket crash for the plane and the figures have left many collectors sour.  I have another Skystriker profile that will show up in the first few weeks of 2024.  So, we'll see how that compares.

#1 - The Cobra Mothership posts:

I followed the failed Cobra Mothership on a (mostly!) weekly basis.  Overall, the posts relating to the Mothership were viewed over 2500 times and it was the most popular subject on the site this year.  It's too bad that the ship failed.  Cool, big, expensive toys should get made every now and then.  And, when you consider that you could have gotten the Mothership for the same price as 2 each of the Megatron/Baroness, Bumblebee/Stalker and Soundwave/Zartan sets, it really puts the failure into perspective.  But, Joe fans are cheap.  And, we are few.  That's not a combo that sets you up for great success.  And, the Mothership's demise was just another knot in the string of dead bodies that the Joe line has left behind since the first reboot failed back in 2001.

So, that wraps up 2023.  Really, I ended up doing way more with  the site this year than I had anticipated.  But, I found some good photo subjects.  And, Super7 gave me some nice content in the 4th quarter that disguised my otherwise dearth of updates.  I've got some fun stuff ready to go in January and February.  But, I'm behind on picture taking.  This time of year is rough as everything is just brown and  uninteresting.  I'll find something, though.

I hope your year was excellent and wish you a happy 2024.  In November, we'll mark the site's 25th Anniversary.  At that point, I'll have been doing this for half my life.  Perhaps, that's a wasted life.  But, hobbies are just that.  We'll have lots to discuss in 2024, though, between new products, Black Major and Kickstarters.  Some of that will be good, some will be terrible and most will be the forgettable layer in between.  But, we'll cover it all.  We'll write it down.  And, maybe, some day in the future, that info will be a valuable marker of sentiment or fact regarding a release that would otherwise be lost to time.  

Until then, I wish you all well and sincerely thank you for stopping by to share the Joe hobby with me.