2009 Year in Review
Wednesday, December 30. 2009
Counting down the final days of 2009, I can say this year has been quite a ride - for myself and for the hobby, toy, automotive, and entertainment worlds as well.
The biggest news in the entertainment world this year was, of course, the death of Michael Jackson. But other personalities, including Ricardo Montalban, Frank Springer (comic artist), Dom DeLuise, David Carradine, Farrah Fawcett, Patrick Swayze, Henry Gibson, Vic Mizzy, Dan O'Bannon, and Brittany Murphy, passed on as well.
Not all was sad news on the entertainment front, though: sci-fi and car enthusiasts had one of the best years ever, with Watchmen, Fast and Furious, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Star Trek, Terminator: Salvation, 9, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra, District 9, Zombieland, and Avatar all hitting theaters. Even if you hated some of them, there was such a wide range of movies that you were sure to find something to enjoy this year. TV and movie car collectors also had a pretty good year, ranging from the high-end Watchmen line from DC Direct, to the figures from TF:RotF, to Hallmark's Keepsake Ornaments (which included cars and figures from Forbidden Planet, Ghostbusters, The Simpsons, Christmas Vacation, and The Wizard of Oz).
In automotive news, the unprecedented bailout of Chrysler and GM had several repercussions. Several marques ended up on the chopping block as GM announced plans to end or sell the Hummer, Pontiac, Saab, and Saturn brands. GM also cut back in other areas, such as dropping the convertible and Z/28 options from their new Camaro (which finally hit dealers this spring after making their debut nearly two years earlier in Transformers). The bad news wasn't limited to North America: Toyota announced their first operating loss since 1938, and they, Honda, and BMW withdrew from Formula 1 racing. Not all of the news was bad, though: motorsports history was made in late November as Jimmie Johnson and his team won their fourth consecutive points championship.
The economy also produced some shake-ups in the toy world: Toys R Us acquired FAO Schwarz back in May, not even six months after the last K*B store closed. On the plus side, manufacturers have had to step up their game to remain viable and as such we saw some truly excellent work in lines such as Hasbro's Transformers (which celebrated their 25th year in '09), NECA's Terminator 2, and Mattel's Avatar.
Hobby-wise, there were quite a few ups and downs as well. We lost Chris Louden (modeler), Mario Besana (Bburago diecasts), and Donald Kaufman (K*B Toys), but gained a celebrity guest of sorts when John Schneider created a series of customized 1/18 "post-jump" General Lees under the name "Bo's Jumpyard."
Elsewhere, Round2 continued with their releases of some classic kits (including several Dukes of Hazzard kits and semi truck kits) as well as the promise of the long-awaited Aurora '66 Batmobile reissue and an all-new 1/25 tooling of the car. Revell had some great releases both new (like their '57 Chevy "Black Widow" and Kenworth W900) and reissued (like their '64 Chevy Stepside and Rommel's Rod), while other companies stepped up with some cool kits like Aoshima's Super Pursuit Mode KITT and Moebius'Lost in Space robot.
The 1/24 scale diecast world continued to grow as well, with M2 releasing their much-anticipated Mustang Mach 1, Jada releasing their Battle Machines line (inspired by last year's Death Race), and Johnny Lightning continuing their line of some of the most acclaimed vehicles on the market. We also saw some non-diecast 1/24 offerings from other companies, including DC Direct's Watchmen Owl Ship and Hot Wheels'Battle Force 5 lineup.
For me, 2009 marked my first trip to the New York Toy Fair, where I was able to report on many of the then-upcoming products for the year. I also returned to the New York Comic-Con, where I was able to talk to PvP's Scott Kurtz (and get his thoughts on my future project of building Brent's Mini Cooper) and Neal Adams. My talk with Adams gave me the final directions I needed to complete my 1970 Batmobile, the only Batmobile I actually finished this year.
Thanks to a series of several bodywork-intensive projects in 2008 and the beginning of 2009, I needed to take a break from the filling and sanding. The upshot of this was that I had one of my best years ever as far as number of projects completed, including the Supernatural Impala, the Sharky's Machine Dodge, the Wheels of Terror Charger, the Taarzan the Wonder Car Civic CRX, the Automan Countach, the Alone in the Dark Touareg, the Dead Pool R/C Corvette, the Beverly Hillbillies truck, the 1955 The Fast and the Furious Jaguar, Dilbert's Carbicle, Charlie's Mercedes from 2½ Men, Vin Diesel's RX-7 and the Civic trio from The Fast and the Furious, Kate's Jaguar from Misfile, Val's Jaguar from V.I.P., Kurt Russell's Caddy from 3000 Miles to Graceland, Traveller, The Car, Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Skids, and Ecto-1. I also worked on a few non-vehicle 1/24 projects, including Zeke (from the webcomic Ctrl-Alt-Del), WALL·E, The Stig (from the BBC's Top Gear), and Robby the Robot. The Mediabots also gained a new member when I finished off Autobot Bypass, and a head swap finally made my McFarlane T-800 look the way he's supposed to.
Elsewhere on the site, I added several new features for both new and experienced modelers, including a downloads page, a scale model advertisement archive, a hobby safety guide, revised tipspages, and a parent's guide to modeling (with thanks to Dr. toy for her feedback on this). I signed the site up at Twitter and Facebook, so people can stay up-to-date on my current projects and get special photos from my builds and collections. I also received some new Guest Gallery entries from modelers Matt D, Jason, Mr. Monte Carlo Man, and Farmboy. Last but not least, I was able to team up with Joe Johnson of Hollywood-Diecast.com for the first ever Bandit Awards, celebrating the automotive achievements of the previous year.
There have been lots of ups and downs these last 12 months, and I'm looking forward to seeing what 2010 has in store for us all!
The biggest news in the entertainment world this year was, of course, the death of Michael Jackson. But other personalities, including Ricardo Montalban, Frank Springer (comic artist), Dom DeLuise, David Carradine, Farrah Fawcett, Patrick Swayze, Henry Gibson, Vic Mizzy, Dan O'Bannon, and Brittany Murphy, passed on as well.
Not all was sad news on the entertainment front, though: sci-fi and car enthusiasts had one of the best years ever, with Watchmen, Fast and Furious, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Star Trek, Terminator: Salvation, 9, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra, District 9, Zombieland, and Avatar all hitting theaters. Even if you hated some of them, there was such a wide range of movies that you were sure to find something to enjoy this year. TV and movie car collectors also had a pretty good year, ranging from the high-end Watchmen line from DC Direct, to the figures from TF:RotF, to Hallmark's Keepsake Ornaments (which included cars and figures from Forbidden Planet, Ghostbusters, The Simpsons, Christmas Vacation, and The Wizard of Oz).
In automotive news, the unprecedented bailout of Chrysler and GM had several repercussions. Several marques ended up on the chopping block as GM announced plans to end or sell the Hummer, Pontiac, Saab, and Saturn brands. GM also cut back in other areas, such as dropping the convertible and Z/28 options from their new Camaro (which finally hit dealers this spring after making their debut nearly two years earlier in Transformers). The bad news wasn't limited to North America: Toyota announced their first operating loss since 1938, and they, Honda, and BMW withdrew from Formula 1 racing. Not all of the news was bad, though: motorsports history was made in late November as Jimmie Johnson and his team won their fourth consecutive points championship.
The economy also produced some shake-ups in the toy world: Toys R Us acquired FAO Schwarz back in May, not even six months after the last K*B store closed. On the plus side, manufacturers have had to step up their game to remain viable and as such we saw some truly excellent work in lines such as Hasbro's Transformers (which celebrated their 25th year in '09), NECA's Terminator 2, and Mattel's Avatar.
Hobby-wise, there were quite a few ups and downs as well. We lost Chris Louden (modeler), Mario Besana (Bburago diecasts), and Donald Kaufman (K*B Toys), but gained a celebrity guest of sorts when John Schneider created a series of customized 1/18 "post-jump" General Lees under the name "Bo's Jumpyard."
Elsewhere, Round2 continued with their releases of some classic kits (including several Dukes of Hazzard kits and semi truck kits) as well as the promise of the long-awaited Aurora '66 Batmobile reissue and an all-new 1/25 tooling of the car. Revell had some great releases both new (like their '57 Chevy "Black Widow" and Kenworth W900) and reissued (like their '64 Chevy Stepside and Rommel's Rod), while other companies stepped up with some cool kits like Aoshima's Super Pursuit Mode KITT and Moebius'Lost in Space robot.
The 1/24 scale diecast world continued to grow as well, with M2 releasing their much-anticipated Mustang Mach 1, Jada releasing their Battle Machines line (inspired by last year's Death Race), and Johnny Lightning continuing their line of some of the most acclaimed vehicles on the market. We also saw some non-diecast 1/24 offerings from other companies, including DC Direct's Watchmen Owl Ship and Hot Wheels'Battle Force 5 lineup.
For me, 2009 marked my first trip to the New York Toy Fair, where I was able to report on many of the then-upcoming products for the year. I also returned to the New York Comic-Con, where I was able to talk to PvP's Scott Kurtz (and get his thoughts on my future project of building Brent's Mini Cooper) and Neal Adams. My talk with Adams gave me the final directions I needed to complete my 1970 Batmobile, the only Batmobile I actually finished this year.
Thanks to a series of several bodywork-intensive projects in 2008 and the beginning of 2009, I needed to take a break from the filling and sanding. The upshot of this was that I had one of my best years ever as far as number of projects completed, including the Supernatural Impala, the Sharky's Machine Dodge, the Wheels of Terror Charger, the Taarzan the Wonder Car Civic CRX, the Automan Countach, the Alone in the Dark Touareg, the Dead Pool R/C Corvette, the Beverly Hillbillies truck, the 1955 The Fast and the Furious Jaguar, Dilbert's Carbicle, Charlie's Mercedes from 2½ Men, Vin Diesel's RX-7 and the Civic trio from The Fast and the Furious, Kate's Jaguar from Misfile, Val's Jaguar from V.I.P., Kurt Russell's Caddy from 3000 Miles to Graceland, Traveller, The Car, Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Skids, and Ecto-1. I also worked on a few non-vehicle 1/24 projects, including Zeke (from the webcomic Ctrl-Alt-Del), WALL·E, The Stig (from the BBC's Top Gear), and Robby the Robot. The Mediabots also gained a new member when I finished off Autobot Bypass, and a head swap finally made my McFarlane T-800 look the way he's supposed to.
Elsewhere on the site, I added several new features for both new and experienced modelers, including a downloads page, a scale model advertisement archive, a hobby safety guide, revised tipspages, and a parent's guide to modeling (with thanks to Dr. toy for her feedback on this). I signed the site up at Twitter and Facebook, so people can stay up-to-date on my current projects and get special photos from my builds and collections. I also received some new Guest Gallery entries from modelers Matt D, Jason, Mr. Monte Carlo Man, and Farmboy. Last but not least, I was able to team up with Joe Johnson of Hollywood-Diecast.com for the first ever Bandit Awards, celebrating the automotive achievements of the previous year.
There have been lots of ups and downs these last 12 months, and I'm looking forward to seeing what 2010 has in store for us all!
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