The Press Release:
More than 25,000 fans made their voices heard about their favorite merch of 2025 in The Pop Insider’s first-ever Collectors’ Choice Awards. Now, the winners have finally been revealed.
The Collectors’ Choice Awards are a new, fan-voted awards program celebrating the best of licensed merchandise. Fans voted in 17 categories, picking their favorites from apparel and accessories, con exclusives, home goods, tabletop gaming, and more. Winners from many fandoms are represented, including Stranger Things, The Lord of the Rings, Power Rangers, and more.
McFarlane Toys takes home the trophy for the Best Collectible Line. | Source: The Pop Insider/McFarlane Toys
The biggest winner of the program is McFarlane Toys, which is taking home the Overall Collectors’ Choice Award and Best Collectible Line for its iconic DC Multiverse Batman Returns 7” Action Figure Deluxe Theatrical Edition collection. The collection features a series of highly detailed action figures from Tim Burton’s 1992 film.
“The Collectors’ Choice Awards are all about giving fans a voice,” says Marissa Silva, Editor-in-Chief of The Pop Insider. “More than 25,000 fans voted to determine this year’s winners, proving just how passionate collectors are about the products, collaborations, and experiences that bring their favorite fandoms to life.”
2025 Collectors’ Choice Awards Winners
Overall Collectors’ Choice Award Winner:
McFarlane Toys — DC Multiverse Batman Returns 7″ Action Figure Deluxe Theatrical Edition
Best Apparel/Accessory Line:
JanSport — Stranger Things 5 x JanSport Collaboration Line
Best Beauty Collaboration:
Glamlite — The Lord of the Rings x Glamlite
Best Branded Experience:
The Walt Disney Co. — The Key to Disneyland Interactive Experience
(Amanda Rubinos Luna, Cody Hampton, Tatum Yusz)
Best Collectible Line:
McFarlane Toys — DC Multiverse Batman Returns 7″ Action Figure Deluxe Theatrical Edition
Best Convention Exclusive:
Hasbro — G.I. Joe Classified Series #163, Dreadnoks Cold Slither: Band of Vipers Tour Commemorative Action Figure Set
Best Fandom Collaboration:
Cloudco Entertainment / Basic Fun! — Stranger Things x Care Bears
Best High-End Collectible:
Wētā Workshop — Masters Collection – The Fellowship of the Ring
Best Home Goods Line:
Trove Brands — Owala Disney Princess Collection
Best Limited-Edition Drop:
Factory Entertainment — Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Phaser Limited Edition Prop Replica
Best Retro Revival:
Playmates Toys — Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Re-ignition
Best Tabletop Gaming Collaboration:
Goliath — The Sims Board Game by Goliath and Electronic Arts
Licensing Program of the Year:
Netflix — Stranger Things
Merch Maker of the Year:
Bandai Namco Toys & Collectibles
Product Designer of the Year:
OHKU
Retailer of the Year:
Entertainment Earth
The Underdog Award:
Geek Orthodox
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PiercingMetal Thoughts: Before continuing along I should share some important points. The first being that we have culled the above intel from the Pop Insider newsfeed to make sure that you are in the know and the second, more sadder fact is that I got so busy over the last couple of months that I didn’t contribute my own views and votes. That said I am extremely happy to see the resultant winners since there are many properties that I myself enjoy quite a bit winning the top honors such as McFarlane Toys, Bandai Namco and Hasbro. I will probably continue collecting the one or two things the disposable income permits over this still building new year and can see a lot of Batman, Godzilla and GI JOE (Cobra) stuff joining my collection. I’m also looking forward to continuing to share other things that come care of the folks from the Toy Insider and in a not so shameless plug, I’ve collected a succinct link to the broad coverage that I’ve offered up from them over on Ken Pierce Media which can be found by clicking HERE. That’s a wrap for me on this one but do please stay tuned for more awesome Metal and Pop Culture offerings that I present with my own expert viewpoint. Ciao….
Oh yeah and in the event that you wanted to see the full list of original finalists please click HERE.
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