There have been a lot of figures I've liked this year -- and if it weren't for Mattel's awful DCUC distribution I have no doubt there would've been more -- so I was regrettably unable to select a single winner of my 2009 Articulated Accolade. I was, however, able to narrow my choices to three... and here they are!

The First Winner: Street Fighter IV Chun-Li

If it weren't for the paint issues and lack of accessories, Chun-Li probably would've been my top pick. I've been waiting to see the first lady of fighting games done justice in figure form (and available at an affordable price) for quite some time -- and while High Dream's Capcom vs SNK 2 version was a fairly impressive attempt, NECA's figure nails the two essential attributes that no Chun-Li figure to date had featured in their full glory: those marvelous, massive thighs. The figure also has the necessary articulation to display Chun in many of her in-game attacks and poses, such that I literally spent hours upon hours posing her and took hundreds of photos while preparing a review of the figure on Scary-Crayon. And then, when I damaged the paint on my Chun-Li's face trying to remove a tiny black mark of paint, I spent even more hours repainting and sanding and repainting and buffing and repainting it because I loved it too much to replace it with a new version of the figure... which I ended up buying anyway and keeping carded just in case. This figure is so beautiful that it turned me into an (even more) obsessive nutjob.

And yes, whenever NECA releases the Survival Mode Chun-Li figures, I'll buy them too.

The Second Winner: Spider-Man (Classics) Juggernaut

Yes, I'll admit that the Marvel Legends Series VI Juggernaut is probably better than this figure. I don't have that, though, so I was thrilled when Hasbro kicked out a new six-inch scale Juggernaut in its Spider-Man line -- and even more thrilled because, unlike the majority of Hasbro's newly sculpted offerings, this figure is pretty darned good. Sure, he's a little smaller than the Juggernaut is generally depicted (while statistics typically give his height as 6'10", how often do you see Juggy drawn shorter than Colossus?) and could use better arm and ab articulation -- for starters -- but the figure also has a lot of things going for it. Among them, the sculpt is pretty cool, and those double-swivel-hinge ankles are darned useful for dynamic poses. I also like this particular variant (which I affectionately call the "honey mustard" Juggernaut after a Fwoosher's comment) because it reminds me of one of my favorite figures growing up -- the X-Men Classics Juggernaut with the light-up jewel weapon.

Furthermore, whereas the helmet that came with initial releases of the Juggernaut was held in place by gravity alone, the helmet included with this version and the subsequent runs of the original color scheme had a small interior notch that helped to keep the figure's headgear secured. Let's hear it for second-run improvements!

The Third Winner: Power Rangers RPM Full Throttle Triceratops Ranger

Just as the 2009 Power Rangers series, "Power Rangers RPM," wasn't nearly as amazing as 2008's "Power Rangers Jungle Fury," the RPM figures were a notch below 2008's Jungle Fury assortments. At a slightly smaller scale and with somewhat less useful articulation, it took me a while to warm to them -- and even when I did, it was mainly because I realized how well they fit in with my Doctor Who figures in terms of scale. But while I eventually grew to like them quite a bit, none of them wowed me quite as much as the Full Throttle Triceratops Ranger. Yes, he's pretty much the same as every other PRRPM figure in terms of paint, sculpt, and articulation, but that hot blue jacket with its high collar and red trim is just wicked cool. The Triceratops Ranger really does look fantastic -- and at only $7, you won't pay much to add this most stylish of Rangers to your collection.

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You can find more of this year's Articulated Accolades right here.