The Best of 2023 Awards

 Another year has flown by, so that means it is once again time for my totally subjective view of the geeky stuff I liked the most in the past 365 days.

And it is to be honest a bit of a mixed bag this year, as wargaming came back into swing next to the anime dominated editions of the past two years.

So without further ado, let's have a look at my personal awards!

Best movie: a fairly recent one, this is A Haunting in Venice.  I've taken a liking to Kenneth Brannagh's portrayal of Poirot, and the fact this is expanded on an existing short story actually made for a good who dunnit tale, without knowing the outcome in advance as there is no book of this movie written by Agatha Christie.

Best Series: not counting the final 10 minutes of the series, 1899 was by far one of the most entertaining shows I saw in a very long time, and grabbed my attention from the get-go.

Best Performace: even though Netflix has cancelled (unrightfully so mind you) the Shadow and Bones series, Freddy Carter's performance as the dark and glooming crime lord / anti-hero Caz Bekker really stood out for me this year.

Best Toy: is there any discussion then the GGG scale of Lunamaria Hawke?

Best Anime: Space Battleship Yamato 2199, a remake from 2017 of the classic 70s anime, and while just as excellent in story, it is also gorgeously animated.  The take-off scene of the Yamato alone was for me the goosebumps moment in anime for this year.

Best Game: while I could pick The Ninth Age for getting me going again, it goes instead to Warhammer Underworlds and it's Rivals format.  This makes it ideal for a quick take along for some games, ideal for a working person and family life timegrabbing combination.

 

 

Best Videogame: while I kicked off again with Final Fantasy XIV in december, this year still goes to Super Mecha Champions, which I thoroughly enjoyed until about mid-august.

 

 

Best Wargame Figure: I cannot pick anything else then the Chaos Dwarf Earthshaker here.  Not only did I always love these big cannons, it got my back to the wargames table.

 

 

Best Music: Lorenzo with Coco.  I heard it while lying on the tattootable at the Arel Tattoo Convention, and it stuck into my head for about a month.

 

 

Best Trade: a big box of old metal Clan Wars figures I received from a collegue long out of the hobby.  The goblins for one are the levy troops in my Infernal Dwarf force that could be seen on this blog in the past months.

 

 

Best Convention or Event: the Arel Tattoo Convention for my Thorin underarm Kitsune piece.

 

Greatest Disappointment: the loss of my father, who fought a short and hefty battle against lungcancer, passing away in august.

 

And that is it, the look back to the year of 2023.  Time to move on now and get going for a next year of geekiness, and all the things it will bring about...