There can be only one.

We're always talking about how NECA (or Palisades or ToyBiz or whoever) is one of the best companies around today. Well, it's time to determine once and for all who is the best of the best. At least in terms of a fully arbitrary vote by the people who really matter, the customers.

All this month, we're hosting May Madness: the tournament-style elimination bracket that pits companies against one another. Who will take it? Whose toys will reign supreme?!

Nearly a decade ago, a man's fantasy became reality in a form never seen before, McFarlane Toys, an evolution in toymaking. The motivation for spending his fortune to create these was to encounter new, original toys, which could be called true artistic creations.

To realize his dream, he started choosing the top sculptors of various styles, and he named his men the Iron Chefs. Well, actually, they named themselves the Four Horsemen and began to develop the style that would lead inexorably toward the modern renaissance in American action figures.

But now there are a lot of companies offering direct, high-level competition to one another. That's why we ask you to vote. Every battle, reputations are on the line. Whichever company wins will gain the people's ovation and fame forever.

Or at least for a week, when someone contests the results. Persnickety geeks. Here are the matchups for week one:

Bracket A
Art Asylum vs. Toynami
Joyride vs. Playmates
Bleeding Edge vs. NECA
Hasbro vs. Radioactive Clown
DC Direct vs. SOTA
Toycom vs. Plan B
McToys vs. Mirage

Bracket B
Bandai vs. Yamato
Diamond Select vs. Stan Winston
Graphitti vs. ToyBiz
JAKKS vs. Sideshow
Kaiyodo vs. Playing Mantis
Mattel vs. Palisades
Mezco vs. Moore Action

Playmobil and Lego each get a bye week, for no good reason. Well, no good reason other than we didn't have enough companies to even things out. Seeds in the tournament were determined by random drawing to fill the bracket.

To vote, you must be a registered member of our message board, the Loafing Lounge. Registration is free and easy, and there is no obligation. Everyone is welcome to share their thoughts on the matchups in the appropriate threads. For links to each of the battles, visit http://www.oafe.net/articulation/ and check back every week for another round of votes.