2008 Cyber Girl of the Year Candidates

I promised that I'd do a review of Cyber Girls, since Playboy doesn't do anything nearly comprehensive in terms of a CGOY review. You may well know that Cyber Girls have become somewhat of a staple of what Playboy does, especially in its online world. Great CG's move on to become Playmates, or create shockwaves as wonderful models and as CGOY's. Indeed, the yearly award is an important one: the Playmate gets a small, paltry pictorial when she's crowned with the "highest honor." On the other hand, a CGOY is a girl whose pictorials come out once a month for an entire year, from March to March. So, it's important to get this one right!

So, the Cyber Girl of the Year is to be crowned in March, so let's get going and find out how these girls stack up.

Kortnie O'Connor - January 2007

January's girl was exceptional, and certainly one of the best Cyber Girls for quite some time. Her dark, feminine looks are exceptional, and that smile of hers captures each and every shot. Her pictorials have variety, sparkle, and her body is unbelievable. She hasn't generated a lot of buzz, but she's one of the tops on my list.

Consensus...
Posing: A+
Body: A-
Face: A
Pictorial: A+
Overall: A

Nancy Erminia - February 2007
Looking over Nancy's pictorial gets mixed reactions out of audiences. She's definitely an exotic girl, and her stacked, hard body is tough to beat by possibly any of the candidates. All-in-all, she hadn't delivered consistent quality throughout February, especially not enough to truly be great.

Consensus...
Posing: B-
Body: A-
Face: C+
Pictorial: B-
Overall: B-

Ashlee Jae - March 2007
I think March was a surprise move for Playboy because of the pick of a very "girl-next-door," average girl. Ashlee is a cute girl, not to mention a voluptuous one (5'4", 128 lbs.), so it was all the more surprising. Overall, it was interesting and refreshing to see a more "unpolished" girl take the stage and show off her talents.
Consensus...
Posing: B+
Body: B-
Face: B
Pictorial: C
Overall: B

Samantha Harris - April 2007
April marked a shift in the Cyber Girls of 2007: a shift into mediocrity. Yes, Samantha was something we hadn't seen before, and offered a unique look, especially in her sexy videos. But she didn't truly deliver, by any means. The month threw in a forgettable Cyber Girl, but we must remember that it's a voting process by which the selection is not as stringent. They slip through the cracks sometimes.
Consensus...
Posing: B
Body: B
Face: C+
Pictorial: B-
Overall: B-

Jillian Beyor - May 2007
Jillian came in and captured the hearts of lots of fans. She's been making appearances for a while, and for me, her body seems polished and excellently built but her serious looks and lack of dynamics is a complete turn-off. I noticed that she has very little "it" factor when it comes to posing, especially that balance of bubbly personality and buxom body that puts it together.
Consensus...
Posing: B-
Body: B+
Face: C+
Pictorial: C+
Overall: C+

Jennifer Hurt - June 2007
One of the modern Cyber Girl superstars after her co-ed appearance, Jennifer is a massive fan favorite. Her cute, wholesome looks, short golden locks, and smooth body are all reasons why Jennifer is a real contender. She adds a whole different feel to the contest, departing from the "sexpot" look of other candidates. The real problem lies in her lack of variety and true posing talent, being unable to produce a real good set of solid shots.
Consensus...
Posing: B-
Body: B+
Face: A-
Pictorial: B-
Overall: B+

Marie Francis - July 2007
The true definition of a "forgettable" Cyber Girl, Marie came in and out without much fanfare. Her disappointing body is only offset by her occasional sassy attitude, which comes out every once in a while, but not often enough. It often looks like she might just have the talent to pull through and deliver some decent photos, but alas, it never gets executed.
Consensus...
Posing: B
Body: C-
Face: B
Pictorial: B-
Overall: C

Patrycja Mikula - August 2007
This Eastern European hottie is a small girl with a great body, who likes to work what she's got, and let's just say that her features are outstanding. She's curvy in all the right places, for sure. However, as beautiful as her body is, Patrycja suffers from a lack of consistency in her pictorials, which are often drab and flat, but show signs of brilliance, with some engaging entries.
Consensus...
Posing: A-
Body: A
Face: B-
Pictorial: B
Overall: B+

Stephanie Olson - September 2007
Stephanie has gotten very little critical acclaim from audiences, and rightfully so. Starting out as a promising Cyber Girl in her CGOW pictorial, Stephanie ultimately flopped with her cookie-cutter platinum blonde looks and lack of subtlety in each of her photos. This girl seriously lacks any posing talent whatsoever, and lets you know it right away. Look for her at the bottom of any voting poll.
Consensus...
Posing: C-
Body: B
Face: C
Pictorial: D
Overall: C-

Jo Garcia - October 2007
Miss Garcia is an iconic Playboy girl (the only girl I've ever given an A+ in a PlayboyCritic rating), and a true fan favorite, as well. One of the finest girls to come out in a long time, Jo has absolutely innate posing talent; she has some of the most amazing and perfect moves I've seen. In addition to possessing textbook posing ability, she has a tall, all-natural body that's slim and supermodel-like. Exotic looks and a one-of-a-kind production makes Jo one of the greats.
Consensus...
Posing: A+
Body: A
Face: A+
Pictorial: A+
Overall: A+

Mallory Dylan - November 2007
The busty Californian did a pretty good job in November, with a polished look and a finely tuned body. Mallory was sexy and sensuous throughout her pictorials, delivering consistent and suggestive pictorials with some true girl-next-door abilities. While most of her pictorials are good, she doesn't really take it to the house in terms of sexuality, which is part of what keeps her from being really great.
Consensus...
Posing: B
Body: A-
Face: B-
Pictorial: B
Overall: B

Brie Anna - December 2007
Brie impressed me by the way she just sizzles in front of the camera. With her unique face and slim, petite body and great height, she's a tall wonder who really excels at camera presence. When she gets the hair messed up and penetrates with those eyes, she captures scenes and does an excellent job. She sometimes feels a little nervous or shaky in front of the camera, but not enough to truly be a detriment.
Consensus...
Posing: B+
Body: A-
Face: A-
Pictorial: A-
Overall: A-

Overall Standings:

12. Stephanie Olson
11. Marie Francis
10. Jillian Beyor
9. Nancy Erminia
8. Samantha Harris
7. Ashlee Jae
6. Mallory Dylan
5. Patrycja Mikula
4. Jennifer Hurt
3. Brie Anna
2. Kortnie O'Connor
1. Jo Garcia

So with that, I give you my predictions for 2008 Cyber Girl of the Year. it's already being billed as the most contentious CGOY race ever, with a plethora of great candidates. you know, looking back, it's obvious that this one is the best race ever. Usually, mediocre candidates crowd #3-12, but this time, I could feasibly see four or five girls in contention for the prize. I'd love to see Jo take the crown because of just how much more talent she has to show us, but I'd also be happy with Kortnie or Brie. I know that Jennifer is a huge fan favorite, so we'll look at the polls soon and analyze who's in front to take this major award.

#9 - Tiffany Fallon

You might be interested to know that our first single-digit Playmate is not a time-tested classic or a Golden Era beauty, but instead is Tiffany Fallon, Miss December 2004. Tiffany was a true Playboy superstar who was the brightest of a bunch of Playmates that were new and fresh. The class of 2004 was an exceptional bunch, complete with 50th Anniversary Playmate Colleen Shannon, Sandra Hubby, Hiromi Oshima, Pilar Lastra, Kimberly Holland, and reality star Cara Zavaleta. Even with all these newfound stars and icons, 2004 was won by Tiffany, who earned the 2004 Playmate of the Year award and immediately was enshrined in the annals of Playboy greatness. Her extensive photography work far outreaches the confines of Playboy, having been featured in her own website and an extensive PMOY collection of over 30 pictorials and dozens of videos. However, it's not her prolific abilities that got her into the Top 10.

Instead, it was Tiffany's exuberant charm and outright femininity that got her here at #9. Indeed, Tiffany was a welcome change of pace, since her talent being able to have an uncanny talent of combining elements of Playboy past and present. On one hand, Tiffany absolutely hearkens back to the 50's and 60's, when models were simply stunning and sported bright eyes and big, glossy smiles. They were the prototypical "pin-ups" that deserved to be revered as perfect female specimens. Tiffany brought that into the modern day with stunning talent. On top of all that, she was also polished and sported the sexual talents of a modern girl, therefore taking that "elite" Playmate look of the past and combining it with variety and sensuality. The combination of these elements makes for a Playmate that has received recent attention, but will go down in history as a revivalist Playmate with loads of talent. The fact that she is able to put together so many pictorials and look stunning in them all is a testament to her powerful statement on modeling.

Tiffany's PMOM collection was picture-perfect. Being a December Playmate, she lived up to expectations of such title holders with a gorgeous Christmas pictorial, complete with holly and pomp. Her sexy outfit quickly gave way to nude posing with some fishnet stockings that totally stole the scene. Sporting a perfect smile in this bust shot, her blue eyes and raven black hair were the things dreams were made of. Particularly striking was her camera presence, which was shockingly subtle but so enthusiastic that she lit up the camera overwhelmingly. Tiffany was unbelievable in her proportions, with a nice set of hips (her measurements: 34C-23-35 - the combination of that small waist and ample hips made her breathtaking) accentuated everywhere. The "hourglass" figure can be characterized by Tiffany's masterpiece of a body. Tiffany also turned it on when it mattered most, with this pillow shot exuding sexual desire. She flipped her hair and spread her legs, and it was instantly a home run with every shot. She ended her Christmas pictorial laying down and crossing her arms, bringing out her curves along her golden brown skin.

Before moving to some of her greatest PMOY shots, take a look at her centerfold. It's worth it. Just take a look at those too-amazing-for-words eyes over that pearly white smile, and you have a true winner on your hands. Speaking of her extensive PMOY work, not going through too many details, one pictorial you MUST see is this one. In it, Tiffany is all-natural and without props or gimmicks, simply showing off her outstanding posing talent with one great shot after another. My absolute favorites (and some photos that might have vaulted Tiffany to #9 in the first place) are this engaging and awesome shot of her crossing her legs and staring down the camera, and this masterfully lit photo of her kneeling down and exposing those perfect breasts and silky skin. It might just be too good for words. If you still need your Tiffany fix, check out this photo, which I think perfectly shows off her proportions... they're perfect in all the right ways.

So, you can see, one word can describe Tiffany that I used earlier: masterpiece. Her body is a masterpiece. Her collection is a masterpiece. Her whole reign as Playmate of the Year was perfect, and her body and style are what make Playboy so attractive in the first place. She is and was everything that a great Playmate is supposed to be. It obviously stands as a true sign that even as we progress and are looking for new talent in Playboy, every day we find new surprises left and right. Even the classics have some competition with girls of today every now and then.

So, with that, we kick off the single-digits in a marathon to the finish. You see from Tiffany that these are truly the leaders of the pack. We've spared nothing in finding the girls who truly were the most influential and sexy Playmates of the 20th and 21st centuries.

The Cyber Girl Slump

As I talked on Wednesday about the Coeds starting to look good with the coming of the lovely Magen Lugo (hopefully just the start of things to come), the picture surrounding Cyber Girls is notably different. After a 2007 year marked with a couple of great stars like Kortnie O'Connor and Jo Garcia, it looks like 2008 is off to an interesting start.

Refer back to my article on December 23rd of last year, when I predicted who the first four Cyber Girl of the Month winners of 2008 would be. These girls really stuck out, especially Meghan Allen, whom I gave an A- because of her gorgeous pictorial and awesome body. Meghan definitely wowed me with her bright photos and polished looks... I even went so far as to declare her a front runner for CGOY 2009.

Well, Playboy sure dropped the ball on that one.

Meghan did win the Cyber Girl of the Month nomination, and a couple of pictorials came out throughout the month last year. I was extremely disappointed. None of the photos even seemed to look like the Meghan I knew... I mean, compare this spectacular model with the run-of-the-mill girl they gave us with a dark streak through her hair and subpar posing performances. Hardly the same! In addition, none of Meghan's pictorials were innovative or interesting, and all looked exactly the same and were stuffed full of photos like any CGOM pictorial would normally have. The second pictorial is just as atrocious, with nothing to distinguish it or showcase any of the talents that were shown in Meghan's CGOW pictorial. There are a few markers of what once was, saved only by Meghan's still-sexy frame (when she does it right, which she misses far too often), but all-in-all it's a major disappointment for a girl with so much potential.

I don't blame Meghan for her collapse... just the editors, the stylists, the photographer (George Georgiou, a veteran whose work is usually far superior to this trash)... but not the model. Meghan is beautiful and has the skills, which is obviously how she made it this far. I guess it's the expectations behind this pictorial that made it so disappointing, but that shouldn't happen with careful planning. A wasted effort, all in all.



Consensus... C+

Meghan Allen
Cyber Girl of the Month
January 2008






As for February, Amanda Henshaw won the nomination, while I expected Caitlin Ferguson to take the crown. I gave Amanda a C+ for her CGOW pictorial, but she might change all that, because I noticed that her production value is far better now, and she might surprise us by giving us a great video performance. I'll wait to pass judgment on that, though.

Until next time...