I think it all comes down to your goal and that is and will always be a personal thing
an example of this and maybe extreme is
a few yrs back while bear hunting, I had a mother bear and two cubs SMALL cubs too, the one cub was a very pretty cinnamon color phase black bearcinnamon color phase
I personally will NOT shoot a cub or a mother with cubs
they proceeded to walk past me and down into another hunter about a 100 yards from me???
and he SHOT the cinnamon color phase cub, I actually seen him pull the trigger , he was that close to me?(I was there first and he was still hunting up the MT side towards me, )
the mother bear ran back up past me with her cub up a tree near the hunter
I walked down to the hunter to let him know a cub was up a tree near him and maybe he should speed the process of removing the cub from the area
he was jumping up and down all happy like he won the lottery
he asked me WHY I didn;t shoot it, and as politely as I could I say I wouldn;t shoot a cub , and that my dog was larger that it was (bear later on was checked into bear check station and weight in at 38 lbs?? so it was truly tiny IMO )
he proceeded to tell me it was atrophy to him and he knew exactly where he was having it mounted and placed in his house!
I said, best of luck to him and he carried it away with his buddy who was also screaming and hollering about how it was a trophy!
SO< to that guy, the color phase was what made it a trophy and not the size at all
his call, was legally taken, so, ? was what it was for him
I have been lucky I have always been able to find bears in season, and normally passed on a several a season, MY goal was a 600+ lb one and nothing smaller, and I never did get one, a few that I think were darn close, but not sure, I let em walk
as again, we ALL have our own standards as to what WE feel is a trophy
as long as its a LEGALLY taken bear, it is a trophy of sorts, is it your BEST trophy>
or what is the BEST trophy to YOU
is again, YOUR call
another way to maybe look at things, is, what is more rare in your area?
maybe if huge bears are more rare, then hold out for one of then, is color phase is rare in your area, hold out for one of them?
hunting should ALWAYS be a personal thing IMO I have never hunted trying to win a prize or trophy, but have put personal conditions on when I will kill something or not?