McFarlane’s Sports Picks

Review by Loc

I still remember rolling into Toys R Us in 1988 one day and seeing action figures of the Oakland A’s. They weren’t great figures, mostly generic poses with semi-customized heads for Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire. However, they filled the shelves, each packaged with worthless baseball cards. And in essence, they were the 3-D equivalent, collectable figures of your favorite teams, favorite stars. As these began hitting en masse, you could find all manner of teams, from the local favorites to the obscure stars that you rarely heard of back in the days before the internet. And soon enough, every sport was represented, from football to basketball to hockey. Ah, but Kenner’s Starting Lineups are a different story for a different time.

That’s because after over a decade of producing athletes from all major sports, Starting Lineups went away. And that’s when McFarlane Toys assumed the mantle of sports toy king. In place of small 4-inch, nondescript figures, McFarlane unleashed 6-inch, photorealistic toys more akin to miniature sculptures than action figures. Gone were the baseball card novelty, replaced by the adult-collector mentality of great sculpts, great packages, great items to display either in or out of their package.

Today, I’ll cover the majority of my collecting habits in this line: the local players. Growing up in the Bay Area, three things were true: the 49ers ruled the sporting world, the Warriors were forever lovable-losers, and the debate between A’s vs Giants raged across a Bay Bridge. Luckily, McFarlane has seen it fit to cater to the Bay Area collector, at least in some capacity. The local sports franchises don’t command the steady stream of Yankee or Redwings, but each franchise gets its fair share of sculpted plastic.

Overall, McFarlane releases 2-3 “series” for each major sport per year. That leads to 10-15 players being produced per sport per year, and the Bay Area usually sneaks in with 1 or 2 representatives annually. As you can imagine, having an Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Brett Favre, or Kobe Bryant every year will help sell pieces to your average fan. However, over the years the Bay Area has seen Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, Ronnie Lott, Barry Zito, Eric Chavez, Baron Davis, and Jason Richardson fill the pegs. Even Shark stars are represented for the NHL, I just don’t know any of them.

The Sports Picks line itself is a bit of a conundrum. It’s aimed squarely at the adult enthusiast, so things like articulation and play value go right out the door. Instead, you get highly detailed sculptures with ridiculous attention to details. From helmet logos to jersey manufacturers to equipment labels, each figure is as authentic as a 6-inch toy could be. In fact, the level of realism is so high that fans often quibble over the nuanced inaccuracies, displaying how high of a bar that McFarlane actually set for its own product.

The sculpts themselves are often great. There are more generic poses which capture a player’s general physique and tone, but even these are usually based off of photo-references. However, using these more generic poses allows for the company to reissue older pieces with new head sculpts and paint details to create a new player. Known as a “repaint”, these figures sometimes hit the mark and sometimes leave a lot to be desired. Especially when your favorite player is reduced to a simple retread of a formerly released piece. For example, Eric Chavez was initially announced to have a brand-new sculpt, playing off the immense foul ground area of Oakland’s playing field. However, after suffering several injury-plagued seasons, the Chavez figure was initially delayed then finally released, but only as a repaint of the Scott Rolen piece. Sure, it’s nice to have Chavez adorn my desk, but it’s a shame to know that there were greater ambitions for his figure early on.

The repaint practice also gave life to the “chase” figure. In an effort to increase the collectability of these figures, McFarlane Toys produced variations of standard figures to create secondary editions as well. For example, players issued in their “home” jerseys may have been issued with a new paint application in their “away” jerseys. Some of the earliest figures have the most desirable chase figures. For example, Ken Griffey’s first figure was a wall-climbing sculpt in a Reds uniform, and the chase featured him in an iconic Seattle Mariners uniform. One figure high on my list of unattainables is the NFL Series 5 Jerry Rice figure in vintage 49er gear. The standard was issued as a Raider, but we all know Jerry is a 49er in spirit.

However, the chase figure has led to as much controversy as it has provided joy. At one point, chases were issued to almost every figure of a series. Once McFarlane Toys decided to issue only chases per series, collectors groaned at the impossibility of seeing their favorite players in different uniforms or from different eras. Another move that drew the ire of fans was the introduction of the “super chase”, a figure produced in extremely small quantities to ensure its status as an ultra-collectible. NFL players were issued without their helmets, making a “no helmet” Tom Brady extremely valuable, but also extremely difficult to find.

Most recently, the company decided to revamp the chase figure, noting that new pieces would feature subtle changes to classify as chases. Larger changes like jersey alterations would then be left for future series, which antagonized collectors on two ends. First, future chases would mean fewer new figures in subsequent series, hardly a crowd-pleaser to the diehard. Second, the minor changes have been viewed as nearly insulting, changes such as the removal of “eye black” on a player’s face or the addition of a small jersey patch seem beyond insignificant. In one of the most puzzling uses of the term “chase figure”, the latest Ichiro chase figure would actually include less than its standard counterpart, being packaged without a baseball.

Moving away from the collectible aspect, some of the Bay Area pieces have been great representations due to their “legends” status. As a way to expand their standard series, McFarlane Toys introduced the concept of retired players, such as the Cooperstown series or the NFL Legends. With these figures, all first run players are unique and new sculpts, ensuring their iconic visages would be captured in 3-D glory. Joe Montana, Ronnie Lott, and Dennis Eckersley each have a legends figure. In addition, Joe Montana will be receiving a second legends piece, posed with his trademark hands-held-high-TD stance. Excellent choice that I’ll be purchasing.

Overall, the McFarlane Sports Picks lines are very nice sculptures. They are “toys” in the sense that you find them in the kids section at Wal-Mart, but they don’t much more than sit on your desk in a dynamic action stance. There’s little evidence of articulation, and if you do find a joint, it usually offers no value in creating a new pose. It was probably there because that was the best way to recreate the sculpt on a mass scale in a plastics factory. I’m sure I’ll revisit this line and provide more depth in the non-Bay Area pieces. However, if you’re a sports fan and like little desk decorations, these are pretty good at doing the job. You can find current pieces at your department stores for around $12 each. The older ones are Ebay material, with some of the chases reaching the triple digit mark. Or you can contact me and I’ll sell you some of the stuff lying in my closet. Enjoy!