Reviews (1)

Too tiny!
I had no idea how tiny these dolls were going to be. There should have been something in the advertising to let a collector of McFarlane NBA dolls know that these were not the normal size; and were, in fact, miniatures. They hardly look like anybody, let alone Allen Iverson and Chris Webber. A HUGE disappointment for me and my son. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Pettitte finally gets a McFarlane figure, but as an Astro
Three things surprise me about the Andy Pettitte figure that McFarlane Toys has produced as part of the MLB Series 10 figures. First, is that they waited until Series 10 to produce a figure of Pettitte. Of course, the problem was that until this season Pettitte played for the New York Yankees instead of the Houston Astros and McFarlane tries to avoid having more than one player from a team in a particular series. This principle worked until MLB Series 8 when not only did they have Yankees Hideki Matsui and Alfonso Soriano, but Kevin Brown and Alex Rodriguez, both of who were traded to the Yankees. McFarlane quickly switched the Brown figure from Dodgers home white to Yankees road gray. But by the time it was Pettitte's turn he had signed as a free agency and coaxed his friend and Yankee teammate Roger Clemens out of retirement as well.

So the second surprise is that Pettitte is shown in the Astros home white jersey instead of the red jersey since MLB Series 10 also includes an Astros version of the Roger Clemens 6" figure wearing the red top. I expected McFarlane to present the duo as something of a matched set, especially since that it how the press was treating them during the off-season and spring training. Since then we have had the irony of the 42 year old Clemens leading the NL in wins and the younger Pettitte being on the disabled list twice already in the 2004 season. Usually you can find home and road versions of a figure but if there is one for Pettitte I have not come across it yet.

Finally, McFarlane often captures these baseball players in familiar poses, such as Sammy Sosa's home run hop or Barry Bonds pointing to the heavens after crossing home play. Pettitte has a distinctive pose as well: peering over his glove at the batter with his hat pulled won over his eyes. Of course that works better in a close up on television or an 8 x 10 photograph, and what we have instead is the left-hander about reared back about to fire the pitch. Pettitte has been one of the best lefties in recent years, having to date won 153 games versus only 79 losses with a 3.93 E.R.A. in the middle of the 10th year of his career. His postseason record is an even more impressive 16-5 and he was the ALCS Most Valuable Player in 2001.

The figure is relatively free of dirt, an element that has been a bit excessive on some of the McFarlane figures in recent series. There is some limited articulation with the figure, but basically what you see pictured here is how you are going to end up posing this one. Pettitte and Clemens join a trio of previous Astros figures with Jeff Bagwell (Series 8), Lance Berkman (Series 4), and Roy Oswalt (Series 3). The rest of Series 10 consists of Rafael Palmeiro of the Orioles, Curt Schilling of the Red Sox, Mark Mulder of the A's, Garret Anderson of the Angels, and Carlos Delgado of the Blue Jays, along with the second figures of the Yankees' Derek Jeter and the Cardinals' Albert Pujols. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

The Big Unit firing the ball across home plate at high speed
This is the second figure of Randy Johnson, the multi-Cy Young-winning pitcher of the Arizona Diamondbacks, following the earlier Seattle Mariner Version. The other big difference between the two is that the first one is the vertical Johnson and this one is the horizontal. Of course, if they do the Big Unit standing straight up and keep the body proportional to the other McFarlane MLB figures they are going to need a bigger blister pack, right? Even so, you can compare this figure to the rest of the McFarlane pitchers and you will notice that his front leg is a lot farther down the pitching mound than any other. Except for the Robert Alomar sliding figure or the one of Ichiro laying down a bunt, this figure of the 6' 10" Johnson might actually be the shortest McFarlane baseball figure when measured top to bottom.

The striped Diamond Backs uniform makes this a nice matched set with the Curt Schilling figure, the only problem being that by the end of the week Schilling is probably going to be traded, probably to Boston. Usually the best details on these McFarlane figures are the uniforms, but on this one pay attention to what is happening with the muscles on Johnson's pitching arm and his neck. That is pretty much how you should look if you are trying to throw a ball through a batter, let along past them. The other oddity for this figure is that his uniform is relatively dirt free, an element that the McFarlane people have been going overboard on lately. If you are a fan of the Diamondbacks in general, Johnson in particular, or like to collect sure bet future Hall of Famers, this is another first rate figure from McFarlane to add to your collection. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Beware Sports Pick Openers
Don't get me wrong, this item has great detail and is very realistic looking, Deuce McAlister is one of the leagues best but I do not recommend opening this figure, many people including myself have had problems with it standing properly.

The figure itself looks great in package and if you decide to purchase it, keep it that way.

Great looking figure but thumbs down to McFarlane on this one because yet again they are having problems with keeping the figures standing up straight.

Many Deuce figures are defective.
Awesome realistic figure but i have opened 2 of them and both do not stand correctly.

Still great for the in package collector! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Some key alterations in the Swat Spawn from the cover of #64
I am sure that I am not alone in going back and comparing the various figures in the Spawn 24 series from McFarlane Toys. The obvious general comment is that in most of these cases the toy goes into considerably more detail than what was drawn on the original cover. For example, the Swat Spawn from issue #64 has most of his body in shadows or extending beyond the frame of the cover. The original cover art was penciled Greg Capullo, with Chance Wolf and Todd McFarlane providing the inks. For example, there is no clue what Spawn's right arm was doing, which makes this pose an interesting choice.

But there are also a couple of interesting omissions. The first, of which nothing can be done, is that you do not have the whisp of smoke coming out of the barrel of the large handgun (or the burning "bullet" holes in the wall behind him, for that matter). However, the second is the more interesting one, because on the cover of "Spawn" #64 the figure clearly has "666" written on the helmet over the visor. Gee, can you imagine any reason why they might have made that change before marketing this particular Spawn figure? To be fair, in "Checkmate," the story of issue #64, when Spawn dons the disguise for Wynn's SWAT team, he does not have any number on his helmet. This was an interesting choice to be included in this series, inspired by the cover art of "Spawn" and some of its related titles. My only serious complaints are that the "gold" parts of the outfit should be a little brighter, so there is more of a contrast with the metalic blue-grey parts, and that Spawn's eyes, the only part of his iconic image that you can really see, need to stand out just a tap more. Personally, I think it would have been more interesting to see a trio of these figures as a SWAT team chasing down Spawn (my favorite from the series is the issue #43, which has considerably more detail than the original cover art).

Oh, and how are these "educational"? Well, they inspire kids to go back and read the original comic book don't they? DON'T THEY? I know I did, because otherwise I would have not caught some of the differences. ... Read more