Raving Toy Maniac

I don't really collect NBA anymore -- or really, collect any Sports Picks, but I still buy some NFL and mostly NHL -- but as I an a Knicks fan, I will probably grab 'Melo if I find one locally, or if BBTS still has one to add to my Pile of Loot... when I build one up again.

I ordered a whole case that should come Wednesday so that I could be guaranteed at least one collector variant. I'm hoping for the All-Star Blake Griffin (obviously).

I'm pissed McFarlane Toys cancelled the Dallas Mavericks 3-pack, though. I wanted that Jason Terry!!

These have gotten to be such a joke, I sometimes think McFarlane doesnt realize that there is more teams then the ones he makes figures from. MLB is not just Yankees Phillies, Redsox and the NFL is not just Steelers, Cowboys(or Romo for that matter) Packers, and Bears

I'm kind of surprised that there hasn't been an all-Tebow wave yet.

And you know that the 12-inch Tebow in Tebowing pose has to be on the radar.

There might as well be: Tebow's in McFarlane's upcoming College series 4, McFarlane's upcoming NFL series 30, McFarlane's upcoming NFL series 31, and McFarlane's upcoming Playmakers series 3.

Seriously? I was just making a bad joke, obviously I wasn't paying attention to the upcoming waves. Wow.

I can understand having a big name player to sell but seriously when Kenner had the Starting Lineup licence they made at least one player from each team, granted teams like Yankees got multiple players but there was a variaty. McFarlane hasnt made a "modern" KC Royals player since Mike Sweeny and that was like 7 years ago. (and when they made George Brett the stores were FLOODED with them) We have had a Cy Young winner and a couple of hot prospects since but nope I see players that are back up players on the Red Sox. Dont even get me started with the NFL teams (again ROMO?????) or the chase pieces. This is the one line that still gets Scalped at TRU by the wokers or their collecting buddies.

I used to buy a lot of Sports Picks (I have the cases in the attic to prove it ), but I finally slowed down considerably, almost stopping, due to the lack of Buffalo players. And that was when they still had some variety in players and teams. I had gotten to the point of buying almost only Legends, but now with Legends now being rolled into regular line-ups, I probably buy even fewer these days, although I have purchased more hockey lately with Ryan Miller getting two figures over the last couple of years and hometown players like Patrick Kane being made.

I agree that McFarlane should definitely offer more variety in most of its sports lines, but the next three waves of NFL figures look to be a step in the right direction. NFL 29, 30, and 31 feature a minimum of fifteen teams (Patriots, Steelers, Falcons, Raiders, Packers, Cowboys, Bears, Lions, Broncos, 49ers, Saints, Giants, Eagles, Panthers, and almost certainly the Colts, for Luck), and that's not even considering any possible variants or multi-packs (c'mon McFarlane - make Andy Dalton and A.J. Green).

mcfarlane is all about the all mighty $$$$$$. key players from key teams always makes the cut. just like the nba lockout was about the small market vs. the big markets. he needs to make one player from every team like in the all star game. it will at least make it look like he is attempting please everyone.

Of course he's going to be about the $$$ (as a side note, I don't like all star games that have rules where every team has to be represented). All of these need at least unique facial sculpts, and for most of them they need signature poses. Of course not every team is going to be represented.

Then you get to the scalping... I don't think I've ever seen a Kobe Bryant figure in a retail store here in Los Angeles, and he's in every other wave.

That being said, they do tend to mix things up a bit (I only look at football and basketball). I have a Matt Cassel KC chiefs figure, for instance, I never thought I'd see that.

Hello Jon,

I also bought the John Wall series 20 figure. You are right about the arm sculpts but it's still a nice figure nevertheless His pose/stance I believe is identical to an older series Allen Iverson McFarlane figure.

As for the NBA Series 20 Blake Griffin I purchased him too and he looks great although I believe McFarlane could have easily given him a unique and signature pose because the one he has is the exact pose that both Shaun Marion and J.R. Smith already have from older series!

It's a bit frustrating because considering the work that goes into these figures, you would at least imagine that after 20 Series of such figures that McFarlane would decide on producing new and unique player poses rather than just recycling the already produced poses used from previous series on their newly released figures!

FYI in case you are considering buying the rest of series 20, my opinion is that after the Blake figure the next best one in this series in terms of player pose + paintwork would be the Kevin Durant figure. The Kobe is similar in pose to an older Jason Richardson figure, the Carmelo figure although looks good due to his dual arm bands isn't so well done concerning his head sculpt, the likeness is not so great I'd say. I think the older series figures of Carmelo were more well made regarding his face likeness.

The Wade and Rose figures are so so regarding their paintwork. Perhaps it was just the batch I bought but I thought it was quite sloppy in parts and wasn't 100% satisfied with these two

Hope this helped in case you haven't already purchased the rest of series 20. I'd be interested to know your opinion on the figures of this series also.

Regards,

Philip

I've seen each figure in series 20 at retail by now, so I've seen 'em all up close. I think some of the figures' face sculpts could be a bit better, and I agree that more new sculpts and tighter paint apps would've been nice; but none of the figures are bad, and series 20 features the first Wall and Griffin figures and only the second Rose, so overall I think it's a solid series. =)

Yes in terms of figure variation this series is good since it introduces the Blake Griffin and John Wall figures for the first time as you correctly mentioned.

Are you generally a fan/collector of the McFarlane NBA series or do you prefer the other Football and/or NHL figures?

I recently purchased some figures that are getting harder to find on the internet, the Lamar Odom (Purple Lakers jersey non-variant), Manu Ginobilli (Black Spurs jersey non-variant) and Scottie Pippen (Red Bulls jersey non-variant) figures. I was very pleased by the overall quality (figure sculpts and paintwork) of all of these.

Needless to say that I didn't opt going for the variant versions of these figures as their prices would surely be over the roof!

I've seen the Scottie Pippen variants go for $140 and even more than that online and the Odom and Ginobilli variants are priced at least at $70-$80. A good option to find some of these rare ones is on ebay through the various auctions that take place there or even through Amazon.com if you find an opportunity with some shop that may still have a few such figures left over in its stock.

If you are looking for any particular McFarlane NBA figures to add to your collection or if you are looking for bargain prices feel free to let me know and I can suggest a few sites I've visited or have even purchased from.