Packaging - ***
If you’ve ever read my reviews before, you know that the packaging is nothing more than functional transportation vessels to me. I immediately rip them apart to get at the goodies inside. These figures come on a LARGE blister card. They are nothing extraordinary but are nicely done with bright colors and logos.

Sculpting - ***
OK, this was something new for me. I’m used to buying figures that are realistic. My mindset has been, “the more realistic, the better.” These sculpts are more caricature than sculpt, and resemble many of the “Pacific Rim” style toys out there today. However, that being said, I think these guys are pretty cool. They’ve captured the individual character of the athletes. 

Paint - **1/2
The heads and the gloves/hand wraps are the only painted parts and they’re hit and miss. The colors are nice and solid but they don’t quite make it up to the edges in some places and don’t fully cover in others. Not a horrible job and it doesn’t detract from the figures but it is noticeable.

Articulation - **
The figures have 12 points of articulation (neck, chest, shoulders, biceps (swivel), wrists, thighs and ankles. There’s not a tremendous amount of articulation but there’s a fair amount. They can strike a pretty limited selection of poses. Don’t expect to get a lot of “football” poses. It took quite a bit of messing around to get Sapp any where close to a 3-point stance.

Accessories - ***
Each figure comes with a helmet and a football. Not a ton of stuff but hey…what more could you have? The helmets are slightly oversized to fit the cartoonish heads but still look good and sport nice logos. The chin straps are made of pliable rubber that allow them to be easily removed and put on.

Uniforms - ****
These uniforms are top notch. The jerseys look like real jersey material, the logos and striping are excellent. These look just like the real thing, right down to the metal grommets on the belts. Very nicely done!

Play Factor - ***
These figures are made of roto-molded plastic and are pretty thick and tough. I think they could take quite a beating from a kid, but also look good for collectors.

Overall - ***
Overall these are pretty cool figures. Like I mentioned earlier, they’ll work double duty as toys for kids or collectors items for adults. 

Where to Buy - 
Like I said before, I got them off the shelf at TRU for $15 a pop. Most on-line dealers will probably also be carrying them, including Entertainment Earth who has them for $49.99 for a three-pack, and Aisle Sniper has them for $44.99 for the three.

The Rater: Mark D is an avid action figure collector old enough to have gotten vintage GI Joes for Christmas as a kid, but still young enough to play with his toys. He collects mostly vintage AT GI Joe stuff but still likes to grab the cool stuff that comes out now, especially law enforcement figures and accessories. He's been a regular at The Sandbox (alt.toys.gi-joe) since he first came on line about five years ago. He's always looking to swap with other Joe-head and assist them in finding the hard to find stuff. You can contact him at mmdals1@aol.com or visit his site at www.the-precinct.com.