Two weeks
ago, I cared about the 2009 baseball season. Sadly, my Tigers choked
like Mama Cass on a chicken wing and tanked their post season, leaving
me to watch the Lions. Don't worry - the Wings are starting up.
McFarlane Toys has been doing their version of sports figures for years
now, and some feel it's the core of their toy business, raising them to
great heights in the strong times, and keeping them afloat in the lean
years. Baseball were their first, and still their strongest line.
My sponsor, Clark Toys, has a new exclusive of Ken Griffey
Jr, one of the all time great hitters, and a pretty damn good
outfielder too. He is also one of the few players of the 'steroid
years' who still appears to be clear of any such abuse.
He played with the Mariners through most of the 90's before roaming
through several more teams in the last decade. He's back with the
Mariners this season, returning to his big league roots.
Clark Toys has this exclusive of Griffey, wearing his Mariners outfit
with his original number 24, and in his classic home run stance.
Packaging - ***
Once upon a time, all McToys figures came in clamshells, but not these
days. They've switched back to cardback and bubble packaging for a lot
of the lines, including the sports waves.
There's
nothing particularly outstanding here, but the cardback is personalized
to the player with both text and graphics, and it included the Clark
Toys exclusive logo.
Sculpting - ***1/2
After comparing against a number of Griffey photos from the past 20
years, I have to say that the underlying portrait is very, very good.
There's some paint issues that make it tough to fully appreciate some
of the sculpt quality, but I'll get to that in the next category.
The expression is about right,
as Griffey watches another homer leaving the park off his bat. There's
some extremely nice skin detail on the face and arms, and considering
the scale, the work on the nose, eyebrows and lips is pretty damn
impressive.
This is really an older, more
recent Griffey in the Mariners outfit, not a 1995 version. He's a bit
heavier, the face is a bit older, but it's all Griffey.
One thing that McToys always
seems to get right - and not everyone does - is the wrinkles and
stretch marks in the clothing in poses like this. The twisted material
has to flow properly for an extreme pose to look right, and it's the
sort of thing that your mind will pick up on even if you don't
consciously realize it. Here, the sculpted wrinkles in the turned shirt
and pants are just about perfect.
He stands about 6 1/4" tall in
this pose. There's a metal post on the right foot to attach him to the
base, and that's a nice touch. We all know how easy it can be to break
the plastic posts, and while he won't be able to stand without the
base, you wouldn't want to display him without it anyway.
I had a little trouble getting
him to stay standing straight on the base, as he wanted to lean back a
bit even with the metal peg. I had to dink around with it abit, but
eventually I had it about right.
Paint - **1/2
The paint is a little weak under magnification. In person of course,
it's harder to see the slightly wonky eyes, fuzzy edges to the belt and
belt loops, and random weak cut lines.
Other aspects of the work is
good, including the tampo on the helmet, the stripes on the uniform,
and the very realistic dirt pattern on his outside right leg. He's
already slide into home once today!
Articulation - *1/2
Although he scores low in this category, it won't negatively effect my
overall - in fact, it helps a little. The assumption here is that these
are plastic statues, really just Sports Nerd Hummels. So any
articulation, even a little, is a plus overall.
There are two joints, but cuts
at the white sleeves. These allow you to position the arms in his
classic pose. Sure, it's not a lot, but it's better than I expected.
Accessories - ***
There are two accessories, of sorts.
While he's a great fielder, he's
even a better hitter, so it's no surprise that he comes with his bat.
The end pops off to allow you to slide it into his right palm. The bat
looks good in terms of scale and paint, and of course is critical to
the overall figure.
Fun Factor - ***
For kids who love baseball - there's still some of those, right? - are
going to enjoy collecting their favorites, and Griffey is one of the
few greats of the last 20 years left unsulleyed by concerns of steroid
abuse. Let's hope that turns out to be the case long term.
However, these aren't really
'toys' in the traditional sense. Still, when I was a kid I loved my
baseball cards, and these are a mighty fine replacement for that sort
of collectible.
Value - **1/2
This guy is an exclusive, and as such pulls a slightly higher price
than the average releases. You can pick him up for $18, which is
getting to be the norm these days, particularly for the store exclusive
figures.
Things to Watch Out For -
If you could pick one off the shelf, it would be a good idea to check
over the paint work closely for the best one. But odds are you'll be
ordering this online, and there isn't anything else to watch out for.
Overall - ***
The paint work coming out of McFarlane these days isn't what it once
was, but you'll have to use a macro lens or some serious magnifiers.
It's really nice to see Griffey in this uniform, with this number, and
in this pose - it doesn't get much more classic than this.
- One of my favorite sports
figures recently is one of the most hated sports 'mascots' - the FOX Sports Robot.
- there's also a guest review of
an early wave of MLB figures,
as well as an early wave of NFL
figures.
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Yea, it's a five star system and not a four star system like
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but it's the best I've been able to come up with so far. You
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only rate once from any particular IP. My score converted to
a five star system for comparison: 3.75
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