Are you a collector of football memorabillia?

Do you have any football figures?

Trading cards and autographs of the top players and stars of the NFL have always been popular collectibles but it was not until fairly recently that football figures have become both acceptable and desirable collectibles.

There are several reasons for this switch in attitude as the hobby becomes more popular among fans.

In fact as sales of sport trading cards continue to drop alarmingly sales of action figures continues to grow despite the current economic crisis.

But where did it all begin?

Who Was Johnny Hero?

Johnny Hero was THE very first of the American Football figures. In fact he is the granddaddy of ALL sports figures, although many may refute his claim to being the first.

Why?

Because technically he was a generic action figure and not just a Football figure.

Produced by Rosko Industries of New York only a year after Hasbro's G.I. Joe was released he came packaged in a cardboard box featuring a track and field runner and was dressed in silk track shorts and a short-sleeved shirt with trim (piping).

But despite this Rosko Industries also produced 22 NFL team kits for him.

However he had a short career and only lasted two seasons in the Sears catalogue, i.e. 1966 and 1967.

Many believe he was "born" before his time but whatever the reason for his demise many collectors and fans still fondly remember the hours of fun he provided.

Since then he has largely been neglected and forgotten by many in the collecting community but now it's time he claimed his rightful place in the history books of the hobby.

What Were The Action Team Mates Football figures?

Another often neglected and forgotten series of NFL Football figures are Pro Sports Marketing "Action Team Mates" football figures.

These 7.5 inch figures were very crude compared to many of today's figures but they remain popular with the collectors who do remember, particularly as they weren't widely distributed.

The first Action Mates were released in 1977 but they were only available through Sears and J.C. Penny's catalogs. All 28 of the NFL's teams were represented along with a field and benches.

These Football figures had limited articulation consisting of movable limbs held together by elastic (rubber) bands much like the early G.I. Joe and Action Man.

Do You Remember Kenner's Starting Line-up Figures?

In 1988 Kenner launched their range of NFL Starting Lineup Football figures. These figures came in a clear plastic bubbles glued to a rectangular piece of cardboard with rounded corners (blister packs). These cards were often referred to a J-cards because of the shape of the "hang tab" that stores used to hang them from.

The Football figures were sold in cases of 16 which were designated by year, sport and a two-digit decimal number, e.g. 1988 Football Case .01, 1992 Football Case .04 etc.

Each came with one or more trading cards, and occasionally another keepsake such as a mini-poster or medallion. In addition, the bubble had a kind of "foot" extending 2-3 inches out from the cardboard which it could stand on.

The Football figures were made from hard plastic, and painted to resemble an athlete, although the "resemblance" was often questionable, and but there was a limited number of poses for a figure which was initially 10 for each sport but in 1993 and 1995 Kenner introduced a number of new poses.

These football figures also had limited articulation with joints at the shoulders, neck and waist and a base that resembled a part of the football field.

Kenner color coded each of the blisters so that it was easy to differentiate between them with baseball (blue), basketball (red), and football (green) then later when they began to produce NHL figures they had yellow cards.

Initially they were primarily sold to large retail stores but Kenner began to notice that they were actually selling more to hobby dealers than toy stores. This is the period when the hobby really entered it's adolescence and sport figures became truly collectible with Starting Lineup figures being traded along side trading cards and other sport collectibles and memorabilia.

This caused a change in Kenner's marketing strategy, by greatly reducing the number of different pieces produced. They also began to introduce variations of some of the figures with low production runs, thereby introducing the "chase" figure into the hobby. By decreasing the size of the sets they tried encourage collectors to collect them all, and in the five years, from 1988-1993, the set totals dropped from 137 to 27 in football.

However Kenner began to over produce the figures and undermined the market killing the line off gradually over time.

Much to the disappointment of their many fans and collectors Kenner decided to discontinue the line in 2000.

Recently however there appears to be an increase in their popularity among collectors with more activity and bidding occurring on eBay, particularly with the early vintage football figures from the 1988 and 1989 series.

This is possibly due to the fact that these figures were produced in low quantities for local markets also recent obsession with grading everything has helped to stimulate the market in general by creating more confidence in the hobby as a whole.

Some of the rarest NFL Starting Lineup Football figures quoted in Tuff Stuff magazine are:

• 1988 Marc Wilson ($425)
• 1989 Bill Bates ($425)
• 1989 Bill Fralic ($425)
• 1988 Ron Woodson ($400)
• 1988 Darrell Green ($375)
• 1988 Kellen Winslow ($375)
• 1988 Steve Jordan ($360)

A few products have been considered "successors" to Starting Lineups, such as Mattel's NBA Superstars (1999-2000) and McFarlane Sports Picks (2001-present).

The Best Football figures

Between 1996 and '97 the Best Card Company of Douglasville, Georgia, produced two series of pro football figures and one series of 12 college figures which were released as the Best Talking Football line and the Heroes of the Gridiron.

The Talking Football figures were approximately 11" tall and had battery-powered bases. These bases had a push button which when used made the athlete talk about a favorite moment in his career.

The Heroes of the Gridiron by contrast were geared more towards the collectors market. These figures were approx 6.5-inches in height and were fully articulated. Each figure also featured a removable helmet. This series was advertised as having 12 figures but a 13th Brett Favre figure was also produced.

All these figures were licensed by the NFL and the Player's Association.

Action Flats

In 1999 Topps produced a line of Football figures under the Action Flats brand. These unique figures were only 3-inches in height and came with a Topps foil card of the player. However, they failed to make an impact on the market and were quickly dropped after only 2 series but many collectors and fans were surprised they even lasted that long.

McFarlane Toys Up The Ante

In 2001 McFarlane Toys took over the mantel from Kenner and became the exclusive producer of NFL figures.

Although initially fans and collectors were wary as to whether McFarlane could produce a quality figure at the price expected time has shown that not only can he produce excellent quality and highly detailed figures but also mass produce them and keep the price down to a reasonable amount.

Featuring many of the games top players and rookies from each season, frozen in historical or pivotal moments, they have proved to be a huge success with fans and collectors.

Each series has 6 or 7 "base figures" with several "chase" or "variant" figures of the leagues favorite or top players in their official team logos and colors.

The initial series of figures included:

• Eddie George - Tennessee Titans
• Edgerrin James - Indianapolis Colts
• Emmitt Smith - Dallas Cowboys
• Kurt Warner - St. Louis Rams
• Randy Moss - Minnesota Vikings
• Warren Sapp - Tampa Bay Buccaneers

But with the variants and chase figures the set size was bumped up to a total of 38 figures!

Much of McFarlane's success is down to the meticulous attention to detail ensuring that each figure represents the players as accurately and life-like as possible.

There are three main "brands" of McFarlane NFL Action Figures within the Sports Picks range:

Base Series- The base series consists generally of six figures, altough occassionally a seventh figure has been added, from the current teams and season. Many new players or rookies have seen their McFarlane debut in one of these series.

As well as the "base" figures each series will also include one or two chase figures which are harder to find and usually feature one of the base players in an alternate uniform. There are generally three releases during any given season to reflect any seasonal changes or trade offs.

Legends- The Legend brand highlights the careers of the games top players and Hall of Famers. Each Legends series usually consists of four players from the games history although current players who are deemed as exemplary have also been featured.

Collectors Edition- The Collectors Edition figures are the "one offs" that are produced for the "All-Stars" game, Hall of Fame Induction weekend and event exclusives. These figures are generally not released through the mainstream distributors either through their online shop or at the event.

There are other McFarlane NFL Action Figures produced that aren't specific to any of these, e.g. the Ultimate Team Sets, and there are also a large number of Toys R Us Exclusive releases.

Mezco Sports Figures

Mezco Toys were probably the first of the "traditional" toy companies to try their hands at the sports collectible market with their Extreme Athletes was.

This was a new and exciting brand of player action figures that were officially licensed by the NFL through Pro Specialties Group Incorporated.

These figures, made of roto-cast PVC, were the first to use a hip "Urban Vinyl" style and attitude.

With their stylized look and attitude and loads of articulation these large 9-inch football figures were durable and kid-giving them exceptional cross-over appeal.

Capturing the excitement of the game, and the larger-than-life attitudes of the players each figure came with real cloth uniforms featuring official team logos.

The first series featured superstars Warren Sapp, Mike Vick, and Brian Urlacher. Each figure was available in a home or away jersey but despite their best marketing efforts subsequent series of NFL and the debut of the NBA figures, which were in the work, were never produced.

It's my guess that Mezco didnâ't simply didn't have the experience, knowledge or customer base in the sports figure market to make this succeeed, unlike Upper Deck who have since entered the Sports Figure market with similar vinyl figures that are marketed more towards the collectors market.

Also "vinyl" figures were still pretty much a fring market then and although recently there has been a huge increase in the number of vinyl figures being produced with all the major powerhouses in the industry now having at least one brand of vinyl figures.

Gladiators of the Gridiron Sports Action Figures

Established in 1997 the Pro Specialties Group is one of the largest marketers and manufacturers of advertising specialties and licensed products in the world

Among the products that were retailed by them were the Gladiators of the Gridiron football figures.

These 9" tall figures are made of PVC with articulated joints. Unlike other figures the Gladiators of the Gridiron wear cloth uniforms which could be removed. The figures come with a helmet and a football.

Produced since 2004 there are now several series of these figures available with many of the NFL's top players being featured.

Gracelyn Re-plays NFL Figures

Gracelyn are a little known company who have been producing NFL figures since 2006 and have released four series to date (2008).

Information on these figures is fairly scarce which is unfortunate as they are excellently made and superbly detailed figures and are one of the few truly articulated NFL figures on the market.

One of the biggest complaints with McFarlane’s NFL figures is their lack of articulation, well these figures certainly address that issue with joints on the head, arms, upper swivel arms, elbows, wrists, waist, legs, knees, and ankles.

Each of these figures finely detailed figures stands approx 6-inches and has the player's name, number, and team insignia printed on the figure's uniform, even down to some tiny little NFL logos on the shirt, pants, and gloves.

They are solidly made from very good quality materials, are well-assembled and the paint work has been carefully applied. They also come with a base but this isn’t required as they stand perfectly well on their own.

Gracelyn deserve a lot more exposure and credit for these figures or they may be lost to collectors from a lack of support and sales and I for one would be disappointed to see these discontinued.

ToyQuests Probots

These unique and original football figures from ToyQuest are a series of NFL Professional Robots, or Probots, action figures featuring "automated" versions some of the NFL's top players.

These eight inch figures are fully articulated and feature a unique "flip head" mechanism that switches between the head of the player and their helmeted robot alter egos.

The first Series was released in 2008, just in time for the Christmas holiday season and featured ten different players which were sold at Kay-Bee and Toy R Us stores nationwide.

The NFL Probots are fully articulated and are officially licensed by the National Football League and the NFL Players Inc.

Will they survive the current economic downturn and cut backs by many of the hobbies top manufacturers?

I believe not. These figures seem to have too much of a "novelty" factor to have any real impact on the hobby or collectability.

That said they do look good and are rather unique and well made so may be they will catch on, only time and history will tell their true value.

MVPs Feature Team Mascots With a Vinyl Attitude

A brand new product line in the works for Upper Deck is a collection of NFL vinyl collectibles called MVPs. Click here to learn more about vinyl figures.

MVPs are collectibles referred to in the urban vinals hobby as sports themed platform toys. The concept is that the product starts with a single platform, in this case a generic 8" football figure. Designers create a variety of different original artwork designs to go on the platform. MVPs will be created to represent the 32 different NFL team mascots.

Upper Deck chose eight well-known vinyl designers, including Jesse Hernandez, MAD, Niark1, Rebel Wookiee, Sket One, Spanky, TWEEQiM and UNKLBrand, to craft the artwork for the series. The MVPs will be released in groups starting in the Fall of 2008. As is typical for these types of collectibles, edition sizes will be limited. Ultimately, Upper Deck plans to expand this product line into other sports and other artists as well.

More information, including sample photos of MVPs, is expected in the coming weeks.

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All the latest news and updates on NFL Figures

Do you have any information or news to share on NFL Action figures? Or have any comments to make?

Then let us know here!

Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...