Ben's Toys

One of my guilty pleasures is collecting McFarlane Sports Action figures from the Maple Leafs and Blue Jays. I've been quite successful in keeping my collection complete but it's kind of trailed off recently due to being married (being more financially "responsible") and moving into a smaller apartment with less room to keep stuff that just stays in its box.

I enjoy this collection for many reasons. It allows me to be young again, it's a fascinating way to get an up close look at a team's uniform and player history, and it is exciting thinking of being able to show these to my grandkids someday. As you can see from the newest release above, the detail on these items continues to get better and better all the time.

For the sake of my own sanity I'm going to use this blog entry to keep my track of my collection and what it still needs. It's really an interesting hobby once you get involved. McFarlane releases a number of players every year but also does some random things such as issuing players in former team uniforms or with an alternate jersey on or even with a mohawk. From time to time players are also released in miniature 3 inch form (typically players are aproximately 6 inches tall). These items have not been my focus, however I do own a couple and wish I owned a few more. For clarification: want it/have it

First the Blue Jays:

Eric Hinske - Series 4 (won ROY and got an action figure - what has he done lately?)
Roger Clemens - Series 6 (a rare item, re-issued in Blue Jays uniform from Cy Young seasons)
Carlos Delgado - Series 10 (unfortunately traded shortly after this came out)
Roy Halladay - Series 11
Troy Glaus 2 - Series 17

A few notes here -- the fact that Canada is a hockey first market may be the reason for such a small amount of players to be released. It's tough on collectors that 2 of these items are almost impossible to find without using ebay. It is also worth noting that Glaus is actually a repaint of a previous release and Hinske is also available in home and away uniform (with home being the rarer of the two). And finally, there also exists a Frank Cattalanotto/Orlando Hudson 3 inch pack which is pretty hard to find, only handed out at a game in 2005.


And second, the Toronto Maple Leafs:

Curtis Joseph - an odd one, this was originally produced before McFarlane had the rights to produce NHL uniforms and was issued without the Leafs logo. It was then re-released once NHL rights had been purchased and is very hard to find (and typically sells for hundreds of dollars).
Mats Sundin - Series 1
Alexander Mogilny - Series 3
Tie Domi - Series 5
Owen Nolan - Series 7
Ed Belfour 2 - Series 8 (a repaint of a previous release in another uniform)
Gary Roberts - Series 8
Frank Mahovlich - Legends Series 1
Brian Leetch - Series 9
Mats Sundin 2 - Series 9 (the only one where I purchased both home and away)
Joe Nieuwendyk - Series 11
Bryan McCabe - Series 13 (released with helmet on, and with mohawk showing!)
Darryl Sittler - Legends Series 4
Darcy Tucker - Series 15
Johnny Bower - Legends Series 6
Jason Blake - Series 17
Grant Fuhr - Series 19
Doug Gilmour - Legends Series 7
Vesa Toskala - Series 20
Mats Sundin 3 - Series 21
Darryl Sittler 2 - Series 22
Terry Sawchuk - Legends Series 8
Tim Horton - Legends Series 8
Luke Schenn - Series 23
Jonas Gustavsson - Series 24


As you can see from this list, the Maple Leafs have been fortunate enough to have MANY current and former players issued wearing the blue and white (a big part of this may be due to the fact that Spawn/McFarlane creator Todd is Canadian). Another item to point out is that on two separate occasions a three pack of Leafs has been released in the Canadian market. There have been several 3 inch players issued but typically they come with a player from another team which makes me much less interested in collecting them, not to mention if they are released as a 3 inch figure, they most likely have already come out as a full sized issue. Most of the items listed have been released with both home and away jerseys and there does not seem to be any reason for which one is considered to be more valuable other than which one was issued in greater number.


Update, May 13 2010: I haven't bought or received one of these as a gift for quite some time. I guess you could say I've lost interest, but another big part of this stoppage has been that we don't have much space in our current apartment to display these collectibles. Some day when I've got a den of my own, I'll add to the collection and display it somehow.