Mcfarlane NHL Ray Bourque Variant

Written by Ralph on 9th June, 2008

I’m glad I came across this auction as I never realized some of the early NHL figures were fetching so much. I have to admit though, that even after Googling, I’m not completely sure why this one is so desirable.

Main reason is the word variant here. A variant figure is a paint or accessory difference from the “normal” figure that is often unintentional. Sometimes, these are production errors or glitches that occur at the factory and might be released into distribution before the mistake is caught and corrected. Some more well known examples of this would be the Redeemer figure from Spawn Series 25 with different gradations of green paint on his wings or the Anthony Thomas figure from NFL 5, some of which had different colored mouthguards.

A chase figure on the other hand is a different version (the differences usually involve paint application, but could also be sculpt or accessory changes) of a regular figure, intentionally produced and generally released in limited numbers. Almost every McFarlane sports figure (and a lesser number of non-sports figures) has a chase version.

So if this is an actual variant, what’s the difference?

I’d love to have a sports collector weigh in on this

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