Rare Action Figures » Sports

Custom Kimbo Slice MMA Figure

Ralph — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:03:10 +0000

I’m excited that Jacks is doing a line of licensed UFC fighters (already signed a four year deal apparently), and I’ve already ordered the cartoony Series 1 from Round Five.

This Kimbo Slice figure is getting me even more excited about the upcoming figures though. Granted, Kimbo isn’t a UFC fighter and the custom is not even that great, but the concept! The concept!

Oh, there’s a custom MMA Brock Lesnar as well, but in my mind he looks a lot like the original figure. Still cool none the less.

1989 Jake "The Snake" Roberts AFA Graded 85

Ralph — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:27:05 +0000

There’s nothing like being the only one to own something, and this Black Card Jake The Snake Roberts is the only AFA Graded one in existence. Shortly after this figure was released, LLN/ Grand Toys lost the WWF (Now WWE) License to Hasbro. This makes them very hard to find, as presumably the production run was shorter than normal.

Link ($330.00 with twelve hours to go)

Mcfarlane NHL Ray Bourque Variant

Ralph — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 10:50:14 +0000

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