Action Figure News

The first announcement centers on chase figures. Chase figures are products that are intentionally different than most of the production run. They are produced on a limited basis and inserted into sealed Sports Picks cases. These chase figures are highly sought after by collectors and generally carry some additional value on the secondary market.

This fall, McFarlane integrated the chase program into full lineups, while limiting the variance between a normal and a chase figure. As it turned out, these subtle chases were received poorly by the established collector base, who felt the variance between the regular and the chase figure wasn't great enough to spark their interest. In response to the collector requests, Todd McFarlane decided to re-integrate classic chase figures (alternate jerseys, retro looks etc.) into Sports Picks lineups, starting next March with the MLB 2009 Wave 1 lineup.

In addition to the return of the classic chase figure McFarlane will be offering their own golden ticket in the Cooperstown 2009 lineup. This series includes the second Babe Ruth figure, showcasing pitching for both the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. Ruth's Yankees figure is portrayed in the 1920 uniform - when the Yankees wore a white cap with blue pinstripes.

Five of these Yankee versions of Babe Ruth are receiving an alternate paint job - with the hat painted dark blue with a white NY logo - what's generally considered the Yankees' normal hat. Two of these figures will go into our permanent archive, but three will be randomly inserted into sealed cases of Cooperstown 2009. These figures will be recognizable not only by the blue hat, but the back of each package will be sealed with our McFarlane blue logo safety tape - usually found on our sealed Sports Picks cases.

Prior to this Babe Ruth super chase, the rarest Sports Picks figure was a Teemu Selanne Winnipeg Jets figure from the NHL 6 lineup. Most of the Jets Selanne figures had his traditional number eight on his jersey, but 13 of them were super chase figures that featured the jersey number 13 - the number he wore during his record-setting rookie season. The last super chase Selanne that sold online went for $8,500 dollars.