The 2011-12 NBA season is over and I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Yup, the Miami Heat are back as champions of the basketball world after six long years! But before dishing out our regular serving of Marvel-heavy posts, let me get some stuff out of the way first. I have acquired some Heat-related toys prior to the team's championship run and there's no better time to showcase them than now!
First up is a Dwyane Wade (Version 3) action figure from McFarlane Toys. I scored this bad boy way back last March but with the playoffs fast approaching, I made a conscious effort not to make a post about it so as not no jinx the team. I'm a very superstitious person, so please pardon the delay.
My initial venture into the toy-collecting world actually started with the McFarlane NBA figs way back when I was in college, circa 2003. But since abandoning ship in 2008, it's safe to say that I'm no longer that knowledgeable about the line. I'm not really familiar with the sculpts anymore but I think I can still recall this body being used originally for a Carmelo Anthony figure. The sculpt is nice and even though Melo is a good four inches taller than D-Wade, the mold fits Flash to a T. The facial likeness is good and overall, this fig is a great 6-inch representation of the 2006 NBA Finals MVP. It's always great to see new Heat McFs and I'm already looking forward to the repainted LBJ Version 2 fig that's been announced for Series 21!
Next, we have a Funko Pop! LeBron James vinyl figure. Nope, it's not a bobblehead, it's just a vinyl figure done in the same Funko Pop! style that we've all come to love. Funko Pop! bobbleheads and figures are starting to become the next big thing in the toy/collectible/action figure industry, and for good reason! The aforementioned lines offer a slew of cute characters from different properties in uniform size and that's actually their main draw. The line-up of available figures is ridiculously vast, ranging from our favorite comic book superheroes and villains to music icons, NBA superstars, TV, movie, and video game characters, and more!
Funko Pop! LBJ is sporting the Heat's red alternate road jersey which happens to be my fave among the team's unis. Unfortunately, some variations and omissions have been made, making the jersey look very dull. To start with, the yellow stripes on the sides of the jersey have been omitted. The MH secondary logo on the left leg is also absent and the player's name on the back of the jersey is done in black, instead of white. Heck, the shorts don't even look like the ones that the Heat actually use and that's a major bummer. Yes, Funko Pop! figs aren't supposed to be extremely accurate replicas of their real-life counterparts but if you've seen the Funko Pop! Avengers movie bobbleheads personally, then chances are, you already know how much detail can really be crammed in a figure this small. Still, I'm happy to have this fig in my Miami Heat action figure collection and I'm hoping to see Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh get the Funko Pop! treatment too!
Rounding out this trio of Heat figures is another Dwyane Wade collectible, this time from MINDstyle's NBA Collector (Series 1) line of designer toys. I'm not really a fan of blind boxes and I sure don't have enough cash to dabble into a little trial-and-error session when it comes to buying toys, so I decided to scout for a loose D-Wade fig. Luckily, there was an available one during this year's Toy Con. I scooped this one for 850 bucks (around 20 USD) and that's actually cheap considering that similar figs were being peddled on eBay for 1100 bucks (around 26 USD) several months back.
MINDstyle D-Wade is surprisingly well-made. The plastic used in making the figure seems to be of good quality. The paint and tampo apps are applied cleanly and despite the poor likeness, the fig still screams Dwyane Wade to me. The fig has seven points of articulation (neck, shoulders, wrists, and ankles) and it comes with two extra pairs of hands, and a basketball. Apparently, MINDstyle Flash gets a liitle less love than the others. The fig doesn't get a baller band or an arm band unlike some of its series-mates (Kobe, KG, Amar'e, Melo, just to name a few) and the fig's also wearing generic, unbranded shoes while the others are rocking Nikes (heck, KG's even wearing Anta kicks). I don't know the reasons behind the said issues but D-Wade deserves a lot better. Oh, never mind, we're world champions!
So, that's a wrap. We have a championship to celebrate! Thank you for visiting P-Dub's Playground! (",)
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