McFarlane Reviews

It's The Year of Yao and this figure is a fitting tribute. Peas and mashed potatoes, folks. It doesn't get much better. The detail on this figure is cutting edge perfect. Whether you're a Rockets fan like me, or just collect mega-cool action figures, I wouldn't pass this one up.

i didnt like the original cyber spawn it looked to plain with its white paint but the metalic red changed my mind. a must have for the collector

ok, i will get to the point, todd has in the last 3 years dedicated himself to produce figures that are beutifull and very detail in every sense, but to achieve that you must loose something, ARTICULATIONS, well dear collectors this is not the case, we finally have a fully articulated and also very, very detail action figure, the paint is something that you may not have seen on other action figures, a gold red mixture that catches your eye on the spot, oohhh i only wish that todd didnt make this a rare event, and starts making more articulated figures

The Simpsons Couch Gags. That is the name of this boxed set. It is like the simpsons Ironic Punishment boxed set, but this time you can have more fun by moving around the entire family of figurines! But for Ironic Punishment, the only figure that can come off and back on the set is that blue devil. That set was good, but THIS will be much better!!!

Last year Carlos Beltran became the first player to make the All-Star team with one league because of what he had accomplished in the other. Beltran was traded by the Kansas City Royals to the Houston Astros as part of a 3-team trade as the Oakland Athletics sent minor leaguers Mike Wood and Mark Teahen to the Royals while Houston sent reliever Octavio Dotel to the A's and John Buck and cash to the Royals. At that point Beltran was batting .278 with 15 home runs and 51 runs batted in to go along with 14 stolens bases. He was voted to the A.L. team by its players as a reserve, and when an injury forced out a N.L. player he was named to that team. Houston picked up Beltran hoping he could spark them to the playoffs, and in one of the great comebacks in baseball history he basically did just that (helped by Roger Clemens and some others).

With Houston he batted .258, hit 23 home runs, drove in 53 runs, and stole 28 bases. For the entire year he ended up batting .267, with 38 homers, 104 RBI's, and 42 stolen bases. He did not reach the 40-40 plateau, but he was close. Then in the post season Beltran made himself the hottest free agent available. In the N.L. Division series against Atlanta he hit .455, hit four home runs and drove in nine, to go with a pair of stolen bases. In the N.L. Championship series against the Cardinals he dipped to .419, four home runs and five RBI's and stole four bases. So, for 12 games he batted .435, with 8 home runs, 14 RBI's, 6 stolen bases, a .536 on base percentage, and a 1.022 slugging percentage.

Declared a free agent, Beltran signed with the New York Mets, who also signed Pedro Martinez. The Mets expected big things from both, but while Martinez has delivered, Beltran has not (although, ironically, he plays like an All-Star on days when Martinez is pitching). Today, Beltran is still batting .267, but this season he only has 13 home runs and 59 runs batted in. He now has 10 stolen bases to finally reach double figures, but across the board he is below his average season of .284, 27 home runs, 104 RBI's and 35 stolen bases. What the Mets are getting for the big bucks they are paying Beltran is not just disappointing, it is also surprising. But this guy is having his worst season as a pro.

Anticipating a big season in the Big Apple and amply justified by what he did last year, MacFarlane Toys has come out with a 6-inch figure of Beltran for its MLB Series 12 set. Wearing #15 on his dark blue home jersey, Beltran is shown racing across center field to catch a sinking line drive. The sculpt of Beltran's face is pretty good and you attention is paid to the details on the uniform and equipment (I especially like the glove on this one). Of course there are dirt stains on this figure, but notice that they are on both sides. A pin in the left knee keeps the figure upright so it looks like he is gliding across the grass of Shea Stadium. This is one of the best looking figures in this series so it is not a disappointment (unlike...).

If Beltran is the biggest free agency bust in the National League this season, then Adrian Beltre probably deserves the honor in the American League, and he is also a MLB Series 12 figure (Beltran comes out "ahead" overall because he had a solid career before this year and not one great season that we suspected was abberational in the first place). In fact, bad seasons abound with this collection. Scott Rolen is having a disappointing year with the St. Louis Cardinals, but he has injuries as an excuse, as does Nomar Garciaparra, who just got back with the Chicago Cubs this month, and Eric Gagne, whose season ended early with the L.A. Dodgers after a second arm surgery. Only David Ortiz is having an All-Star year, which makes pitchers Mike Mussina of the New York Yankees and Tom Glavine of the Mets look good this year with their moderate stats this season.

With the number of McFarlane Toys baseball figures assembled on top of my television set it really seems like every time a new series comes out there is always at least one New York Yankee. For MLB Series 12 that would be pitcher Mike Mussina, wearing #35 on his gray Yankees jersey. "Moose" is in his fifth season with the Yankees, having signed as a free agent after putting up solid numbers for the Baltimore Orioles. One of the few major leaguers to have been born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, home of the Little League World Series, Mussina won 17, 18, and 17 games in his first three seasons in New York, but went only 12-9 last season. The expectation was that pitching for the Yankees would make Mussina a Cy Young candidate each season, but his season bests for wins, E.R.A. and strikeouts all remains from his seasons with the Orioles. But having lost Andy Pettite, Roger Clemens and Jon Leiber to free agency and with Randy Johnson, Kevin Brown Carl Pavano, Jared Wright and Wang, Chien-Ming all serving time on the DL, "Moose" has become the mainstay of Joe Torre's starting rotation (I do not even want to start listing all of the third line starters the Yankees have thrown into games this year from Al Leiter and Aaron Small to Darrell May and Tim Redding).


This 6-inch figure has very limited articulation. You can adjust the neck a bit and the left wrist for positioning his glove, but that is it. So what you see is really what you get with this one. The best touch is the baseball, which is as close to the release point as you are going to find with all of these McFarlane baseball figures. There is also some nice musculature and veins popping on the arms, and if you are really familiar with Mussina's delivery style then you have to admit the dirt on his pants legs is appropriate. Other nice details are the mud caking the bottom of Mussina's cleats, and on the pitching base where to the left of Mussina's front foot there is another impact area left by the opposing pitcher. Since Musina is wear the road gray uniform of the Yankees he is obviously playing on the road somewhere, but where can be any place you want.

Of the eight baseball players with figures in MLB Series 12, Mussina is one of the rare few who is having a decent season with, as of this date, a 11-7 record and a 4.01 E.R.A. The only one having a better season is David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox, with a .292 average, 26 homer runs and 92 runs batted in. But for pitchers Tom Glavine of the New York Mets is 8-9 with a 4.50 E.R.A., and Eric Gagne's season with the Los Angeles Dodgers ended with only eight saves because of arm surgery. You are not going to find bigger disappointments in free agency in either league than Carlos Beltran, who is only hitting .268 with 13 home runs, 59 RBI's and eight stolen bases for the Mets, and Adrian Beltre, now with the Seattle Mariners but only hitting .254 to go with 14 homers and 60 RBI's. Scott Rolen's season is almost as disappointing, at .235, 5 homers and 28 RBI's in only 56 games, but at least he has injuries as an excuse. The same goes for Nomar Garciapara, who got back with the Cubs at about the same time that his new McFarlane figure came out. You would think this was MLB Series 13 (it comes out in September with Moises Alou withe the Giants and updated figures of Larry Walker with the Cardinals, Pedro Martinez with the Mets, and Randy Johnson with the Yankees).

This was one of my best purchases on Amazon, and there have been alot. This doll is so detailed it looks like she walked off of the movie screen. I have her displayed and plan on never taking her out of her box. I can't say that she is beautiful, but than again she is a corpse.

This figurine is good quality. My 6 year old daughter loves it. She loved the movie and wanted the figurines for her birthday.

This doll is very beautiful , but does need a regular doll stand to stay on the shelf safely. I cannot imagine letting a child play with this , it is fragile. Very nicely done,really an amazing work for the price, but not for children.

We are now at the point in baseball history where hitting 500 home runs is no longer guaranteed to get you into the Hall of Fame (with steroids being the dominant reason, but there are other issues involved). However, winning 300 games as a pitcher is still a charmed number, which historically guarantees admission to Cooperstown. Twenty-two players from Cy Young and his 511 wins to Lefty Grove and Early Wynn right at 300, have reached that level and the only two who are not enshrined are Roger Clements and Greg Maddux. That is because no one really believes the Rocket has retired and Maddux is still pitching (4-0 with a 0.99 ERA as of today). When Maddux made it to the 300 plateau there was an argument that he might be the last person EVER to do it. If that does not prove to be the case, it could well be Maddux's former teammate Tom Glavine who could earn that rather strange honor.

Glavine is 277 wins as of today, and since the New York Mets are off to a hot start and at the age of 40 he has started off the season 2-1, with 6 walks and 26 strikeouts in 26 innings and a 1.04 ERA, two dozen wins in the next two seasons does not seem far fetched. Of course, the more he wins this season, the less he has to win next season (at this point he projects to 18 wins for the whole season, at which point I think he becomes a lock to make it to 300 wins). Given that he has won 20 games five times and won a pair of Cy Young Awards, despite pitching at the same time and mostly for the same team that Maddux was pitching for while winning four Cy Young Awards in a row.

This 6-inch McFarlane Toys figure shows Glavine in the black road jersey of the New York Mets (so you can pretend he is pitching at Turner Field against the Braves), wearing #47 and raring back to fire another pitch towards the plate. Glavine has one of the more distinctive poses while pitching, and this figure does a nice job of capturing it: the key is that weird thing he does with his glove at this point in his delivery. They also did a nice job capturing the look on his face, part of a recent trend of great improvement in that area. Also part of McFarlane's Sports Picks: MLB Baseball Series 12 are Glavein's Mets teammate Carlos Beltran, David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox, Adrian Beltre as a Seattle Mariner, Mike Mussina of the New York Yankees, and second edition figures of Nomar Garciaparra as a Chicago Cub, Scott Rolen of the St. Louis Cardinals, and Eric Gagne of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

After Glavine and his 277 wins and counting you drop down on the active list to Randy Johnson at 266 (also as of today), Mike Mussina at 224 and Pedro Martinez at 200, and all of those are questionable for making it to 300. What I would like to see is Glavine make it to 300, retire the same year that Maddux does, and then watch the pair going into Cooperstown the same year. You know they will both be wearing Atlanta Braves caps on their plaques, so it would be a nice twist and reminiscent of when Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford were enshrined together in 1974.