Stop Motion Microstars Match

Minigols

If you like football I'd hazard a strong guess that you've played on a foosball table in your lifetime. Proyectum Sport, a Spanish company, has come up with a range of products which may just induce nirvana for foosball and figure lovers: Minigols. These figures, roughly the same height as a Bandai figure but much thinner, come with a detachable base and a detachable chunk of their back which allows them to connect to the poles on foosball tables. 

So far they've released figures for the Spanish World Cup winning side and the 2009-10 and 2010-11 Barcelona and Real Madrid squads. Proyectum Sport also lists license agreements for Atletico de Madrid, Boca Juniors, Juventus and Manchester United on their website so we may see squads released for those teams in the not too distant future. 

Check out the figures on the official Minigols website. You can purchase them on Ebay via Proyectum's ebay store. 

Trailer for Barca Minigols

Trailer for Real Madrid Minigols

Trailer for Spanish national squad

Selección Argentina

Argentina’s 2010 World Cup campaign came to a screeching halt after a German mauling despite an attack force which included Messi, Tevez, Higuain, Kun and, er, Martin Palermo. Maradona’s controversial reign as the national manager ended soon after and it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing ever since for the Argentineans: their early departure from the 2011 Copa America (thanks to Uruguay) surprised many who thought they were a lock for the finals on home turf (turns out it will be Paraguay versus Uruguay).

At least the pre-tournament hype for 2010’s World Cup led to the production of 24 figures of Argentina’s squad. Roughly 10cm in height and equipped with green base and ball, these figures were produced by a company called Sticker Design who also specialise in comics, trading cards, stickers and figurines.

I don't have a list available of all 24 figures but here are some:

• Messi
• Higuain
• Palermo
• Mascherano
• Tevez
• Romero
• Gutierrez
• Maradona
• De Michelis
• Heinze
• Riquelme
• Veron
• Maxi Rodriguez
• Kun Aguero

There was also a set of 17cm figures made of selected members of the squad and Maradona as manager and these came in small plastic bags whereas the 10cm figures came in boxes. These are virtually impossible to find outside of Argentina and the company doesn't sell them anymore online (This is Sticker Design's website). 

You can see product images of the figures by visiting http://mercadolibre.com.ar and typing in "Selección Argentina Muñecos" or a combination of those words in different order. 

Kodoto

The demise of Corinthian Prostars has led to many collectors screaming out for their favourite players to get the Prostar treatment in the latest season's kits. Numerous repainted and remoulded figures can be found on Ebay, some incredibly detailed and about as good as if Corinthian produced them, and for a while that was the best option to get a player in their latest team's kits. 

A Chinese company has emerged on the football figure scene called Kodoto and they've released a wide range of players (basketball figures too but that's for some other guy's blog) in club and national kits. They're roughly the same size of Corinthian Prostars but the plastic material they are made of makes them far more flexible than Prostars. A variety of base-colours are on offer but to the best of my knowledge colour variation is not linked to production rarity in the same way that Platinum Prostars are generally rarer than Green-based Prostars.  The company name is located on each base where player names are located on Prostars. Player likeness is of a reasonably high standard across their entire range and kit detail is similarly well produced (Villa and Messi figures have recently been released with the Qatar Foundation kit). 

You can buy these on Ebay (use search words like the player names and 'non corinthian' or 'figure) or Taobao. See product images at Kodoto's official website. 

I may be missing out on a few but from what I've seen Kodoto has released the following:

• David Villa (National Kit)
• David Villa (Club - UNICEF Kit)
• David Villa (Club - Qatar Foundation Kit)
• Lionel Messi (National Kit)
• Lionel Messi (Club - UNICEF Kit)
• Lionel Messi (Club - Qatar Foundation Kit)
• Lionel Messi (National Kit) - Head variation
• Lionel Messi (Club Kit) - Head variation
• Franck Ribery (Club Kit)
• Franck Ribery (National Kit)
• Wayne Rooney (Club Kit)
• Wayne Rooney (National Kit)
• Frank Lampard (Club Kit)
• Frank Lampard (National Kit)
• Steven Gerrard (Club Kit)
• Steven Gerrard (National Kit)
• Fernando Torres (Club Kit - Liverpool)
• Fernando Torres (Club Kit - Chelsea)
• Fernando Torres (National Kit)
• Roberto Baggio (Club Kit - Internazionale) 
• Ronaldo (Club Kit - Internazionale) 
• Ronaldo (National Kit)
• Ronaldinho (National Kit)
• Andrei Arshavin (Club Kit)
• Filippo Inzhagi (Club Kit)
• Alex Ferguson 
• Ryan Giggs (Club Kit)
• Neymar (National Kit)
• Mesut Ozil (Club Kit)
• David Beckham (National Kit)
• David Beckham (Club Kit - LA Galaxy)
• David Beckham (Club Kit - AC Milan)
• Karim Benzema (National Kit)
• Karim Benzema (Club Kit)
• Carlos Tevez (Club Kit)
• Carlos Tevez (National Kit)
• Alexandre Pato (National Kit)
• Alexandre Pato (Club Kit)
• Cristiano Ronaldo (Club Kit)
• Cristiano Ronaldo (National Kit)
• Cesc Fabregas (National Kit)
• Cesc Fabregas (Club Kit)
• Kaka (Club Kit)
• Kaka (National Kit)
• Arsene Wenger
• Jose Mourinho
• Didier Drogba (Club Kit)
• Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Club Kit - Barcelona)
• Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Club Kit - AC Milan)

Below are some example images of Kodoto figures. They probably should release an update figure with Neymar's mohawk-like hair more extreme than the below. 

Jose Mourinho Figure

Image Courtesy of Kodoto.com

Neymar Figure (National Kit)

Image Courtesy of Kodoto.com

Maicon

Image courtesy of Corinthianarchive.co.uk

Ídolos Santistas Coleção

A set of 3 figures were released last year by the Santos football club of 'idols' Neymar, Robinho and Ganso. They're approximately 15cm in height and quite rare now, especially the Neymar figure given his meteoric rise to fame.

Some guy from Brazil is selling them on ebay and he's got all three up for sale but they'll set you back 40 pounds each plus 15 pounds worldwide shipping. Don't know how long they'll be listed though so if you're keen visit the link.

Here's an image of the Ganso figure courtesy of http://www.rihappy.com.br/.

Painting a football figure

Here's a clip detailing the process of painting a Zidane FT Champs figure.

Welcome to Figura FC

Welcome to the blog for information about football figures. Other football matters will be posted now and then. I will try and keep posts short and to the point and where possible include video content. To me football figures are an endangered species. Stickers, trading cards and video games are keeping the spirit of football merchandising alive but with the rumoured demise of Prostars and Microstars, there's doesn't seem to be a lot of new companies stepping up to keep the figurine tradition alive. Maybe producing football figures ain't a profitable enterprise like stickers and trading cards but every year as more exciting new talents emerge it saddens me that they're not being immortalised in to moulded pieces of plastic the way past greats were. So please enjoy this blog, contact me about contributing and keep collecting!

Real Madrid AS Figures

Many Spanish sports newspapers are divided along Barca-Madrid lines, hopelessly biased towards either club (see the case of the disappearing defender & Dani Alves). While Mundo Deportivo and Sport represent the Catalan giants, Marca and AS are firmly pro-Real. AS recently had a great promotional offer for Real Madrid figures, approximately the size of Corinthians by the look of it. I desperately wanted to get my hands on a Xabi Alonso and Gonzalo Higuain but these figures' appearance on Spanish and English Ebays are few and far between. They actually look more like the Barcelona Bandai figures released a decade ago than Prostars to me.

There were 19 players released in the series as well as a neat display stand but I can't seem to find much information online about them. The players were:

• Casillas
• Ramos
• Pepe
• Higuain
• Khedira
• Ozil
• Xabi Alonso
• Di Maria
• Mou
• Lass
• Ronaldo
• Kaka
• Canales
• Marcelo
• Pedro Leon
• Benzema
• Dudek
• Granero
• Carvalho

From what I gather you had to purchase them for around 2 euros together with 5 newspaper coupons which guaranteed their scarcity outside of Spain. You can find additional information and product shots at the AS website and there's also a short trailer. If anyone has a Xabi Alonso or Gonzalo Higuain figure for sale, please get in contact with me at figurahead@gmail.com 

Some lucky collector on YouTube has filmed his collection below. 

Baggio's Free Kicks!

I must have spent at least 50 hours playing this simply designed but immensely satisfying game during my lifetime which is kind of sad. But have a go and you'll see why it's so punishingly addictive. GOAL!!!

Play the game at this website.

Football Short Film

Here is a terrific short film from Catalan filmmaker Albert Serra for Atletic Club Banyoles football club.

FIFA 12 Ultimate Edition Australian Pre-order

While this has nothing to do with figures, it does have something to do with football: FIFA 12 is coming and Australian retailer EBGames has a decent looking special edition package available for pre-order. You get the game in steelbook edition, 24 packs of Ultimate Team and a size 2 football. On PS3 it will set you back AUD$108.

Order it from EBGames' site.

Microstars RIP

I've heard rumours that Prostars and Microstars will not be produced again and the fact that the Microstars website which featured Worldstars seems to have shut down might suggest this is true. There's so many players I was hoping would get the Microstar treatment for the 2011-2012 season...here's a few:

• Jack Wilshere 
• Raul Meireles 
• Edin Dzeko 
• Maicon 
• Mesut Ozil 
• Gerard Pique 
• David Silva
• Hulk 
• Joao Moutinho
• Pedro
• Lee Chung-yong
• Joe Hart
• Sergio Aguero
• Mario Gomez
• Thomas Muller
• Yuto Nagatomo

Sadly never to be. To the best of my knowledge this makes the Italian Series 4 set the last ever produced Microstars (see video below). 

Internazionale Metal Figures

A series of metal figures released to co-incide with Inter's extraordinary 2010 treble-winning season, all about 9cm in height. Players in the series are:

• Zanetti
• Milito
• Julio Cesar
• Esteban Cambiasso
• Eto'o
• Sneijder
• Materazzi
• Stankovic
• Maicon
• Lucio

Best place to find some seems to be ebay.it with search words like "inter", "campione" and "personaggio". More information can be found at this website and there's also a YouTube video about them below or at this link.