Upper Deck All-Star Vinyls Action Figures
A Leader in Sports Cards and Collectibles
Few sports collectors would argue that Upper Deck revolutionized the sports trading card hobby in 1989 with the release of their first set of baseball cards. Since that time the company has continued to grow and drive innovation in the sports collector hobby. The cornerstone of the company's business remains sports trading cards, but over the years it has expanded to include other products and services. Those businesses include: Upper Deck Authenticated®; Upper Deck Digital; Upper Deck Entertainment; and Upper Deck International.All-Star Vinyls: A New Style of Sports Figures
Upper Deck put a new face on the sports figure market with their LeBron James All-Star Vinyl figure in 2006, followed by two four-figure sets of The LeBrons in partnership with Nike®. Click here to learn more about vinyl figures. In 2007 the company released their first league-licensed All-Star Vinyl figures with the January NFL release of Ben Roethlisburger, Tom Brady and Brett Favre. The company has a full line of current and former NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB athletes to be released on the All-Star Vinyl label in 2007.
Returning to Realism With Pro-Shots
Recognizing the success of the McFarlane action figures, Upper Deck is now selling a new product line called Pro-Shots. Unlike the All-Star Vinyls, Pro-Shots feature highly accurate 6" figures that depict great moments in famous players' careers. The first series of Pro-Shots are now in the stores and Series 2 comes out in March, 2009. These series feature Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan. Muhammad Ali is also planned.For each figure, two versions are issued - a "retail version" which is sold at Toys R Us, shows the athlete in the attire he was wearing for the famous moment being depicted. (For example, in the 1985 slam dunk competition shown to your right, Jordan was wearing the red uniform.) The retail version is packaged in a plastic clamshell with a cardboard wrap-around, and includes an Upper Deck card. The second version issued is a "hobby version," which is sold through various hobby resellers like sports collectibles websites. The hobby version features the same pose but uses an alternate uniform - in the above example, the hobby version is a white uniform. Hobby versions are packaged in plastic clamshells and I don't believe they come with a card - I need to confirm that.
I will be updating the Pro Shots portion of this website very shortly - for now, take a look at myUpper Deck Pro Shots Series 1 and Series 2 Write-up.
More information about this product line should be available shortly, and the first Pro-Shots should go on sale in the fall of 2008. Click here for more information about Pro-Shots.
MVPs Feature Team Mascots With a Vinyl Attitude
A brand new product line in the works for Upper Deck is a collection of NFL vinyl collectibles called MVPs. Click here to learn more about vinyl figures.MVPs are collectibles referred to in the urban vinals hobby as sports themed platform toys. The concept is that the product starts with a single platform, in this case a generic 8" football figure. Designers create a variety of different original artwork designs to go on the platform. MVPs will be created to represent the 32 different NFL team mascots.
Upper Deck chose eight well-known vinyl designers, including Jesse Hernandez, MAD, Niark1, Rebel Wookiee, Sket One, Spanky, TWEEQiM and UNKLBrand, to craft the artwork for the series. The MVPs will be released in groups starting in the Fall of 2008. As is typical for these types of collectibles, edition sizes will be limited. Ultimately, Upper Deck plans to expand this product line into other sports and other artists as well.
More information, including sample photos of MVPs, is expected in the coming weeks.
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