Welcome to the debut of the Weekly Wishlist! In this new weekly column here at Pulse Figures, we will bring you a look at what we think will be the future assortments of your favorite action figure lines.
When doing so, we will take a logical approach to picking out the assortments. For instance, no one would ever expect a full wave of NFL figures to include 3 players from one team, so putting that in a list would be pointless. Also, we will attempt, as hard as it might be, to as unbias as possible.
This week, we look to tackle the 2012 assortments of McFarlane SportsPicks MLB! This line features 3 assortments a year, the first being Elite, the other 2 taking place in the normal mass market assortments. Elite will have 6 figures, and Mass Market assortments have anywhere from 7 to 11 figures, however for this, we will keep it to 9 each.
Another factor to take into account is the specific markets. The New York Yankees & Boston Red Sox have at least 1 figure in each wave (Yanks usually have 2), as well as the New York Mets have at least 1 figure a season. Also, Chicago & LA both need at least 1 figure a season (one per city, not team). Finally, we have to take into account that there will be many players that will be re-released in new uniforms or on new sculpts, this is generally half of the yearly assortment.
Any Questions? Great, with out further ado…
Elite:
Roy Oswalt (Philadelphia Phillies)
Starlin Castro (Chicago Cubs)
Brian Wilson (San Francisco Giants)
Russell Martin (New York Yankees)
Josh Beckett (Boston Red Sox)
Hanley Ramirez (Florida Marlins)
Series 29:
Jose Bautista (Toronto Blue Jays)
Josh Johnson (Florida Marlins)
Jered Weaver (Los Angeles Angles)
David Price (Tampa Bay Rays)
Ian Kinsler (Texas Rangers)
Mark Teixeira (New York Yankees)
Jake Peavy (Chicago White Sox)
Adrian Gonzalez (Boston Red Sox)
Justin Verlander (Detroit Tigers)
Series 30:
Troy Tulowitski (Colorado Rockies)
Clayton Kershaw (Los Angeles Dodgers)
Jon Lester (Boston Red Sox)
Brett Gardner (New York Yankees)
Alex Rodriguez (New York Yankees)
Cliff Lee (Philadelphia Phillies)
Albert Pujols (St. Louis Cardinals)
Prince Fielder (Milwaukee Brewers)
Jose Reyes (New York Mets)
Soak all that in? OK, so here is some of my thought process.
Elite: 3 players that already have a figure; Oswalt, Martin & Beckett, the first 2 being on new teams since their last figure, so it’s an easy repaint. Now, Oswalt is a big MAYBE only because the Phillies have an option to pick him up for 2012, but I think we all expect that to happen. Martin also has an option for 2012, but that is also expected to keep him in the Bronx. The other 3 being new/break-out stars. Ramirez is WAY over do, but that could be because everyone expects the Marlins to trade him any day, Brian Wilson should have been forced out this year due to his heightened popularity at the end of last year, and Castro is in the midst of a break-out season.
Series 29: This will be the bread and butter assortment. There is only 1 wild card of not being on that team next year, Weaver, who is up for arbitration after 2011. While this assortment seems a tad AL heavy with only 2 players from the NL, Series 30 shows a great explanation as to why. Bautista is a must next year due to the HR tirade he is on. Johnson is a must as well, although he continues to be the most ignored superstar in the history of ever, as well as being part of the Marlins, which has hurt Hanley Ramirez & Dan Uggla in the past. Gonzalez is coming off a weak thrown together figure that is due out later this year, and this will allow more time to produce the figure that he deserves.
Series 30: Tulowitski & Lester are just about as overdue as Hanley Ramirez, enough said. Brett Gardner gets to be the annual brand new Yankee figure of the year, put aside his teammate in pinstripes ARod, who has had about 30 different figures. Lee falls under the same category as Adrian Gonzalez in Series 29, and will have a much better figure. Kershaw’s contract is up at the end of the year, so he is the biggest wild card, due to not being as well known as most of the list, and a figure on another team may not be as appealing as a figure from the Dodgers. I wanted to toss Matt Garza in this assortment instead, but I am doing my best not the be Cubs-bias, also he is playing very bad so far this season. Prince, Pujols & Reyes are all question marks, as each are currently at the end of their contracts, but they fit in nicely to round out this set. All 3 of these are big names that can easily be repainted in a new uniform if they sign with a new team, which is why they are at the back end of the assortment.
So, let’s talk some snubs. As I just mentioned, I think Matt Garza is due, and had he be on the Rays roster, he and Price would be a pick ‘em as to who would be in the assortment. Another long time snub is Dan Uggla, who is also a victim of the Marlins, like Hanley & Josh Johnson. Mark Buehrle, Justin Morneau, Zack Greinke & Shane Victorino are all due for a figure any time now, so I would not be surprised to see one of them. Then you got guys like Jason Bay, Matt Kemp, Jay Bruce, Cory Hart, Nick Markakis, Johnny Cueto, and the list can go on and on of guys who are one breakout season away from making a the cut.
What do you think? Who did I leave off? Check out next week when we the wishlist brings X-Men Classics back from the dead in honor of X-Men: First Class!
