MMA figures

I think I have mentioned before that I am a big collector of MMA memorabilia. Of course, a big part of memorabilia is action figures. There are three real brands of figures for MMA and I just thought I would make my points on each of them.

Far and away the best figures in my opinion are the Pride HAO ones. The detail on these are incredible and really have to be seen in person to believe. Seeing photos they look alright, but to have one in your hands is needed to really see the detail on them. I got my first Pride HAO figure a few months back (a Bob Sapp one) and instantly fell in love with them. I will for sure be expanding my HAO collection in the future. The only downside of these is that since they are no longer in production, the price of them is quite how nowadays.

Round 5 is the current leader in MMA figures. They just released their third series of figures (Arlovski, Nogueira, Mir, and Big John). The detail on these are also very good and since they are being mass produced right now, they are relatively cheap right now (about 12 bucks a pop at Wal-Mart here in Canada). They are collectibles and not suppose to be action figures like the UFC ones but they do have movable parts. A nice touch is the chaser ones that are produced in limited production. Anderson Silva for example, you can go into any store and get a Silva figure, but to get one where he is wearing a shirt is an extra couple bucks, but much more limited.

The UFC signed a deal with Jaks to produce figures for UFC guys and I am cringing and the photos I have seen of them. They look attrocious! They are more targeted towards playable action figures than collectibles, so they have way more movable parts. But the sheer quantity of movable parts really takes away from the figures. They just look like crap. I am really surprized that the UFC green lighted the project after seeing the inital designs. The first series does not come out for a few more months, so hopely they change the design before then.