[Shoe Session –
12.28.11] - And1 kicks immortalized in (toy) plastic – Part 2 of 2
Inks: FLASH aka g_sk1lls
Images: Spawn.com (McFarlane toys – Basketball
action figures), various sources
Mabuhay,
And Juans! We’re a few days removed from
Christmas weekend and slowly easing into 2012 in a few more ticks but for now,
I’m continuing the December 26 blog article (click HERE to peep it) that I’ve posted about And1 shoes being
made into plastic form by McFarlane Toys.
Continuing
the McFarlane Sports Picks line which produces action figures of notable NBA
players since 2002, And1 was still represented thru some brand endorsers such
as Big
Ben Wallace, Jason Williams, Kevin Garnett, and (for a very brief period) Vince Carter.
In
MSP’s Series 7, Big Ben sported the highly recognizable And1 Chosen Mids with his
“Fear the ‘Fro” look. As a side note,
And1 also sold bicep bands that Big Ben popularized during his championship run
with the Detroit Pistons (2004, versus the LA Lakers in 5 games).
Also
part of the same wave of MSP action figures was White Chocolate aka Jason
Williams. While he played for the
Memphis Grizzlies, J-Will has been representing the And1 brand hard, and while
the shoe on his action figure isn’t exactly an And1 silhouette (the figure was
basically just a repaint of the Mike Bibby – SAC Kings action figure), he
deserves a spot in this blog post. After
all, who doesn’t love (White) Chocolate?
*winks*
Worth
mentioning also in series 7 was The Kid from ‘Sota aka KG in a tomahawk dunk
pose (rocking the brand with the 3 stripes?) and Vinsanity aka VC15 in his
winning form in the 2000 NBA All Star Game dunk contest. To be politically correct, VC should have
been wearing a white/red And1 Taichi Mid shoe instead of a pair with the
swoosh, but he has since signed with them at time of production hence no And1
love for this figure.
Stephon
Marbury (after being
traded to the NY Knicks) had a re-issued figure for MSP Series 8, still in the Quest
Mids but in NYK duds. I’ve
already posted some images of the Quest Mids in Part 1 of this blog feature, so
the image below is just the action figure of Starbury in Away NYK colors.
Fast
forward to Series 12, where Big Ben Wallace (signed by the Chicago Bulls as a
free agent) in a re-issued and re-colored version of his Series 7 action
figure. Wearing an Away CHI jersey, Big
Ben still appears to be wearing the same And1 Chosen Mid pair but now with red
highlights.
While
not exactly an And1 endorser, Mike Conley (Memphis Grizzlies) gets mentioned in
this blog for his appearance in the MSP Series 15 line-up. Since basically he’s a repaint of the Stephon
Marbury action figure, the Conley action figure sports Quest Mids (dominant
white, MEM color highlights).
Finally,
the Latrell
Sprewell action figure was re-issued in his black Minnesota
Timberwolves jersey as a McFarlane Club Exclusive. Interesting to note, the Spree action figure
is no longer wearing the Spree Mids (now in Dadas) unlike the NYK version in
Series 3.
So
there you have it, And Juans. Hopefully
a new And1 pair gets to be featured in another action figure’s feet somewhere
down the line via McFarlane Sports Picks.
Requests
for future blog features, comments, and reactions are most welcome. Feel free to email us at and1pinas@gmail.com and please also check
out our Facebook fanpage (www.facebook.com/and1ph). We’re also on Twitter (follow @and1ph) for
news, features, and the latest updates about the And1 brand in the Philippines. And
that’s the 411, And Juan!
