Action Figure World

Remember this awesome Dark Knight Rises trailer?

Well, that runner wasn’t just a stuntman–it was the real deal, HINES WARD. And in celebration of his superhero movie moment, the folks at McFarlane are releasing an awesome new figure.

USA Today has the full story:

While many haven’t seen The Dark Knight Rises yet, a lot of people have seen Ward’s major scene: Shown in the first trailer, Ward — as a member of Gotham City‘s team, the Rogues — is racing for the end zone when the villainous Bane (Tom Hardy) sets off a bomb in the stadium, sending all his would-tacklers from the Rapid City Monuments to their doom. (The scene was filmed at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh last summer.)

“They haven’t told me whether when Hines does his spike and touchdown dance he falls into the pit. But at least on the trailer he’s looking pretty good,” McFarlane says with a laugh.

“If he dies in the movie, then you will have in your hand the last moment of him in his celluloid cameo appearance. This could be your Citizen Kane right here depending on how it goes down.”

Mattel is releasing the majority of the Dark Knight Rises toys, and usually when a big movie like that comes out, “there usually isn’t any sliver for us to chase after,” McFarlane admits. But he had conversations with Warner Bros. and they worked out a way to release a piece with “a cool unique factor.”

He won’t go so far as to say a Hines Ward figure is better than a Batman one, though.

“My perfect world would be that every toy license when it gets signed has one caveat that says, ‘And McFarlane gets to make one figure,’ ” McFarlane says. “I’d love to do one Spider-Man and one Luke Skywalker and one Batman and one Transformer.”

McFarlane jumped at the chance to do the Dark Knight Rises figure, but they didn’t have time to create an all-new sculpt. Luckily, though, he has done lots of football and a few other Hines Ward figures before the one-time Dancing with the Stars winner retired from the NFL in March, so McFarlane had a few options on what wide-receiver template to use.

The figure is clad in the black-and-yellow Rogues garb from the movie, and even sports Ward’s real-life tattoo on his right arm.

“Even though this is just taken out of a movie that’s ‘make-believe,’ the person playing that role isn’t,” McFarlane says. “If he tapes his hands a certain way or has tattoos or wears certain jewelry, we try as much as we can to grab all that, besides the easy obvious stuff.”

McFarlane is releasing his latest wave of football figures this fall including high-profile rookies Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III plus Peyton Manning and Tim Tebow in their new team uniforms.

McFarlane hopes that the Dark Knight Rises Hines Ward figure will appeal to those sports fans as well as people who are interested in his geekier stuff.

“Given that there’s a ton of Steelers fans out there — and we’ve sold lots of Hines Wards over the years — we’re hoping that the Batman completists will want it,” he says, “and then all the Pittsburgh fans who go, ‘Hey, Hines Ward! I don’t care what he’s wearing, he could be wearing boxer shorts for all we care!’ And if that works, then maybe I’ll be doing (Troy) Polamalu dandruff figures after that.”

Todd McFarlane still has yet to do a Batman toy after nearly 20 years, but he is getting to make another popular figure, Gotham City-style.

McFarlane Toys will be releasing a special figure in November of former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward in his Gotham Rogues uniform, which he wears in a cameo in the upcoming Batman flick The Dark Knight Rises (out July 20).

The toy will bring together two loves for McFarlane. He has been drawing comic books since the 1980s, became an instant legend illustrating Spider-Man, created Spawn and helped found Image Comics in 1992. A couple of years later, he started McFarlane Toys, which continues to produce action figures based on hockey, baseball, basketball and football stars.

While many haven’t seen The Dark Knight Rises yet, a lot of people have seen Ward’s major scene: Shown in the first trailer, Ward — as a member of Gotham City’s team, the Rogues — is racing for the end zone when the villainous Bane (Tom Hardy) sets off a bomb in the stadium, sending all his would-tacklers from the Rapid City Monuments to their doom. (The scene was filmed at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh last summer.)

“They haven’t told me whether when Hines does his spike and touchdown dance he falls into the pit. But at least on the trailer he’s looking pretty good,” McFarlane says with a laugh.

“If he dies in the movie, then you will have in your hand the last moment of him in his celluloid cameo appearance. This could be your Citizen Kane right here depending on how it goes down.”

Mattel is releasing the majority of the Dark Knight Rises toys, and usually when a big movie like that comes out, “there usually isn’t any sliver for us to chase after,” McFarlane admits. But he had conversations with Warner Bros. and they worked out a way to release a piece with “a cool unique factor.”

He won’t go so far as to say a Hines Ward figure is better than a Batman one, though.

“My perfect world would be that every toy license when it gets signed has one caveat that says, ‘And McFarlane gets to make one figure,’ ” McFarlane says. “I’d love to do one Spider-Man and one Luke Skywalker and one Batman and one Transformer.”

McFarlane jumped at the chance to do the Dark Knight Rises figure, but they didn’t have time to create an all-new sculpt. Luckily, though, he has done lots of football and a few other Hines Ward figures before the one-time Dancing with the Stars winner retired from the NFL in March, so McFarlane had a few options on what wide-receiver template to use.

The figure is clad in the black-and-yellow Rogues garb from the movie, and even sports Ward’s real-life tattoo on his right arm.
“Even though this is just taken out of a movie that’s ‘make-believe,’ the person playing that role isn’t,” McFarlane says. “If he tapes his hands a certain way or has tattoos or wears certain jewelry, we try as much as we can to grab all that, besides the easy obvious stuff.”
McFarlane is releasing his latest wave of football figures this fall including high-profile rookies Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III plus Peyton Manning and Tim Tebow in their new team uniforms.

McFarlane hopes that the Dark Knight Rises Hines Ward figure will appeal to those sports fans as well as people who are interested in his geekier stuff.

“Given that there’s a ton of Steelers fans out there — and we’ve sold lots of Hines Wards over the years — we’re hoping that the Batman completists will want it,” he says, “and then all the Pittsburgh fans who go, ‘Hey, Hines Ward! I don’t care what he’s wearing, he could be wearing boxer shorts for all we care!’ And if that works, then maybe I’ll be doing (Troy) Polamalu dandruff figures after that.”