N.F.L. Action Team Mates

[J.B.]

Great toy concept; with the choice of numbers and skin color, you could collect and display your favorite team's Offense or Defense.

As a kid I never did get to order one through the catalog, but did pick up a couple (one loose one minty boxed) of Steelers through ebay. Here is Bradshaw handing off to Rocky Bleier:

And then making a solo appearance at my Steelers vs. Cardinals SuperBowl Party (which included a wardrobe malfunction ):

[ScottA]

I love these as a kid and always wanted to order them but never did. I kinda got started collecting them as an adult but really haven't pursued it. I have a loose Cowboy that won't stand, a nice Steelers and a mint Cardinals. I've thought about selling them and just getting one of my favorite team (Redskins) or a set from the NFC East. But they are a little pricey, especially for certain teams.

[LadyZod]

I'd love to find a Dolphins player for my husband. One day...

[J.B.]

I'd love to find a Dolphins player for my husband. One day...

The Dolphins players are amongst the most desirable/expensive in this line. He'd love it.

[kryptosmaster]

No Buffalo Bills?!
Always got the shaft in merchandising.
I have a Buffalo Bills one of these MIB, though. Got it at a JC Penney's clearance store in the early 80's. The legs have fallen away from the torso though.
I think I still have a pic somewhere.
Rich

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[ScottA]

That's pretty cool. Seeing that mint Bills makes me really want to start collecting these guys.

[kryptosmaster]

Can these be repaired? I haven't taken it out of the box to examine it.
Looks like the rubberband decided to give up.
I think the most I've ever done with it is slide the inner card out of the box to look at it.
Rich

[J.B.]

Can these be repaired?

It should be similar to restringing a Mego; I think.

[saildog]

There are 10 teams of the era missing from that catalog listing. I remember this from the time...(I knew all of the teams by conference and division by the time I was eight....in celebration of the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks) . To not know this kind of stuff was to be subject to ridicule in my neighborhood. One of the "Where are they? teams" was Buffalo and Rich posted that one (Joe Ferguson, no less).

This site shows 27 of 28 and claims all 28 were made.
NFL Action Team Mates

Near as I can figure, the Bengals are missing from any photographic evidence. Who has a photo of a Bengals NFL Action Team Mates? Uniform looked a lot like the Browns, but the "Brown" was actually "Black" and the helmet was nearly identical (not three stripes of alternating brown and white) but it actually had "Bengals" on it with no Tiger stripes as you see now. (Paul Brown's influence was all over the uniform of the time, was it not??? Want to know a little about NFL History...read about Paul Brown. He founded both teams and the Browns are his namesake.)

[kryptosmaster]

One of the "Where are they? teams" was Buffalo and Rich posted that one (Joe Ferguson, no less).

Yeah, being from Buffalo I guess it was just cool to find that on clearance in Tempe, AZ in the early 80's at that JCP outlet store. It's neat to see the old white helmet again as the Bills helmet has been red for quite some time now.
Rich

[saildog]

Yeah, being from Buffalo I guess it was just cool to find that on clearance in Tempe, AZ in the early 80's at that JCP outlet store. It's neat to see the old white helmet again as the Bills helmet has been red for quite some time now.
Rich

That was a NIIICE pickup, Rich!!!!

[ScottA]

There was another site I used to visit that had all the teams made listed by conference and division. it showed packaged and loose figures. It also showed ones people had customized for teams joining the NFL after these came out. Unfortunately it's no longer an active site.

[toys2cool]

I always wanted the Dolphins one

[saildog]

There was another site I used to visit that had all the teams made listed by conference and division. it showed packaged and loose figures. It also showed ones people had customized for teams joining the NFL after these came out. Unfortunately it's no longer an active site.

I'd love to see those.

That would be the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars and Carolina Panthers followed by the moving of Cleveland and renaming to the Baltimore Ravens in 1996 (the Browns coming back as a new franchise in 1999, but the uniform was already represented), the Tennessee Titans(who were the the Tennessee Oilers for two season), and the Houston Texans in 2002. That should add up to 33 teams, but a swap for the Browns (who were represented in the original line), and a total loss of the Oilers makes it 32 NFL teams with 33 NFL Action Team Mates represented. Whew!!!!

I don't know what was weirder: seeing the league without the Cleveland Browns for three seasons (1996-1998), seeing the league with an odd number of teams (31) when the Browns returned as an expansion team for three seasons (1999-2001) or the Seahawks becoming an NFC team when the League hit an even 32 with the addition of the Houston Texans (as the Houston Franchise had moved to Tennessee the season after Cleveland bolted and for two years they were the Tennessee Oilers before becoming the Tennessee Titans......).

[ScottA]

It was pretty cool. They had all the teams you mentioned. Plus they had some pics of some peoples collections of these. One guy had the starters for the 1972 Dolphins.