Early this year, I was contacted by Black Ops Toys about doing a collectible, 1/6th scale figurine of Mark. My first question…: “Why do you want to do Mark?” I didn’t ask this b/c I didn’t think it should be done. I asked b/c I wanted to know why THEY thought it was important. After all, Mark isn’t a household name yet. What would they benefit from investing so much money and time to honor a fallen hero who wouldn’t generate the return as a Chris Kyle, Michael Murphy, Marcus Luttrell, etc.
Turns out they just released Chris Kyle’s figure, but no other real people’s have been done (living or dead). So Mark’s is #2 for their company.
They said they were just drawn to his story and image (or that’s mainly what I remember). They also knew another company had already made a 1/6 scale warrior in Mark’s image a few years ago; even though they didn’t use his name–it was Mark. I mean, how many companies in China make an action figure of a CCT with the state of Alabama patch??
But this time it would be right. The face will actually be molded to match Mark’s image. All the gear will match what he was actually wearing–both what you can and can’t see. And of course, they will advertise Mark and his foundation.
Black Ops Toys has been great to work with. It’s taken many months to get this right. They also worked directly with one of Mark’s teammates who was deployed down range with him, so the equipment would be right. This has been their most expensive figure so far. There may even be a surprise item with each collectible (notice I keep interchanging collectible and figure. I’m trying to keep from using the same word over and over. However, I asked Black Ops Toys and they said the official/proper term is “collectible”).
They are on pre-sale now. Only 500 will be produced worldwide. They will be sold online and in some retail stores. Should ship in December. What do you think? Did they capture Mark? I will say, his hair looks magnificent. You can view more pics here.
