Series 1 - Denmark National 2012

Here is the Denmark National team 2012 release, also known as Series 1. This was the first wave of SoccerStarz released by Creative Toys Company (CTC) and features 11 players for the Danish national side, along with their manager.

 

Released to coincide with the impending European Championships 2012, being joint hosted by the Ukraine and Poland, it seemed, at first glance anyway, and odd inaugural release for this new collection of figures, however there was a sound reason behind it. The company which produces the SoccerStarz is partly Danish owned and has offices all over Scandinavia, so it seemed a logical place to start their new venture, with some home-grown talent.

 

The figures themselves are of course all brand new sculpts and first time releases. The quality of the sculpts is simply outstanding, highly detailed facial features and this attention to detail is carried on into the finished figure, with the addition of tattoo's and also the inclusion of squad numbers on the shorts.

 

The images used to promote the figures prior to their release were all of the Danish master models, however once the figures themselves were released there were a few differences between the master models and the plastic figures. 4 of the figures were released on different body poses to those used for the master model. The 4 players with different body poses are Bendtner, Kjaer, Rommedahl and Poulsen.

 

CTC had to take a gamble to a certain extent as to what Denmark’s starting 11 for the tournament would be, please bear in mind that CTC chose the sculpts well in advance of the tournament, to ensure they could get them produced and ready for release in time for the tournament.

 

Events beyond CTC control meant that 2 players they chose would not actually make the squad. Thomas Sorensen injured his back during a friendly against Brazil in May, which cost Sorensen his place at the tournament. Sorensen was replaced in the squad by Kasper Schmeichel, which meant that Denmark’s #1 keeper for the tournament was now Stephan Andersen.

 

The other player which did not make the squad was Ajax’s Nicolai Boilesen; again this was down to injury. Boilesen suffered a reoccurrence of his hamstring injury and in April had to be withdrawn from the squad, a shame as he was one of those tipped to make an impact at the tournament.

 

These injuries also affected the squad numbers sued at the tournament, again this was something CTC could not have forseen. The master model of C.Poulsen has him as #5 but the released figure had him as #2, with #2 being the number C.Poulsen wore for the tournament.

 

Nicolai Boilesen had #15 on his master model and the released figure had #5, however due to Boilesen’s departure from the squad due to injury his proposed #5 shirt went to S.Poulsen, which explains why C.Poulsen shifted numbers from 5 to 2. The #15 shirt would be given to M.Silberbauer.

 

Denmark were placed in the appropriately named ’group of death’ along with Holland, Portugal and Germany! Denmark kicked of their tournament by playing Holland on the 9th of June, and caused an upset by beating one of the pre-tournament favourites 1-0, with Michael Krohn-Dehli scoring in the 24th minute. Denmark wore their White away shirt and shorts for the game, with only C.Poulsen not featuring from the SoccerStarz set.

 

Denmark then faced Portugal on the 13th June and despite coming back from 2-0 down to level at 2-2 the conceded a late goal to end up losing the game 3-2. Nicklas Bendtner scored both of Denmark’s goals, again it was only C.Poulsen who did not feature in the game, with the team wearing their Red home shirt and matching Red shorts. So after the first 2 games, with progression looking unlikely, Denmark had still not worn the kit CTC had released them in, would they go the tournament and not wear the kit?

 

However on the 17th June they played their final group game against Germany and did so wearing the Red shirt and White shorts! Denmark lost the game 2-1 with Michael Krohn-Dehli finding the net for the second time in the tournament. It was incredible to see that Krohn-Dehli slide along the grass to celebrate his goal and in doing so perfectly replicated the pose of his SoccerStarz figure! Dennis Rommedahl did not feature in this game; however C.Poulsen came on at the 78 minute mark. Denmark went out of the group but finished in 3rd place with 3 points, however above them in the group were both of the losing semi finalists, Germany and Portugal.

 

This initial release was made available as single blisters only; no blind sachets were produced, so the figures are only available on Green base. Personally I think this was a wise move by the company, this really was to be a series for the long term collector, as opposed to the Premiership team SoccerStarz, which would have a much broader commercial appeal. I cannot think of too many younger collectors who would want a Kvist or a Jacobsen; however the likes of Sorense, Bendtner and Agger would prove popular, given their Premiership club connections.

 

My personal favourite from this release is that of hot prospect Simon Kjaer, a superb sculpt and the inclusion of his tattoo's make it stand out all the more. The figures also have unique collector codes, starting with 'SOC' followed by a three digit number, making it easier for collectors to keep track of the figures in their collection.

 

The figures were priced at £2.99 each upon release, with the serious collector wisely opting to pre-order the full set, given the low production quantity of a couple of the figures. Each figure came accompanied with a collector card and information file which pictured all of the 12 figures released in series 1.

 

A great way to start a new venture, giving long term collectors so many interesting first time sculpts, as well as providing the casual collector a few choice pieces to add to their collections.