The licensed action figure giant McFarlane Toys, founded by comics legend Todd McFarlane, is known the world over for its high quality merchandise from Movies, TV and the world of comic books. What some of you may not be aware of is their range of highly detailed and highly collectable McFarlane figures based around popular music icons of the past and present. Here we’ll take you through all of the music figures released by McFarlane Toys to date, including all the classic figures that are no longer available and the current batch that are available right now. In recent years the company has even turned to producing 3D ‘album covers’ depicting some of the most popular album covers in history in a unique format. The McFarlane figures are still coming out regularly, so keep checking back for the latest updates on this great range of officially licensed action figures!

The McFarlane music figures range began back in 1997 with the first set of action figures based around self proclaimed ‘Hottest band in the world’, KISS. The plastic depictions of Gene, Paul, Ace and Peter were a hit with music and figure fans, and whetted the appetite for more. 1998 saw the release of the second wave of KISS figures, this time from the ‘Psycho Circus’ comeback album. 1999 was a massive year for the range, with The first figures based on the Beatles’ legendary ‘Yellow Submarine’ opus, along with the first Ozzy Osbourne figure (depicting him as a musclebound, crucifix brandishing superhero), the third set of KISS figures and even a 12 inch version of the Gene Simmons ‘Demon’ figure.

McFarlane’s range of music based figures began to really gather steam with the turn of the new century. In 2000 a second set of Yellow Submarine figures was released along with the legendary KISS ALIVE stage set (which is still hugely popular today) and action figures of Janis Joplin, Alice Cooper (which is still popular now) and a cyborg-style figure of industrial metal legend (and now film director) Rob Zombie. 2001 added the Metallica box set and individual figures, and also brought us AC/DC guitarist Angus Young, The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia and the legendary Doors frontman Jim Morrison in action figure form. With 2002 came yet another KISS range of figures, this time based on their ‘Creatures of the Night’ era, and also the first of McFarlane Toys Iron Maiden figures. The first two iron maiden figures served up were of the band’s mascot Eddie in his outfit from ‘the Trooper’ and the outfit he wore on the cover of the band’s second album, ‘Killers’.

2003 was a pretty light year on the music figures front, but it did add to the range two of the most popular items that McFarlane would produce thus far. These were the Jimi Hendrix figure and the Jimi Hendrix deluxe box set, both depicting the late guitar hero as he appeared onstage at the first Woodstock festival. The following year would prove to be massive for the range though, as 2004 saw the release of several new additions. There was the ‘Beatles Saturday Morning Cartoon’ figures, the Motley Crue box set, the Jimi Hendrix at Monterey figure and the Ozzy Osbourne ‘Bark at the Moon’ figure (with Ozzy as a werewolf). The range of Elvis Presley figures got underway in 2004 too, with the Elvis Comeback Special ’68 figure, the ‘Las Vegas’ figure and the ‘Rockabilly’ figure all being released in the same year.

Another bumper year came in 2005, during which a wealth of new releases were added to the McFarlane figures range, including the separate Motley Crue figures, the Beatles Cartoon box set, the Slash box set, the Elvis Triple packs, the Gene Simmons triple pack, the Paul Stanley triple pack, the regular Slash figure, a twelve inch version of the Elvis Las Vegas figure, and even another new Elvis figure too!

2006 saw the range continue, albeit on a smaller scale. New Elvis figures were introduced, namely the Blue Hawaii Elvis figure and the Jailhouse Rock Elvis figure. That year also saw the advent of the ‘3D album covers’, which were 3D plastic sculpted renditions of classic rock covers, offered as attractive diorama pieces that could be displayed on a shelf or wall mounted for maximum effect. The first batch of these pieces included Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Are You Experienced?’, ‘Never Mind The Bollocks’ by the Sex Pistols, Metallica’s incredible ‘Master of Puppets’ and the first Led Zeppelin album. The following year was quiet on the music figures front, but 2007 did bring us the Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora figures, as well as ‘Commemorative Editions’ of both the Elvis Comeback ’68 figure and the Elvis ‘Las Vegas’ figure, each presented in improved commemorative display packaging as opposed to the standard clamshells.

Whats in store for 2008? All that has been announced thus far re two more Elvis Presley action figures; The ‘Gospel Elvis’ edition and the ‘Aloha Elvis’ figure.

UPDATE: The 'Gospel' Elvis Presley action figure is out now, and features different packaging to the previous figures. McFarlane are now putting their actuion figures into smaller clamshell packages, which are easier to display. The new figure is excellent, and has the best facial sculpt in ages.

The range is known for its superb packaging and accessories, always included with each figure. Guitars, outfits, amps and so on are all lovingly reproduced, and each package is themed around the life and work of each artist depicted. The range of McFarlane Toys’ officially licensed music action figures continues to grow each year, with many special sets proving to be huge hits on both the figure collectors market and that of the devoted music fan. Long may it continue.