McFarlane Toys has acquired its third major sports license this year, this time to create McFarlane's Sports Picks: NBA Basketball collectible figures officially licensed by the National Basketball Association. McFarlane Toys, known for its ability to craft facial likenesses, hopes to bring a new level of detail to the figures representing some of the NBA's leading players. Each action figure will feature official team logos and colors, and come with authentic game apparel specific to that player. Additionally, each player will be sculpted in an action pose. The initial lineup, set for a March 2002 release, consists of Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Vince Carter and Jason Kidd. Todd McFarlane, best known as the creator of SPAWN, recently completed work creating new characters for the SHREK game for Xbox.

Read more about Todd McFarlane in "Spawning A Super Hero," by J. Paul Peszko at http://mag.awn.com/index.php3?ltype=pageone&article_no=307