History and Types of Figures?

[Jellyghost]

Hi.  I am new, and I am trying to understand the different figures.  Can someone summarize the history of the figures?  Is there a favorite era of figures?  I keep seeing references to the 67 big men, and I don't understand how they differ from the figures being sold today.  Do figures from all time periods work with all bases?  Thanks in advance!

[nefgm.org]

Check out the National ELECTRIC FOOTBALL Game Museum (nefgm.org). A lot of good reference information. 

https://nefgm.org/

Edited November 6, 2021 by nefgm.org

[Jellyghost]

Thank you for the response.  I have looked around the website, and it is very enjoyable.  I feel like I need help summarizing or maybe somebody has written up a primer.  I found a nice summary of different bases, but I couldn't find anything similar for the figures.

[nefgm.org]

https://www.theunforgettablebuzz.com/  Check out this website. 

 

 

 

 

[DeeGee]

I have learned a ton about the evolution of the game. My interest started when I found a set of my original figures from WAY back. They included what are known as hog leg and chicken leg figures. 67 big men are just that slightly taller and beefier and were produced in 1967. The folks here are incredibly helpful and knowledgeable.  From left to right 1967 BM, Haiti white shoe mid 1970s not sure exact year, 1968 or 1969 hog leg, 1970 or 1971 chicken leg. Easy rule of thumb is black shoe figures are the earliest. Again follow the links they are very helpful.

[Coach Shawn]

I did not create this article, not sure who did;

Figure Guide for Tudor collectors:

 

The Electric Football Collector website was created to share my electric football figure collection. I am pleased to share my collection with all interested in electric football figures and I hope the website can serve as a benchmark for collectors present and future to help identify authentic Tudor/Miggle NFL figures.

 

Collector Information

In 1967 Tudor produced the 1967 Big Men deluxe figures (known as "67 Big Men") painted to represent the 16 NFL teams and 9 AFL teams. The original 16 NFL teams came in both white and dark jerseys, while the 9 AFL teams only   S came in dark. The success of the 1968 NY Jets resulted in Big Men white jersey NY Jets. They are the only AFL team to have both dark and white jerseys. 1967 Big Men teams are very detailed and look like the true NFL teams of that time. All 1967 Big Men teams have the words "Hong Kong" engraved on the bottom of the base and have more detailed sleeve and sock stripes. 

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In early 1969 Tudor switched to slightly smaller men, known as "Hog Legs". Early Hog Leg teams came in dark and white jerseys for the old 16 NFL teams and dark jerseys only for the 10 AFL teams (the Cincinnati Bengals were introduced in this time frame to make 10 AFL teams) Hog Legs are less detailed than the 67 Big Men. Also, Hog Legs were produced in an era where several teams went through uniform changes ( saints, vikings, redskins, eagles ), thus their are more variations of Hog Leg teams. Hog Legs are identified with normally 4 men having the "Hong Kong" engraving on the bottom of their base. In later Tudor production both NFL and AFL Hog Leg teams could be purchased in white and dark jerseys. 

 

In 1971 Tudor switched their men again and made what we call "Chicken Legs". Chicken Legs are almost the same size as Hog Legs but not as thick and not as detailed. Chicken Legs were made from 1971 until 1974.  

 

Tudor moved production in late 1974 to Haiti. The teams produced are known as Haiti Figures they are bigger than Hog Legs but smaller than 1967 Big Men. Haiti figures are known best for nice neat paint jobs. Haiti Figures can be identified by little "burs" on each side of their base on the bottom side. The 3 lineman figures have either a recessed or protruded dot or circle on their butts. Very similar to what the older Hog Leg teams are like. Each figure also had an identifier number on the underside of the base. A letter/number combination. These letter/number combos were larger in scale than those used on the older Hong Kong figures. All of the Hong Kong and Haiti teams from 1967 until about 1975/1976 had black shoes. In 1976 this changed and all Tudor figures after that are produced with white shoes. There were actually 2 versions of Haiti figures produced. The early version had the shoes painted black, like the 67 Big Men, Hog Leg & Chicken Leg Hong Kong figures. These are referred to as BS teams. The BS figures were only produced for  a couple of years. Coinciding with the NFL teams wearing white shoes, Tudor began leaving the shoes on the figures white or the shoes were painted white on the amber figures.  

 

In 1978/1979 production was switched back to Hong Kong where it stayed until the early 90's when China took over production. A company called Miggle took over Tudor and produced NFL Electric Football figures and some major college teams. Miggle reproduced their own version of 1967 Big Men teams. Miggle Teams can be identified by the team logo stamped on the helmet and some teams with the logo stamped on the sleeves. 1967 Big Men teams also have the words "Pro Line" on the top of the base. Miggle Regular NFL teams have the team logo stamped on the helmet and some have the team log stamped on sleeves. Miggle Regular NFL teams do not have a hole in the base.

 

Miggle was purchased by Tudor in 2015. 

 

In 2015 Tudor produced a new line of NFL teams which are known as Haiti Repro Figures. The new teams are more detailed and have the best paint quality than any of the previous Tudor/Miggle figures. All of the new Tudor teams have the word "China" on the bottom of the base.

 

Most Tudor/Miggle/Tudor NFL teams fall under one of the above described characterizations however, there are many variations that exist one in particular is the "Amber Figures" and there are many others. The beauty of collecting Electric Football teams is that there is a lot of variety. Have fun collecting and feel free to contact me if you have any input or corrections to add to the information I have provided. Happy collecting my friends!!!

 

Abbreviation Legend

DJ = Dark Jersey

WJ = White Jersey

SH = Stamped Helmet

SS = Stamped Sleeve

SB = Solid Base

[Coach Shawn]

Sorry just realized that article is from the nefgm site

[JTL]

I happened to stumble across this, in my research today. Thank you for sharing this! 
Do you know if there is a whole sale place to buy teams?