UK SERIES 1

Ever since the launch of Corinthian's figures in 1995, collector's have always asked about the possibility of producing a smaller version. On the 12th February 2001, after over 2 years of product development, MicroStars were born!

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Corinthian had reached an exclusive agreement with the UK's biggest producer of Easter Eggs, Magna Confectionary Ltd, to pack and release the MicroStars figures inside a hollow chocolate shell, called Powerpodz! The figures were packed into a clear sachet and then placed into a plastic capsule, along with a collector's information leaflet.

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The cost to pack the figures inside a hollow chocolate shell was only marginally more than releasing it in a clear sachet or window box, and less than the cost of a blister pack. Perhaps the biggest advantage of the Powerpodz was that they were able to be sold in a much broader rage of high street stores, with major retailers like WoolWorths, Asda, Sainsbury's and a whole host of newsagents and garage's, meant MicroStars were literally everywhere!

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The main difference that MicroStars have over Headliners/ProStars is that the under the base was some player skill ratings. MicroStars were predominantly aimed at a younger demographic, with a price point of just £1.49, so a game was devised, which started out as a 'One On One' and evolved later into The World Club League.

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The 5 base ratings were Dribbling, Shooting, Tackling, Passing and Crossing, with the goal keepers having 2 ratings, Save Shot Left and Save Shot Right. The figures were initially released on 6 different base colours, Green, Red, Blue, White, Silver and Gold with the base ratings increasing with the rarity of the base.

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The rarity of each base colour was as follows:

• Green - 1 in 2

• Red - 1 in 5

• Blue - 1 in 8

• White - 1 in 10

• Silver - 1 in 20

• Gold - 1 in 40

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As with Headliners & ProStars, the MicroStars figures were also assigned collector codes, which began with MC, with the goal keeper figures having 4 different MC codes for each base colour.

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UK Series 1 was released on the 21st February 2001, backed up by a heavy TV advertising campaign which started on the 26th February, we all fondly remember the song, sing it with me 'Football Crazy, Chocolate mad, grab a powerpodz and play football with the lads!'

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The initial release of Powerpodz featured 21 different MicroStars figures, it was intended to be 23 with the inclusion of Alan Shearer and Gary Speed for Newcastle United, however due to a small delay in production they did not make the initial release, so were delayed until Series 2.

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A dreadlocked version of Henrik Larsson for Celtic was planned for the range, however he chopped of his famous locks just as Corinthian had begun production, so this version was cancelled and we would have to wait until Series 3 to get a shaven headed version of the super swede striker.

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And so we come to the infamous Tore Andre Flo in Chelsea home kit! Flo transferred to Rangers just after Corinthian had finished production, efforts were made in the factory to remove him from the shipment but according to Corinthian, 4,600 had already been packed!

 

 

I have always been extremely sceptical about that number but given the sheer volume of powerpodz produced it is also plausible that it is accurate. Most collectors consider this Chelsea version of Flo an unreleased figure, and is regarded by many as a 'grail' piece.

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