THE ARSENAL TEAM
1999-2000 SEASON

Corinthian was always looking to improve their product in all areas, including product availability, the feedback from collectors was that at times it was not always possible to get the figures they wanted from their local store, due to product sell out. The reaction to this from Corinthian was to produce a range of subscription products, the name given to this range was 'Corinthian By Subscription' 

 

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Corinthian by Subscription allowed collectors to pre order the items they wanted, ensuring they would not miss out on new releases. Corinthian released 6 different 12 figure team packs, each team pack would contain 12 figures, 12 collector cards, a club specific display stand and backing card of the clubs stadium, along with a platinum pack of one of the 12 figures, with the packs being released on the 30th November 1999 and priced at £29.99

 

 

The initial plan for these 12 player team packs was to have the Platinum Pack be of a player not included in the pack, this was to be offered as a bonus for placing a subscription order with Corinthian, as it transpired this idea never came to fruition and the platinum pack would end up being 1 of the 12 figures included in the pack.

 

 

The very first Corinthian ProStars Newsletter Issue 1 Spring 1999 features the article detailing the Corinthian By Subscription range of team packs, with each team having the provisional line up of 12 figures listed, along with a 13th name which was had an * next to it, denoting it was to be the Platinum Edition.

 

 

The provisional line up for the Arsenal 1999-2000 season team pack was manager Arsene Wenger, Alex Manninger, Matthew Upson, Nelson Vivas, Stephen Hughes, Steve Bould, Patrick Vieira, Emmnauel Petit, Ray Parlour, Christopher Wreh, Dennis Bergkamp and Nwankwo Kanu, with David Seaman listed as the Platinum Pack exclusive.

 

 

As it would transpire 5 of these players would be cancelled, those are Alex Manninger, Matthew Upson, Stephen Hughes, Steve Bould and Christopher Wreh. Bould featured in the Headliners Collection but would never appeare as a ProStars figure, while collectors would get Alex Manninger but have to wait until Series 8 for his figure to be released. The other 3; Upson, Hughes and Wreh would never be released as a ProStars figure, with only Matthew Upson having a Corinthian figure made, which was a MicroStars figure.

 

 

I have never seen sculpts of Hughes, Upson or Wreh so i can only assume they were simply names on a paper and never made it to the sculpting stage.

 

 

The 12 figures included in the Arsenal 1999-2000 season team pack are Arsene Wenger, David Seaman, Nigel Winterburn, Nelson Vivas, Martin Keown, Tony Adams, Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit, Ray Parlour, Nwankwo Kanu, Dennis Bergkamp and Marc Overmars.

 

 

This was the very first release of full back Nelson Vivas, his only other appearance would be as part of the Club Gold 2000 range. Ray Parlour made his Corinthian debut in this pack, also later featuring in the Club Gold 2000 range and in the Arsenal Double Winners team pack. Nwankwo Kanu got his first Prostars release, however the sculpt shown in the newsletter was not the eventual released figure, the sculpt and body pose would be altered.

 

 

We saw new sculpts of Dennis Begkamp, Tony Adams and Patrick Vieira, with the remaining players being existing sculpts but released for the very first time in the new Arsenal club kit.

 

Corinthian did not disclose exactly how many of each Arsenal 1999-2000 team pack  was produced, so as such it cannot be ascertained how many of each Platinum Pack were made, however getting a full set of 12 platinum packs is still some achievement.