SERIES 22

ProStars Series 22 was Corinthians first release of the 2003/04 season and was a 16 figure release, boasting many new sculpts.

 

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The Tinker man Claudio Ranieri got his one and only Corinthian figure release, manager figures were always amongst the top sellers in any series and this would prove to be no exception. Corinthian prepared for the demand and produced 4,678 blisters of Ranieri.

 

 

Arsenal had 2 new sculpts, with Francis Jeffers making his debut and an all new sculpt of Nwankwo Kanu, although i personally have always preferred the initial Kanu sculpt, seen in Series 4. Production wise Corinthian made 3,923 Jeffers blisters and 5,777 Kanu.

 

 

North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur had a first time sculpt which sees Kazayuki Toda released for the first time, with Corinthian anticipating high demand from Japan by producing 8,980 which was the 2nd highest in this series.

 

 

The 3rd highest blister production in Series 22 is a new sculpt of Ryan Giggs in the United home kit, a superb likeness and Corinthian made 8,949 blisters of the Welsh wing wizard. For Liverpool we have forward Milan Baros who was another first time sculpt, with 4,679 blisters being made.

 

 

Newcastle United fans had 2 first time sculpts in this series, as we see Jermaine Jenas and Hugo Viana enter the Corinthian collection, with 3,736 Jenas blisters and 4,084 Viana.

 

 

Aston Villa also had 2 figures in the range, defender Olof Mellberg gets his first release in a regular series, with 3,853 blisters and the Swede is joined by first time release of Gareth Barry, with 4,033 blisters made.

 

 

The English Premier League contingent is completed by Middlesbrough's Massimo Maccarone who had 3,532 blisters made. The sole representative of the Scottish Premier League is an all new sculpt of Stilian Petrov for Celtic, with him being the lowest volume in this series with just 3,136 blisters made.

 

 

We have a trio of figures in England home kit, Wayne Rooney who is the highest blister volume in this series with 9,706 which was an even higher volume than his debut figure in the Stars Of The Season 2002/3 series. There is a new sculpt of Paul Scholes which has 7,324 blisters, however Corinthian would never use this sculpt again. Sol Campbell completes the set with 4,756 blisters being produced.

 

 

Completing the line up is Francesco Coco in Italy home kit, this was his second release after first featuring in the Collector Club Special Edition Series, this Series 22 figure had 6,625 blisters produced.

 

 

In total Corinthian made 87,771 blisters for Series 22 which was higher than the Stars Of The Season 2002/3 Series but lower than the total volume in Series 21.

 

 

Something to mention is that while the blisters came with individually numbered collector cards, the figures were also available from Corinthian Direct and sold as 'figure with card' in a clear sachet priced at £2.50, these collector cards were not individually numbered and had the figure image on both sides, the same style as the previous series. For those who collect the collector cards this means there are 2 sets to collect, with the ones found in the sachets being vastly more difficult to locate. This was the final series in which Corinthian would produce 'figure and card' sachets, from Series 23 onwards it would just be the Blisters.

 

 

Corinthian produced 2 special redemption figures for Series 22, which see Simon Davies in Tottenham Hotspur away kit and Diego Forlan in Manchester United third kit. Collectors were able to directly purchase the redemption figures, which were priced at £5 and came in clear sachet with a non numbered collector card, you could still collect the tokens and claim the redemption figures that way.

 

 

The Corinthian Factory inadvertently produced platinum packs for the 2 redemption figures, with Corinthian making these available at the 2004 Corinthian Convention, giving them away free for every £100 spent, with collector club members at Gold and Platinum level  only being able to take advantage of this offer.

 

 

Series 22 was released on the 15th September 2003, with blisters priced at £3 each and you could also order the figures from Corinthian Direct as figure and card in sachet for £2.49 with the collector cards in the clear sachet being non numbered. Included in each pack was the figures collector card and Corinthian ran a free redemption figure offer, with 8 tokens needed to claim one of the special redemption figures.

 

 

Along with the regular blister packs, Corinthian produced something special called the Platinum Pack, these were produced in much lower numbers and not available for direct sale, they were given away free for money spent with Corinthian Direct. The figures are identical to those in the standard blister but are on a Silver base and assigned a PP (Platinum Pack) collector code, which was the same code as the PRO version, with the figure then placed on a specially designed Platinum Pack blister card, coming with collector card stating it was produced in quantities no higher 360.