Join us as we travel back through the years to reminisce on our favourite Arsenal figures of all
time.
The History of Arsenal SoccerStarz
Can you believe it’s been nearly 12 years since the first wave of Arsenal SoccerStarz figures were
released? Neither can we!
The Beginning
SoccerStarz launched in August of 2012 with the inaugural blind bag (series 1) featuring 32 figures
equally divided between the Premier League’s four biggest clubs (at the time). The four teams
featured were Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United, and of course, Arsenal.
It wasn’t the most straightforward start for SoccerStarz, as a week after launching the blind bag, it
was made official that Robin Van Persie would be leaving the club to join arch-rivals Manchester
United. It wouldn’t get any easier, as just 5 days later it was then announced that Alex Song had
agreed a move to join Catalan giants Barcelona. As you can probably guess, both players were
part of the 8 figure Arsenal line-up. Oops!
More importantly, there were 6 more incredible Arsenal players for Gooners to collect, including
newly-appointed club captain Thomas Vermaelen, Theo Walcott, Bacary Sagna, Wojciech
Szczesny, Jack Wilshere, and current Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.
New Signings Galore
A busy summer would follow the shock sale of Van Persie, for both Arsenal and SoccerStarz!
Arsenal brought in Olivier Giroud from Montpellier, Santi Cazorla from Malaga, as well as Lukas
Podolski from FC Koln. All 3 would go on to be quickly sculpted by the SoccerStarz team to be
released into Series 2 of the SoccerStarz blind bag.
Joining them in the new line-up was Laurent Koscielny, Alex Oxlade Chamberlain, Gervinho,
Aaron Ramsey, Ryo Miyaichi and Abou Diaby. The Arsenal collection was quickly growing!
FA Cup Winners
On May 17th 2014, Arsenal defeated Hull City 3-2 at Wembley Stadium in dramatic fashion to end
a gruelling 9-year wait for silverware.
The Gunners were firm favourites to win the trophy but were stunned by early goals from James
Chester and Curtis Davies, giving Hull a shock 2-0 lead.
Santi Cazorla’s superb free kick gave Arsenal a lifeline just before half time, leaving the score 2-1
to Hull going into the break. 26 agonising minutes passed by until Laurent Koscielny bravely
bundled the ball home to give Arsenal a well-deserved equaliser.
It would be Arsenal’s player of the year, Aaron Ramsey, who’d grab the winner for Arsenal, as he
latched on to an exquisite back-heeled pass from Giroud and instinctively prodded the ball past a
helpless Alan McGregor in the Hull City goal.
Arsenal survived one final scare in the 115th minute after Per Mertesacker lost his footing, causing
Lukasz Fabianski to come flying out of the Arsenal net. Sone Aluko skipped past the Arsenal
keeper, but luckily for the Gunners, couldn’t find the back of the open net. And just like that, the
FA Cup belonged to Arsenal.
SoccerStarz commemorated their triumphant win by releasing the Arsenal FA Cup Winners team
pack, featuring 19 incredible figures.
The figures included many of the aforementioned players, as well as some new additions,
including Mesut Ozil, Per Mertesacker, and two exclusive black based figures of Fabianski and
Rosicky.
This particular team pack is, and remains to be, a holy grail amongst Arsenal and SoccerStarz
fans and collectors.
Back to Back
The following season saw new signings Danny Welbeck, and most notably, Alexis Sanchez join
the Arsenal SoccerStarz line up. Exclusive away kit figures were also released, with Mesut Ozil
and Aaron Ramsey being among the players to receive a fresh yellow paint job!
Arsenal again won the FA Cup, this time in a much more comfortable manner. The Gunners put 4
goals past fellow finalists Aston Villa; Theo Walcott, Alexis Sanchez, Per Mertesacker and Olivier
Giroud were all on the scoresheet.
Another FA Cup means, you guessed it, another commemorative team pack!
The Final Wenger Years
More players continued to join the SoccerStarz line-up as the years went on. The 2016/17 season
saw cult-hero Grant Xhaka join the line-up, as well as a brand new Mesut Ozil figure, completed
with a haircut much more synonymous with his Arsenal playing days.
2017/18, the final season with Arsene Wenger at the Arsenal helm, saw big money signing
Alexandre Lacazette join the figure lineup, and so too did Hale End academy graduate Alex Iwobi.
Arsene Wenger left Arsenal on June 30th 2018, having managed 828 Premier League matches,
the most of any manager in the competition’s history.
A New Era
2018/19 saw Unai Emery appointed Arsenal manager, and a whole host of new SoccerStarz
figures being released!
Stefan Lichsteiner, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrik Mkhitaryan were released to a great
reception, however SoccerStarz fans would have to wait until the following season to get their
hands on new signing and 2018 North London derby hero, Lucas Torreira.
A Second New Era
The 2019/20 season unfortunately saw Arsenal struggle both domestically and in Europe, leading
to Unai Emery being replaced at the helm by former Gunner Mikel Arteta, a move that was met by
a warm, if not a little apprehensive, reception.
The Spaniard got Arsenal’s season back on track, though the 2020/21 season was far from plainsailing.
Arsenal struggled all season long, however when Arteta called upon Gabriel Martinelli, Emile Smith Rowe, and Bukayo Saka, Arsenal’s fortunes began to slowly but surely change.
It didn’t take a football expert to see the potential these young stars had, so it was decided that
all three would be sculpted and added to the SoccerStarz range. Martinelli came first, with Saka
and Smith Rowe joining the collection further down the line.
Martin Odegaard, Aaron Ramsdale, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Ben White would all go on to join the
SoccerStarz lineup at various points, following Arsenal’s spending spree during the summer of
2021.
Title Challengers
With an exciting young core that was making steady progress, the future for the Gunners was
looking bright heading into the 2022/23 season, but few could have predicted the season to
come.
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side dazzled throughout, with recent signings and returning loanee
Zinchenko, Jesus, and Saliba adding some much needed leadership to the young Arsenal side.
The Gunners led the league for 248 days over the course of the campaign, but ultimately
collapsed towards the business end of the season.
Although bitterly disappointing, the season will be remembered by Arsenal fans for a very long
time.
The Brand New Arsenal Collection
The 2023/24 Arsenal team pack was launched at the beginning of the season, featuring 11
stunningly sculpted figures.
The team pack features Aaron Ramsdale, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Ben White, William Saliba,
Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jorginho, Emile Smith Rowe, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel
Jesus, and Gabriel Martinelli.
2023 signings Leandro Trossard, Kai Havertz, and Declan Rice have all been added to the evergrowing
Arsenal collection!
We hoped you enjoyed looking back at all our favourite Arsenal SoccerStarz figures with us; keep
your eyes peeled for more blogs coming soon.