Out of the Toybox (74): McFarlane Toys One

 

They're 'armless. And legless.

Todd McFarlane’s action figures are an oddly special case. I like them ... and am peculiarly frustrated by them. “Todd McFarlane (born March 16, 1961) is a Canadian comic-book creator, artist, writer, filmmaker and entrepreneur, best known for his work as the artist on The Amazing Spider-Man and as the creator, writer, and artist on the superhero horror-fantasy series Spawn, as well as being the current President and a co-founder of Image Comics. In 1992, he helped form Image Comics, pulling the occult anti-hero character Spawn from his high-school portfolio and updating him for the 1990s.” – Wikipedia.

In 1994 he created a toy company to produce figures from his comic book, Spawn. The line was first called Todd Toys but was changed to McFarlane Toys. The first run was rather simple, though more advanced than most of the action figures of the day to be sure. The company quickly advanced to producing increasingly accurate sculpts of popular cultural icons, including sports figures, rock stars, horror movie characters, and lines like The X-Files movie tie-ins.

McFarlane Toys represented a leap forward in action figure evolution, focusing as they did on precise sculpting and more mature themes. But what they took on in exchange was more fragility and less playability. As they developed, it became plain their object was not for kids to play with anymore, but for grown nerds to display like trophies, or worse, keep them mint-in-box as an investment.

Looking back, I can see that there were many figures I could have done without, ones that I had bought out of boredom or the mere addict’s thrill of adding to the collection. There were some that were more Chaos than Character. But now having them, there is little likelihood of getting rid of them. When I mentioned the subject to Kameron, he objected, saying that if I didn’t want them, he would take them. And so hereditary problems are passed down.

I’m sure there are a few non-McFarlane (though similarly styled) figures mixed in this lot. Coming Soon: More McFarlane Tie-Ins.