ARCHIVE: McFarlane's Spawn Mini Trading Figures Series 1

Article originally published 06/14/2006 at figures.com

You love your Spawn figures. You have Spawn I thru VII, both MOC and opened. You’ve got shelves in your room lined with dozens of different likenesses of the character. From Mandarin Spawn to Ninja Spawn, Pirate Spawn to Manga Spawn… you’ve got them all. Every few months, McFarlane both excites and torments its Spawn-loving faithful with another series of figures featuring everyone’s favorite tormented soldier of Hell. As most Spawn fans can agree; the figures and their concepts get better and better. However, what does one do when there simply isn’t enough room to expand the collection? Simple… make them smaller! McFarlane Toys brings us the latest installment of their Spawn figure line with Series 1 of Mini Trading Figures. With three different paint variations on each of twelve individual figures, you can now build your own Spawn mini-legion. Pit them against your green army men. Create fierce battles with your Galactic Heroes. Or, simply display them in those little-used corners of your shelving units where the full-size Spawns just won’t fit.

PACKAGING:
Each figure is individually packaged in a pseudo ‘blind box’. I say pseudo as the outside of the box is actually marked indicating which figure is inside. However, you never know what version of the mini figure you are buying until you open the box. You could find one of three different variants of each figure. The most common of these is the normal paint version of a figure, which is helpfully printed on one side of the packaging. There is also a repaint variant and even a rare chase gold or pewter rendition of each mini figure!

SCULPT AND CHARACTER LIKENESS:
These are miniaturized versions of previously released Spawn figures. Thus, it is relatively easy to determine how close the McFarlane sculptors were able to replicate the detail of each character in the Spawn mythos. With McFarlane, detail and sculpt has never been in question. The primary concern of most collectors was this: would it be possible to maintain a high level of detail on a 3” scale? For the majority of these figures, the smaller scale has not detracted from the overall detail. Santa Spawn, Mandarin Spawn and Wings of Redemption Spawn are amazing exact duplicates of their larger counterparts. However, the amount of sculpted armor and weapons on such figures as The Curse, Gate Keeper and Zombie Spawn made them seem a bit cumbersome and bulky. With these figures, it is a bit difficult to determine a weapon from part of the character’s armor. These are minor distractions though, and the superb craftsmanship of the more basic Spawn figures makes up it.

PAINT AND COLOR:
For this review, I was only able to get a look at the standard paint scheme for each figure. So, I’ll be searching for the repaint and pewter/gold variants myself. Again, the paint scheme for each figure was taken from its larger regular-series counterpart. Paint apps on a 3” scale can be hit and miss. Either the figure will come out of the box with a surprising amount of detail… or it will look like poo. There really isn’t an in-between. I can say that these mini-Spawns definitely do not fall in the latter category. Paint apps on McFarlane figures are generally impressive, even when it comes to smaller accessories. It should make sense then that the 3” figures are as vibrant and detailed in their paint and color as any full-scale Spawn figure could be. Redeemer’s stunning violet cape, Mandarin Spawn’s crimson and gold robes, Wings of Redemption Spawn’s grey and white flecked feathers… each figure looks absolutely brilliant. I can’t wait to see the repaints!

ARTICULATION:
None. Zero. Zip. Nada. This is the only major knock on these figures. At a 3” scale, one would hope that McFarlane would add a few cut-joints to allow for more articulation. Sadly, these mini-Spawns are display pieces only. They look great standing in their pre-formed poses, but I was hoping for a little more playability out of these figures.

ACCESSORIES\BASE:
Each Spawn trading figure comes packaged with either a sculpted base or plane black pegged stand. This is extremely handy, as most of these figures would immediately shelf- dive without some kind of support. A few figures in the series (Mandarin Spawn, Spawn the Black Knight, Skullsplitter, Raven Spawn) actually include removable weapons. This is an odd feature considering that the figures can only hold their accessories in one pose. Keep this in mind when you are tearing open your trading figures. If you send these tiny pieces flying onto the floor they may be lost for good.

VALUE AND OVERALL IMPRESSION:
Not everyone will be purchasing a full set of these figures. The standard retail price point of around $5 each doesn’t make the purchase of a full set appealing. Plus, these are being marked as ‘trading figures’. So, buy a few and trade with your fiends to get the variants you want. Having each package marked with the figure it contains is a slick idea, and will help to ensure that your quest for a mini Mandarin Spawn doesn’t end with an unwanted Gate Keeper exiled to the back of your toy closet. Miniature Trading Figures is new territory for McFarlane Toys, but their initial offering is very positive and I’m looking forward to seeing what from the Spawn archives make into Series 2. My favorites out of Series 1 are the Santa Spawn, Raven Spawn and Redeemer. I still haven’t seen the repaints of these figures yet, so drop me a line if you’ve got some for trade.