McFarlane Color Tops are the company’s current line of figures, featuring characters from all different properties that McFarlane Toys own or have licenses for. They’re 7 Inch scale, intricately sculpted and painted and come with a base. Each wave is packaged in a different color topped box making it easy to find on the shelves. While many will focus on The Walking Dead, Assassin’s Creed and others, the one I was most looking forward to since Toy Fair was Spawn. I was a casual collector of Spawn figures in the late 90s and early 00s. I rocked that HBO series like no one’s business. So, now that I’ve hit a point where I am collecting multiple lines and have space to display all this stuff, it was time to get some Spawn back on the shelf! Number 10 for the Color Tops series is the Spawn Rebirth figure, he’s the first Spawn figure to release in over a decade. We have him in hand, let’s take a look along with some additional thoughts after the break!
McFarlane Toys Color Tops #10 Spawn Rebirth
Overall Thoughts:
So, Color Tops. There’s a lot of discussion on this overall. McFarlane decided to move away from the smaller 5 inch scale with a good amount of articulation for a larger, more detailed, better painted offering, minus significant articulation. These are basically poseable statues. Spawn here has the following articulation:
Neck – left/right
Arms – up/down 90 degrees, swivels at bicep
Wrists – swivel
Waist – 35 degree swivel at belt
Legs – slight swivel at calf on each
Cape is rubber and can be slightly adjusted
Bullet belt on chest is own thing and can be moved around
Base is removable.
Weapons are removable.
Now, that sounds like a lot, but in terms of modern, higher end action figures, it’s not. There is no hip, knee, shoulder articulation. No ab-crunch or forward/backward torso movement. No ankle movement. It’s a static pose, with slight movement to tweak the stance a bit.
And guess what – I am ok with that.
The original McFarlane figures were basically like this. Not pure action figures, but better in the sculpt and paint department. This is the same thing. They’ve returned to their roots instead of going all-in on the modern adult collectibles articulation angle. Now, when I say I am ok with that, I am, within reason. I wouldn’t want all my figures like this. And I wouldn’t want a property I really dug to have these as the only option. But for one-offs, single representations of a character or property for my shelves, these are perfect.
Assuming Spawn was super-poseable, after I fiddled with it for a bit, I’d get him in a pose, probably similar to what it is now, and tuck him away next to Stone Cold and Iron Man. Done. So, going with the less articulation here, and ensuring that paint and sculpt are on point so that when I do see him peeking out he’s dope, then I’m ok with that. And I’ll continue to pick up random pieces as they tickle my fancy. Would I love for him to have full on 30-40 points of articulation, this level of sculpt and paint, and still be 20 bucks? Yes. But, I am assuming that can’t be done within cost constraints, so I am ok with this version for 20-ish bucks. I had a blast shooting him and he’s looking menacing overseeing the office from the top shelf as I speak, so for me, good to go and worth the pick up.
Check below for 55+ pics to see how he can shine for you, and let us know what you think on the forums!
Full Set, mini review:
Spawn Rebirth - McFarlane Color Tops In-Hand Gallery - The Toyark - News
Outstanding pics. Looks good for what it is. Just not for me tho.
It does the job for me. Will I get 300 of these, prob not. For a single bad ass Spawn in the mix tho, works.
The second they release a fully articulated one though, this one goes in a bin.
The second they release a fully articulated one though, this one goes in a bin.
While modern articulation isn't a deal breaker for me (I collect Marvel Select for this reason), I just don't understand what McFarlane is going for here. Why add any articulation at all if you're just going to make a pre-posed statue? It'd make a lot more sense to me if McFarlane committed to making actual statues rather than doing half assed pre 90's articulation.
a shame it's a statue... that would be a nice modern Spawn figure to own.
I have yet to find the masked version, but I did pick up the hamburger head version the other day. I think its grand.
But yeah, I hear what you're saying.
While it looks great and the price point is also great, a farkin knee joint would have gone a long way here. Really, a knee joint was doable 40+ years ago on Gi Joe, but McFarlane couldnt work it here.
Is it possible that this 'staction' figure is a low cost exploration of the extent of consumer interest in Spawn? That might explain some of the perplexing articulation decisions.
I don't understand his intentions. Either you make them into statues or you make them fully articulated. Don't try to achieve both, it comes out terrible. That being said, I already dealt with QC issue with the Unmasked variant of this figure (the hand just snapped off). For the price point they are fine if you're okay with static poses. I been waiting for spawn to make a come back and it's not exactly in the way I expected it.
@Joe
Thank you, Joe. I've read references to "Color Tops" and just assumed they were statues. I get it now...
Thank you, Joe. I've read references to "Color Tops" and just assumed they were statues. I get it now...
Also, as far as the statue vs figure thing goes, isn't it also kind of a disservice to both when you're making statues with articulation seams? Most people who want to buy statues will likely not care for the fact that there are seams where they've inserted their (often pointless) articulation on this thing. Just reiterating the point that you either go full statue or full figure.
this fig is nice...
but i swear there isn't much difference from it and about 3 or 4 other spawns i own...
I saw this in the store, last week i think...
easy pass for the former spawn figure fanatic..
Also, as far as the statue vs figure thing goes, isn't it also kind of a disservice to both when you're making statues with articulation seams? Most people who want to buy statues will likely not care for the fact that there are seams where they've inserted their (often pointless) articulation on this thing. Just reiterating the point that you either go full statue or full figure.
The exact opposite goes for the Titanfall pilots and Titans. I want those fully articulated. Would not buy them as they are now or as statues. The game is too good to get what's out there now.
I think it's neat looking.. But I've wanted a fully articulated spawn for a while and this is just a tad disappointing. I think this figure is a sign that we won't see a fully articulated version anytime in the near future.
I'll probably pick up the TRU hamburger head Spawn if I ever find that but I have enough masked Spawns still lying around.
Currently I only have the Gears of War color tops and overall I like them, the only things I really don't like are points where articulation exists but is truly useless (Kait has knee bends but they don't move enough to actually change her pose at all, they just make it possible for her to awkwardly tip back) and the fact that I've seen so many with sloppy paint. If you know what you're walking in to the color tops line can be quite acceptable.
Awesome photos! I dig this figure, I have to have it. Saw a ton at TRU, so I'll grab it next chance I get.
It's not quite the same type of figures as McFarlane used to make. The paint in particular looks way better. Shockingly these may have a little more articulation. I was really happy with the Daryl Walking Dead figure. Like everyone else, I wish the articulation was better...but the sculpt is too good to pass on.
Let's face it, McFarlane owns Spawn, this is all we are getting.
@Tony, damn image 44 looks exactly like something spawn.com would've shown or would have featured in their quarterly catalogs previewing new figures. With the green light and everything it's just perfect.
Hmmm... maybe if I knew that McFarlane had plans to release some other Image / Top Cow / (non-TWD) Skybound characters in the Color Tops line, I might be tempted to go ahead and snag Spawn to eventually pose with those figures, but I'm in no need of a potential standalone Spawn figure like this one.
), I had hoped that Todd McFarlane would be willing to allow Toy Biz to do a Legends-style, fully articulated Spawn figure for that series.
Back when Toy Biz launched their awesome Legendary Comic Book Heroes line (nearly a decade later and I'm STILL bitter that that line was cancelled
There were plenty of other Image figures in that series, so it didn't seem too implausible for Spawn to be added to future waves.
Also, as far as the statue vs figure thing goes, isn't it also kind of a disservice to both when you're making statues with articulation seams? Most people who want to buy statues will likely not care for the fact that there are seams where they've inserted their (often pointless) articulation on this thing. Just reiterating the point that you either go full statue or full figure.
It's extremely a disservice for someone to make statues with articulation, I mean Marvel Select does it but I think you can pull off a few poses but still very limited. If we are going for aesthetics, then pick the best pose and keep it static. Being a person who collects both statues and articulated figures, I wish they would stop trying to make this hybrid, it works very poorly and usually leads to QC issues. It sucks too because he had the opportunity to make a serious comeback in the market but I feel he's taken a bit of cream of what Funko is doing with the way and replicating a similar formula it through the "Color Top" Series.
It's so strange that THIS is the direction McFarlane is going. They seemed to have had pretty good success with their Assassin's Creed, Halo, and especially Walking Dead lines, all of which were articulated well, and likely would've sold better had they been in a more common scale (lord knows I would've picked em up for weapons alone). To scale back the articulation significantly, and move to another awkward scale while the collectors industry is thriving in the 6 in market seems like a particularly dumb move, especially since it lead so many to ditch McToys years ago.
I feel like the biggest discussion I see on this figure is people excited about the character, but passing on the statue it because they're disappointed with the articulation. The demand for the character is definitely there, especially since there's never really been a definitive, articulated version of the character that's been super widely available.
I would pay upwards of $60 for an "ultimate" 6 inch articulated spawn. Gimme a removable articulated cape, interchangeable heads, guns, an axe, interchangeable hands chain options. McFarlane can't be that ignorant to the popularity of imports like figuarts, ML, Black Series, etc.
This makes me wish that I had bought that 10th anniversary Spawn way back when, as other than him being in the 7 inch scale he has fantastic articulation and is a great looking figure.
Keep reading: McFarlane Color Tops Spawn Rebirth - Page 2
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