Spawn is Dead?

[Darth Madden]

Some very bad business decisions there, one of which is alienating your core audience. I used to frequent the Spawn message boards, but I barely visit anymore. Sad really.

I only go for the sports board there, Everything else is blah.

 

[Darth Snoopy]

Is Spawn dead? I certainly hope so.

 

[sladesuperagent]

I really dug the first year of the comic and I was a big fan of the toy line the first few years. Todd really did shake up the industry and helped solidify action figure collecting as a real hobby. His stuff did have a real "wow" factor out of the box, but articulation and quality craftsmanship was always lacking. Also, the variants were daunting--in the end I was glad to have bought the main figures of the series, but he lost me right around the Nitro Riders line. I got sick of buying the same character in different variations. I always liked the Movie Maniac stuff too--something he should have stayed with, but like someone said he seemed more interested in celebrity and buying home-run baseballs. I've kept only a handful of what I had from him, most Movie Maniacs have been replaced by SS or HT versions and I had to give away the Total Chaos stuff cause it was so worthless.

But I still really like the Cy-gor 2 figure. I mean, it had a robot monkey in it's stomach for chrissakes!

 

[qweqwe]

Spawn is a poor mans statue...

 

[torque6]

yup, spawn craze been over for sometime now.....

 

[galactiboy]

I had to give away the Total Chaos stuff cause it was so worthless.

But I still really like the Cy-gor 2 figure. I mean, it had a robot monkey in it's stomach for chrissakes!

Its sad, since most of the Spawn stuff you can't even give away these days. Great pieces, especially seeing the innovation of the earlier figures... but guess the numbers were too high and collectors lost interest.

 

[Reinhardt]

Lots of the spawn stuff from the early to mid 2000s were fantastic as well. The updated sculpts of spawn and other characters from the series were fantastic. I still have a few of those, in particular the 12" figures. But I agree, the focus of the company shifted drastically, and recently they seem to be milking as much as they can out of the Halo license.

 

[Batty]

Those were the best Mcf stuff IMO:

They're the few McFarlane figures I held onto.

I think McF was putting out a lot of really good stuff years ago: Movie Maniacs, Metal Gear Solid and Tortured Souls just to name a few. While some figures didn't have a lot of (or any) articulation, the sculpts were great. I think the gunslinger is one of my favorite Spawn figures.

 

[Ortizwerx]

Spawn and me, we're done professionally.

 

[Reinhardt]

That will never get old.

 

[Spliff]

Todd Sux. Too arrogant. Can't even take the time for a pic or autograph at the con, while he wasn't doing anything.

How many times have you met him?

 

[samueljd]

I actually met him in the late '80s when I was a kid, after he'd done the Hulk and started working on Spiderman. Way before Spawn and before he become famous and he was an arrogant jerk then too.

 

[Spliff]

that's odd.

the numerous times i've met him(in private and public) he's always been the nicest guy, eager to sign things, eager to talk with people, and always a huge dork. the guy is fun to be around.

the only time i've noticed him being a bit "arrogant" about things is when people suggest what he do with his properties.

 

[SingaporeGuy]

would be cool for a spawn pf or comiquette

 

[creature4000]

would be cool for a spawn pf or comiquette

only if they did a Violator!!!!

 

[pixletwin]

Spawn and me, we're done professionally.

You are gone.... again.

(sorry Shai )

 

[jye4ever]

I thought the first HBO animated series was bad ass and ahead for its time.

 

[Steel]

I love the Medicom Spawn figure.

I met Todd at Toyfare back in late 90's when he still exhibited there. I stepped on him accidentally, he turned to me and I said "Hey Todd, when are you going to do a Red Wings Hasek??" (I was breaking his chops)

He looked at me funny, and started asking his people, "Hey, we got a Wings Hasek, right??"

They did at the time and I told him I was breaking his chops and he laughed and signed the giveaway figure for which I still have today.

He is an obnoxious guy and a bad person to work for per many people I know.

 

[LChinoz]

The last McF fig I bought:

The 2002 Monsters series Werewolf...really cool IMO. Everything that came after was crap.

 

[samueljd]

that's odd.

the numerous times i've met him(in private and public) he's always been the nicest guy, eager to sign things, eager to talk with people, and always a huge dork. the guy is fun to be around.

the only time i've noticed him being a bit "arrogant" about things is when people suggest what he do with his properties.

I just know my experience and what I came across. My older brother and myself had actually gone to the comic convention in Seattle. My older brother was in his late teens and I must have been in my early or preteens. This was long before any of McFarlane's success' and he was a new up and coming comic artist. We loved his stuff and just thought he was amazing and he had inspired us to read and buy some of the comics of the classic comic characters in this new fresh look (i.e. Hulk, Spiderman). When we met him though, it was such a let down. We had waited for hours for him to arrive and had quite a few comics in our hands for him to sign, but when he showed up he was acting stuck up and pushy and would only sign a few comics, before he told us to get going and that he didn't feel like signing any more of our comics. McFarlane was very stand-offish and would not even acknowledge us, he seemed to not even want to look at us directly. Since then, over the years I have heard it mentioned many a time of this huge ego he has and bad attitude he has. I can't help but understand where these people are coming from, when they mention the bad experiences they've had with him. We had no preconceived notion about him, since he wasn't really established like he is now, other than we thought we were meeting a great comic artist we like and admired. Take it for what it is, just my experience meeting Todd McFarlane over 20 years ago. I don't really think about it much, just had my memory refreshed when I was reading this thread.