The Adventure of Spawn. What you guys think?

[madadman]

It all seems pretty bizarre to me but it just looks like Todd?s in search of bigger profits. I?d love to get Michael Crawford?s take on the direction Todd is going but my guess is this:

In order to secure the bigger and better licenses it looks like McF is toning down the ?dark? side of the toy lines. Adventures of Spawn is just another example of that. Todd seems to have done away with any horror or fantasy lines (excluding Spawn and Dragons) and are concentrating on familiar, family friendly toys. It?s unfortunate since Todd redefined the genre by pushing the envelope. Now NECA has picked up the ball Todd dropped and seem to be making a good run of it. Then again, NECA has so much product on the shelves that if one warms pegs, another pays the bills.

I miss the old McFarlane touch. But hey, business is business and if I were Todd I?d probably be pretty sick of watching my ?Conan?s? and ?Infernal Parades? warming pegs. [img]frown.gif[/img]

[The Mighty Wolf]

Originally posted by madadman:

In order to secure the bigger and better licenses it looks like McF is toning down the ?dark? side of the toy lines. Adventures of Spawn is just another example of that. Todd seems to have done away with any horror or fantasy lines (excluding Spawn and Dragons) and are concentrating on familiar, family friendly toys.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I can agree to the bases of your point, but Series 31 does seem to be going back to the dark and horror theme?

[baimun]

Originally posted by Chosen One:
I can agree to the bases of your point, but Series 31 does seem to be going back to the dark and horror theme?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I see Series 31 as "Oh Shit... we need to stop the bleeding or we'll lose them all...."

In the mean time, the experienced sculptors are all leaving.

[Cursedknight]

Some people would simply shit themselves if someday it was announced that McF BOUGHT out NECA (or some other SMALL co.) for that very reason.......


would be an easy solution to making BOTH genre of toys....make McF toys the flagship company, and just buy out a junior company to make the specialty market accessible again.

makes better sense than spending millions on baseballs or dying hockey teams.

[Biomechanoid]

Originally posted by Cursedknight:
Some people would simply shit themselves if someday it was announced that McF BOUGHT out NECA (or some other SMALL co.) for that very reason.......


would be an easy solution to making BOTH genre of toys....make McF toys the flagship company, and just buy out a junior company to make the specialty market accessible again.

makes better sense than spending millions on baseballs or dying hockey teams.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I've been thinking the same thing. It started about the time Topps began streamlining Wizkids Games to sell (which they haven't admitted to yet). I thought, "what if McF decided to branch out into a collectible games market?" Afterall, it would be the only way I'd ever see Spawn in HeroClix. But it really does look like McF is starting to aim at the easy money as if they're preparing to bankroll some kind of takeover. Personally, I'd love to see it. To see them buy NECA, however, would just be insane - the fanboy masses alone would generate enough hype to make it worthwhile. Ah, glorious chaos.

But seriously, McF should buy WK 'cause it would be better for me.

[thatchetguy]

Originally posted by Imbalance:
... Afterall, it would be the only way I'd ever see Spawn in HeroClix.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Well, the other Image titles and independents would disagree with you on that. Todd could have EASILY licensed Spawn, but he chose not to. Luckily, Heroclix are easy to customize and there are templates for the dial settings. [img]wink.gif[/img]

[Biomechanoid]

Originally posted by That Chet Guy:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Imbalance:
... Afterall, it would be the only way I'd ever see Spawn in HeroClix.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Well, the other Image titles and independents would disagree with you on that. Todd could have EASILY licensed Spawn, but he chose not to. Luckily, Heroclix are easy to customize and there are templates for the dial settings. [img]wink.gif[/img] </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Well, of course. I suppose I should have specified "officially licensed"... [img]tongue.gif[/img] The Invincible set was the most promising Image entry yet, and there's still plenty of requests for Spawn et al. It may eventually happen... [img]redface.gif[/img]

I did one semi-decent Spawn mod when the game was new... I suppose it's time for another one...

[baimun]

I know it's borderline trolling....

.... but I hope this gets some of the Whiteboard Geek's panties in a twist [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

[The Mighty Wolf]

In the meantime, the Japanese toy companies have large chunks of the market!

My point being is that way back in the mid 90's, Mcfarlane toys exploded the scene for toy collectors, pushed the envelope and bla bla bla... It thought it had set itself as a benchmark for figure making. Though what it did, it opened up the demand for the small Japanese garage kit companies, like Kaiyodo to push it's figures into mass production, and sell them in the western stream also via the net.

At the moment I'm currently helping a friend's store here in SA, and 95% of the sales are Japanese import figures. Look at the previews nowadays, there is an entire section based on just Anime figures.

I remember there was a time when McFarlane figures were it? Now I can place Kaiyodo, Griffon, Good smile company, Bandai, Yamato, Alter and etc over them...

Why did this happen? Simply because the western companies are producing below par figures both in themes and quality.
I've been extensively collecting only anime figures over the last 2 years, and the great thing is that the prototype on the packaging looks identical like the retail you purchase. Never had anything to return like the Mcfarlane figures I did in the past, and gone are my days of touching up paint errors.

So IMO, I feel Todd lost grip on the market because the licenses picked besides are not appealing to the majority, and they are also not finished to top quality when compared to the competition.

Oh, and Hasbro and Toybiz simply survived because they were the only ones with Starwars and Marvel licenses. But other than that, their figures will take another age to reach the current Japanese standards!