Spawn Action Figure Retrospective - McFarlane Toys Throwback Thursday! - The Toyark

Time for a walk down memory lane with a true Throwback Thursday gallery here at Toyark! Today we are going to take a look a wide selection of McFarlane Toys Spawn figures. With all the talk of sculpt and paint in our modern action figures, I kept running into shots of Spawn figs around the internets and thought, man those can hold their own today. So I set out on a mission to acquire the ones I thought were fire. The ones I chose go back as far as 1996, though most are in the early-mid 2000s. McFarlane was never known for articulation, and I knew that going in. These are poseable statues, at their best. They look great on a shelf bundled together, and the sculpt/paint combo on them all is top notch. They also photograph super well, very fun to play around with that way as you’ll see inside.

I had just started my goal of figuring out what was what, finding and buying them when Todd McFarlane himself dropped a nugget in an interview saying they are going back to their roots, doing more Spawn figures, Tortured Souls, Movie Maniacs. These were all awesome lines, and many pieces still hold up. So the timing couldn’t be better for this retrospective. Read on to check out over 75 HD images of the Spawn figures I think still kick ass today!

Introduction

To be clear, this is not a full pictorial or review of each figure. Just some thoughts and pretty shots of each. I wanted to jump right into the fun stuff with these guys, and I don’t think detailed reviews are needed for 15(ish) year old figures :). Most of the heat I found to be in the later series of figures, specifically 24 – 27. There are really solid figures in this era not featured here, and many non-Spawn characters that are well done. But I wanted to focus on Spawn proper for the most part, and him in his traditional look, that cape, the chains and those eyes. There are a couple of bangers leading up to series 24 as well, and even one from early on in 96 or so.

So, keep scrolling to check out our selection of shots for some of the best Spawn action figures out there! Of note – I’ve linked each to results on eBay so you can research and grab your own.

Spawn Series 4 – Clown II

The Clown II figure from series 4 is nuts. Giant guns, troll hair, great sculpt, head just hanging out on his forearm like a bracelet, and firing missiles. I was scouting local comic shops for pieces and ran into this guy for 10 bucks sealed. Wasn’t even looking for him. He’s relatively cheap on the secondary market, but I think he’s boss.

Spawn Series 17 – Spawn V

Another cheaper one on secondary market, I think the Spawn V was overproduced at the time. It was the first real “epic piece” and a sign of where McFarlane was going with the figures later on.

Spawn Series 21 – Alternate Realities Spawn VII on Throne

This thing is bonkers. Full throne, Spawn sitting gangster pondering life death with a skull in his hand. Can’t beat it. A perfect centerpiece to a collection.

Spawn Series 24 – Issue 39 Cover “Santa Spawn”

A classic cover, everyone loves holiday themed figs. Santa Spawn style of course. I tossed in a little snow, blood and a bonus hand to homage the cover.

Spawn Series 24 – Issue 43 Cover “Flying Spawn”

Another big piece based on a comic cover. Flying Spawn from Issue 43 comes on a stand so he can hover on your shelf. Look at those fabulous jazz hands!

Spawn Series 25 – Issue 95 Cover

A classic Greg Capullo cover, Spawn just epicly standing waiting to kick your ass. The colors are a tad bright but it adds some flavor in a group display.

Spawn Series 26 – Issue 8 Cover

Todd McFarlane created Venom, and did that epic #1 cover with him, so of course he had to homage it in his own book. And then do a figure of it.

Spawn Series 26 – Issue 57 Cover Spawn Vs Cy-Gor 2 Pack

I wasn’t originally going to pick this up. I got it in a lot with the Simmons 2 Pack at a good price so figured why not. Spawn Vs. Cy-Gor turned out to be one of my favs. Cy-Gor is a solid brick of plastic with crazy fur sculpt and paint. Together the piece towers on a shelf and it’s dynamic flow is really well done once you get it posed right.

Spawn Series 27 – Issue 86 Cover Spawn Vs. Al Simmons 2 Pack

I really wanted this one for the Spawn by itself. The cape flowing out is awesome. Together though it’s a great representation of the series having both Al and Spawn together.

Spawn Color Tops – Spawn Rebirth and Commando Spawn

The modern era pieces. These came out in late 2016 and 2017. They re-sparked my interest in Spawn figures. Kinda went dark for a while, but with talk of the new movie this summer I got the itch to do this and re-up my collection. I think they are both really good pieces that hold their own with any of the better classic stuff. Their matte paint is tops and I hope we get more classic looking figs leading up to the movie push!

Honorable Mentions…

There are a couple others I’d like to give honorable mention to, even though I haven’t obtained them yet.

Spawn Series 24 – Issue 88 “Halloween Spawn”. Looks really cool, has a nice tree diroama.

Spawn Series 24 – Issue 98 “Gargoyle Spawn”. Collectors Club Exclusive so it’s pricey.

Spawn Series 24 – Issue 109 “Wall Spawn”. Great diorama piece where Spawn attached to wall going downwards.

Spawn Series 25 – Hellspawn Issue 5 aka HSI05. Based on art by Ashley Wood of 3A fame.

Spawn Series 25 – Sam and Twitch Issue 22 aka STI22. Black and White artistic versions of the buddy cop duo.

10th Anniversary Spawn – While not the best figure by itself – it had full range of articulation similar to Marvel Legends of today, along with a cross diorama. There was also a standard McFarlane style release in this wave of Spawn with a cross diorama that is awesome.

And again, there are a lot of other characters, the Medieval Spawns, the Techno Spawns etc out there that hold weight. I just prefer the main line look and focus on that.

There are also 12 Inch versions of the Issue 95 Capullo Cover and the Issue 43 Flying Spawn. These are gigantic and pricey, but totally worth it I think.

All in all, doing the research for this, scouting pieces on eBay and building the Spawn arsenal has been fun. I went hard over the last month because I got tired of waiting. I will be going back into stalker mode to try and get some more pieces over time. Let’s hope some new stuff comes down the pipe sooner than later though! Hope you enjoyed this piece, let us know via the different channels if you’d like us to do it again!