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February 22, 2005
The biggest story of this year's Toy Fair: Todd McFarlane got OWNED.
(complete with cool pictures and stuff)
For those who don't know, Todd McFarlane revolutionized the action figure industry in the early '90s in several ways, first with his line of SPAWN toys based on his own character, then with several others:
1. He significantly upped the ante on the level of detailed sculpting and likeness on individual figures.
2. He brought the irritating "variant" strategy, so popular among comic book collectors, into toys, so that for years afterward, and still today, toy fans are annoyed by impossible-to-find "chase" figures with slight variations in paint or sculpting.
3. He shattered the taboo, dating back to Kenner's 1979 Alien figure, against making action figures based on R-rated movies or adult material.
and later on,
4. He redefined "action" figure as a toy that didn't necessarily have useful articulation provided it's in an "action" pose. Many toy collectors would not have accepted this back in 1994, but now a surprising amount of them do (myself included).
While his biggest contribution overall may have been his sports figures -- the first to truly look like the people they're based on -- as far as toy collectors are concerned, it was probably Movie Maniacs, the first line to give us action figures of Freddy Krueger, Leatherface, Jason, and many other contemporary horror icons. Companies like N2 followed the lead with Mad Max and Matrix figures, while SOTA pushed things even further with Plastic Fantasy porn star toys.
Todd pushed the envelope further with a Clive Barker line, but not long after that there was a sense that he was becoming cliche. His "6 Faces of Madness" line based on real killers sounded controversial, but then the toys were actually revealed, featuring such deranged and unrealistic augmentations as a cyborg-style peg-leg on Jack the Ripper. Lately, it's become clear that to Todd, "twisted" means "zombies, spikes, and tattooed chicks with no clothes."
I happen to share his love of such things, so I have no complaints about the now-fully-revealed Twisted Fairy Tales: Candy-tat Gretel, tortured Hansel, maggot-eaten Humpty Dumpty, Bondage-rape Miss Muffett, Goth Queen Red Riding Hood, and Undead Pumpkin Eater
However, they do show a one-track mind at work. Now, imagine a company with sculpting on a par with McFarlane that actually used their imagination to come up with cool monsters.
Why, that'd be SOTA's Nightmares of Lovecraft line!
Behold Cthulhu,
and Ghoul
(anyone for sushi?)
Not content to own Todd's ass that way, they've also got their own line called "Now Playing" that competes with Movie Maniacs, and have snapped up two licenses Todd already had as well as several fans had begged him for. In addition to the previously announced Darkman, Toxic Avenger, Jeepers Creeper, Nightmared Demon, Killer Klown, and Imhotep the Mummy, they just now showed...
and Kurt Russell versus THE THING
Now, a bit more backstory: As part of the Movie Maniacs line, Todd initiated the idea of 18" action figures with sound. Then after a couple fo years, he dropped that scale completely, deciding 12" was better. Fans were bitter, and other companies heard them.
SOTA's first venture into the scale involves a character Todd had the rights to once:
Tim Curry as Darkness from LEGEND
However, the company that totally owns the 18" figure-with-sound category is NECA, featuring former McFarlane employees. They've even announced Robocop in that scale, which has to hurt because Todd actually has a Robocop license, just not for that size.
Also on the slate is an 18" Terminator
and announcements of Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp), American Psycho, FvJ Jason Voorhees, Sin City Marv (Mickey Rourke), Iron Maiden mascot "Eddie," and Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig).
Not that they won't take on McFarlane in his own scale as well.
They already have that DONNIE DARKO license everyone told Todd to get. The Tall Man from PHANTASM is finally coming too, as is a boxed set featuring HIGHLANDER (Christopher Lambert) versus KURGAN (Clancy Brown). Also more Freddy, Jason, and Leatherface.
What has Todd announced?
THE SIMPSONS
and a line based on the U.S. military.
Has Todd become too corporate?
Posted by LYT at February 22, 2005 4:45 PM [Message Board]
Comments
Does he have kids? That might explain the shift in attitude.
Posted by: Peggy C at February 22, 2005 5:13 PM
Todd has been a father since before he started the Spawn comics.
His products are still plenty inappropriate for kids. Maggot-infested Humpty and Bondage/Arachnarape Miss Muffett are no-one's idea of kiddie toys -- they even distort kiddie ideas and make them evil.
It's also doubtful he needs the higher end licenses just to support his kids. He's got cash to spare, unless that hockey lawsuit cleaned him out, which could be the case.
But it's absurd that arch-rivals NECA get to make a Robocop WHILE TODD STILL HAS THE RIGHTS simply because he didn't cover his ass on the 18" end of the scale. Or that he didn't see the potential in a large-scale Darkness.
Speculation has it that he has to think something's cool before he goes after it.
Posted by: LYT at February 22, 2005 10:11 PM
Well, to be able to pick-and-choose what work you want to do is one definition of success. Maybe he just doesn't give a rip what anyone else thinks he should do.
And I know that his stuff's not typical kiddie fare. I thought maybe if he'd just had kids that would explain why he's taking on The Simpsons line--kind of a compromise so some of his work would be appropriate for his kids.
Posted by: Peggy C at February 25, 2005 3:02 PM