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Spawn 25 Deluxe Creech

I reviewed the rest of the regular release Spawn 25 figures today over at da Poop, so I won't spend a lot of time explaining the whole shebang.

Suffice to say, Spawn 25 is a continuation of the Classic Comic Covers idea started with Spawn 24, it's a cool idea, and I like it.

Creech is the deluxe figure from this assortment.  Generally the deluxe figures are larger, more intricate, with a larger number of accessories or a unique play set environment - in other words, deluxe.  They also retail for around $18 - $20, rather than the $10 of a regular release figure.

Creech follows the Comics Covers theme, and is patterned the artwork from Creech: Out for Blood issue 1.  The regular series of figures just started hitting stores about a week ago, so Creech should show up any day.  I have some suggestions listed at the end for on-line buys.






Packaging - ***
There's nothing particularly exciting about the boxes used for this deluxe release.  The box is about the size of the sports two packs, and has photo art of the comic cover along with the toy.  It's sturdy, and is easy to store, but be ready for a bunch of twisty ties.

Sculpting - ***1/2
Easily the best aspect of this figure is it's sculpt.  Not only does it match the source artwork fairly well, it's a detailed and complex sculpt in its own right.

It's not perfect though, particularly in the design of the shoulders.  Rather than be consistent, they decided to do a ball jointed left shoulder, and a non-existent right shoulder.  The clean lines on one side really don't match well with the clunky lines of the other.  They were trying to mirror some of the aspects of the artwork, but in three dimensions it just didn't work.

My favorite aspect of the overall sculpt is the massive gauntlets and fingers.  These massive appendages are extremely well done, with tons of realistic detail bringing out the machine/metal quality of the hands.

The scale of this figure is very good as well, and he will fit in nicely with the rest of your Spawn universe.

Paint - ***
Another area of inconsistency between the arms is the paint, or more specifically, the color.  The right arm is decidedly lighter in color than the rest of the body, again probably done to try to capture the shading of the cover art.  Unfortunately, instead of appearing like shading, it looks like he has a bizarrely colored arm.

I never read this series, and only know Creech from a few appearances that I caught in other books.  But I don't recall this vast difference in color, and it's extremely noticeable on the figure.

UPDATE:  An astute reader pointed out that the material of his costume is torn off the arm and he's right.  The wrinkles are more pronounced in the left arm, but the veins and musculature are so similar, it's not obvious at first look.  Still, I cut them a little slack over the color difference, but wish that the difference was GREATER in this case, to make it clearer that the difference is on purpose.  The combination of similar colors with similar sculpts doesn't work for me, and the skin isn't different enough from the costume.  That's more of a character design flaw than a toy flaw.

Articulation - ***
Creech has more useful articulation than any of the rest of Spawn 25, even if some if it seems a little odd.  He has a ball jointed right shoulder, what are either pin or ball joints at the top of both mechanical hands,  hips, a cut left bicep, waist, and ball joints at the top of the boots.

The tentacles are also all bendy, which gives you some real hairdo possibilities.  Wild or well managed, it's up to you.

Each of the ten fingers is also articulated with a ball joint at the base.  Do you remember how the little arms attached with ball joints to the bottom of the Sentinal?  That's what's happening here with Creech's fingers.  The range of motion isn't bad, although he can't really grip anything.

The little cannons on the gloves are also a articulated, although the range of motion is pretty limited.

Accessories - **
Creech really only has two - his stand, and his comic cover.  The comic cover is MUCH larger than the covers that come with the regular series figures, requiring two stands to hold it up.

Creech's display stand is a rock bask, just big enough for both his feet with not much else there.  If it had come with a regular release figure, this stand would have been the cat's pajamas - with a deluxe figure it's more like the cat's litterbox.

Okay, it's not that bad, but I couldn't resist the joke.  Creech stands very well using the base, and the sculpt is good, but when you consider the price (and expectations) of a deluxe boxed figure, this stand falls short.

Fun Factor - *
Like the regular release, Creech isn't made for fun, but display.  He does have greater articulation than the rest of the series, although the majority of it is intended to find that perfect pose.  And unlike the regular figures, if you throw this one at the cat, you'll just have to end up explaining to the kids why it's dead.

Value - **
If you end up paying twenty bucks for this, you may be a little disappointed, especially if you've both other deluxe sets in the past.  He's a nice big figure, but we've gotten decent sized figures, with some serious heft, at a lower price point.  He doesn't have the complexity or perceived value of the play sets or even the horse/rider set from Spawn 24.

It is important to note though that many on-line stores sold previous deluxe sets for up to $25 - I'm just used to my local Meijers.

Overall - ***
I almost gave this figure **1/2, far less than the rest of series 25.  After some careful consideration, and looking him over for a couple days, I decided that the better points - particularly the sculpt - outweighed the shortcomings.

He's a big figure, but with little in terms of accessories, he's a hard sell as a 'deluxe'.  They either needed to do more with the base, or they should have brought the price down for this deluxe to the $15 mark.

If you're a big Creech fan, you'll probably pretty pleased with him - the sculpt and articulation are solid - but for the casual fan, there's better figures in the assortment.

Where to Buy - 
The deluxe figures are never far behind the regular wave, so these should be showing up any day.  On-line options include:

- Aisle Sniper has the set of five regular figures available for $50, but doesn't have Creech listed.

- Killer Toys has an excellent price on a set of five for just $40! They also have the figures available individually for $9 each, and Creech available for $18.

 

 


Figure from the collection of Michael Crawford.

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