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Packaging - ***1/2
Sometimes, Medicom goes a bit nuts with the depth of their
packaging. This is one of those cases, although it is true that the huge
cape tends to require a lot more room than usual. Still, the box is
bigger than it really needs to be.
The only other negative is the same thing that's true with most Japanese
sixth scale packaging - not enough background text. But other than that,
this packaging is some of the nicest they've ever done. Of course it's
completely collector friendly, without any twisties and even no tape.
The graphics are fantastic, even if the Spawn in the artwork isn't exactly
the costume inside.
Sculpting - Regular Head ****; Hamburger Head ***1/2
With this type of figure, the majority of the sculpt work is in the head,
hands and feet. I'm going to also include the gauntlets on the arms and
left leg as well in this section, since they are made from hard plastic and
actually removable.
Both heads are a bit pin sized, but for some reason it bothers me more with
the hamburger version than the masked version. I like the detail in the
masked version, with some soft wrinkling and sculpted lines between the
lighter and darker colors. This is the head I suspect most folks will
end up displaying him with.
The hamburger head is nice - don't get me wrong. It's just that the
comparisons to Mcfarlane versions are inevitable, and this isn't as detailed
as a Mcfarlane sculpt would be in this scale. The stitching and teeth look
good, with some nice burn damage across the skull, but compared head to head
with some of Mcfarlane's own work, it comes up a little short.
The feet are done in the traditional elongated and funky style of
Todd. The leg and arm gauntlets look amazing, and are made from a very
hard plastic, much nicer than something you'd see in the lower end
market. These are actually removable if you pop the hands and feet off,
something that's pretty easy to do.
The fisted hands seem a bit small, but it's not as bad as some other
Medicom figures, like the Stormtroopers. The open claw hands are another
highlight of the sculpt, and might be the preferred version for most folks.
The only issue with the hands is that they can pop on and off a bit easily,
due to the heavy weight of the gauntlets. They're also a bit tougher to
get on for the same reason, but this is a very minor nit.
The scale has the usual issues. He does stand about 12" tall at
the head, and obviously the little horns stick up further. He also has
that nice bulky torso of the comic book body. He'll fit in okay with
other figures, depending on what you consider to be an appropriate height for
the character compared to others, but he's not going to tower over anyone in
this scale.
Paint - ****
Yes Virginia, it is possible to have extremely clean paint ops, even with a
gory figure.
Obviously, there's not a huge amount of paint detail here, but what is here
is done with extreme precision. The red and silver gauntlets, the small
skulls, the masked head - all of these are extremely nice and really couldn't
be better.
The hamburger head isn't quite as realistic as perhaps a Mcfarlane
version. There's more detail here, less use of wash and fuzz to blend
the blood and skin. It's a different style, but not one I'm complaining
about. It's worth noting though, because I'm sure some fans will take
exception.
Worth noting is that the colors of the head matches the colors of the
material on the costume extremely well in both color and finish. This includes
both the black and the whiter symbol color. That can be quite tricky,
and is often one of the factors that detract from a clothed figure like
this. Not so here, and even the red vinyl cape does a reasonably good
job of matching with the gauntlets. It's not quite as close a match
since the vinyl is such a soft textured material compared to the hard plastic,
but it's certainly better than I had expected.
Articulation - ****
For those that have worked with a RAH 306 figure before, the amazing
articulation will be no surprise. What was a surprise was that the cape
assembly had far less interference than I anticipated.
He has all the joints you've come to expect in a high end sixth scale
figure, including an excellent ball jointed neck and ball jointed chest.
There's no ugly cut joints showing under the costume, but he has all the range
of movement of the usual Medicom. He hangs in poses in a very natural way, and
even the cape is poseable.
In each 'section' of the cape (there are about six separate pieces of cape
attached to the shoulder harness - more on that in the Outfit section) there
is a long wire, allowing you to add some bend or turn to the overall flow of
that section. Now, you aren't going to get super radical with most of
these, since the vinyl is heavy and will drag the wire down in some more
extreme poses. But it does allow you to give the heavy cape some
personality of its own. The only issue is that on occasion, the small
wires will stick out of the material at the end, and will need to be
readjusted back up inside carefully.
He also has very stiff wires running through the two top extensions on the
cape. These are thicker and stiffer than the ones in the lower sections
of the cape, and can hold just about any pose you might desire.
If there's one issue with the articulation, it's the unattractive wrist
joints. The peg design makes them a tad bit skinnier than the rest of the arm,
but it's really only noticable on the left arm, where it's not as hidden by
the gauntlet.
Accessories - ***1/2
Spawn comes with the usual clear plastic Medicom stand, which won't be
necessary for basic poses, but might come in handy for more extreme comic
style posing.
He also comes with the aforementioned extra set of hands and hamburger
head. The hands are done in an exaggerated claw, making them useful
together or in a combined manner with the other fisted hands.
It's been too long since we had a good hamburger head version of Spawn, and
this one fills the bill. The heads are hard to swap though, so be very
careful. Mine where hard enough to get off and on that it would have
been possible to damage the chest joint if I didn't hold onto the body up far
enough to control it.
That's it for the accessories, and if I hadn't been so enamored with the
head and hands, this category would have lost another half star on
quantity. The quality made up for it.
Outfit - ****
The base for the outfit is the soft, rubbery body suit. This fits
extremely well, and while it will still wrinkle at certain points and in
certain poses, that's obviously unavoidable. It looks great in just
about in pose, and restricts the overall articulation very little.
The M symbol is imprinted on the costume perfectly, which was key to making
this look amazing. Any flubs or inconsistencies in the symbol would have
ruined the overall appearance, so it's nice to see they put the quality of
this at the top of their list.
Also worth noting on this body suit is the neck. Remember all the
complaints about the goofy neck line of the Spider-man and Symbiote
Spider-man? No such problems here. The body suit flows up under
the head, and the jaw line matches up with the neck much better.
The small skulls look great, but also hold the real metal chains to the
body at various points. They didn't go nuts with the chains (there's the
one for the cape, one on the left bicep, and the usual short pair around the
hips), and that's going to be disappointing for some. I can live with it
though, again because the chains that are here are so well done.
The part of the outfit that will draw the most attention is the cape. The
base for the cape is a hard plastic 'harness' that sits on top of his
shoulders. It's formed over the shoulders, and attaches on the top and
on the upper back, completely avoiding the shoulder articulation. You
can raise the arms all the way over the head easily, but it gets in the way
far less than you might expect.
Off this base, the various sections of cape are attached with metal loops,
sort of like curtains. The thick vinyl material should stand up to quite a bit
of handling without any fears of tearing or damage, but don't go tugging on
his cape any more than you need to.
The two sections farthest to the front actually wrap around and cover the
harness, and add some nice flow to the overall appearance. There are the
two smaller horns on either side, and the two longer, wire encasing horns
closer to his head.
The entire construction really is one Hell of a nice piece of design work,
matching the 2-d style of the character well in 3 dimensions.
Fun Factor - ***1/2
Okay, nobody in his right mind - or even his left - is going to give this guy
to a six year old, even if there was a six year old that was into Spawn.
Most of the Spawn figures are intended for teens to adults to begin with, but
this guy is clearly a high end pop culture collectible, not a toy.
The beauty of this figure though, as with many Japanese action figures, is
that it hasn't forgotten it's roots. In fact, what makes this guy so
amazing is he IS an excellent toy, with all the articulation and playability
that you'd expect. The Japanese can combine the amazing look with the
amazing fun - I think that's the secret to the popularity of their action
figures in the U.S. and other parts of the world.
Value - **
Okay, as much as I love this figure, I have to admit it's not worth the $150
or so that it's running right now. It's close, but that's still a bit over
priced. I think that the folks that snagged this guy in the $120 - $130
range early on got a solid bargain, and can easily add that extra half star to
this score. Those of us that dragged our feet (and yes, I was one of
them, but it was not because I lacked interest, but rather that I had THOUGHT
I'd preordered it and hadn't) and had to pay the higher price tag will feel
the pinch.
Things to Watch Out For -
As I mentioned, the heads can be quite tough to pop on and off.
Particularly when you're pulling them off, you want to hold the body up high
on the chest to avoid pulling too much on the ball joint located within.
Oh, and try not to put an eye out with one of the wires from the
cape. I'm sure you can handle it, but I don't want you coming up to me
at SDCC with a patch over your eye and yelling at me because I didn't warn
you.
Overall - ****
Any huge fan of Spawn really needs to pick up this figure. If you don't,
you'll regret it down the road. Yes, it's expensive now, but a regular
set of action figures costs $70 these days, and this will be the centerpiece
of your Spawn display.
That's not to say there are no issues here. There's always going to
be some nits for people like me to pick, but this is still a clear four star
figure, and I'm very glad I forked up the cash now, instead of paying quite a
bit more down the road. And I suspect that will be the case too, unlike
some of their figures like Jack Sparrow, who was available well below retail
after he started shipping. I don't think Spawn will be seeing that same fate.
Score Recap:
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpt - Regular Head ****; Hamburger Head ***1/2
Paint - ****
Articulation - ****
Accessories - ***1/2
Outfit - ****
Fun Factor - ***1/2
Value - **
Overall - ****
Where to Buy -
I recommend any of these online options:
- CornerStoreComics
has him listed at $140.
- Amazing Toyz does as well at
$140.
- Entertainment Earth
has him at the higher price of $180, but he's definitely in stock.
Related Links -
Let's look at some other Medicom sixth scale figures, including:
- their Star Wars offerings have included the Sandtrooper, Darth Vader,
the regular Stormtrooper, ROTS
Vader, Jedi Luke,
and Clonetrooper
and Blackhole Trooper.
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