What happens when you take Todd McFarlane’s flagship character, Spawn, and plant him into Egyptian mythology?
Well, probably the same thing as when you make him a cowboy, a robot, a knight, a demon, an angel, a machine-gun toting vigilante, a bringer of holiday cheer, a female, a samurai, a refugee from a nuclear disaster and a pirate. Whatever happens, I like it.
This thirty-third wave of Spawn figures brings Spawn into yet another alternate universe, and as a fan of both Egyptian imagery and alternate universes, I excitedly awaited this latest wave. I’ve been on a bit of a Spawn break lately, with the exception of the Goddess Llyra figure – not because I didn’t want them, but because my room was being taken over by McFarlane’s stunning Dragon figures. Since most McFarlane figures skew towards being statuesque and aren’t fully articulated, they don’t have conveniently foldable legs and arms to fit them into storage. The calculated lack of movable parts allows for seamless sculpture though, so the trade is more than fair. They’re not ‘action figures’ in a traditional sense, and they’re certainly too pointy (and occasionally delicate) to be ‘toys’, so let’s just call them ‘figures’.
This latest ‘Age of Pharaohs’ wave includes six figures : Spawn the Immortal, The Crocodile King, The Jackal King, Warrior Isis, Soldier of Ra, and Scarab Assassin. Of the six, collectors should note that the only female figure of the wave, Warrior Isis, is ’short packed’ and is difficult to find. Toys ‘R’ Us and other mass market retailers will not be carrying her due to exposed fleshiness, paired with a long-held belief that female figures will not sell well. Your best bet at hunting her down is at an FYE or other specialty shop, or failing those, your favorite online store. While MSRP is about $15, Isis has been selling for almost twice that on the secondary market.
With good reason, too. McFarlane has a history of great female figures, some of my favorites coming from their Conan line, and some of the weirder ones coming from the Infernal Parade and Twisted Fairy Tales lines. We’re talking leathered-up, tattooed Red Riding Hoods. McFarlane has had a lot of practice, and Isis is probably one of the most dynamic female figures to date, crouching almost flat to the ground in an attack pose, and grasping a gigantic sword. She sports a movie-’Cleopatra’ 
styled haircut, a feathered headdress, a shield (on a band of elastic, making it removable) and not much else. Why warrior chicks would go into battle in their undies is a conjecture that fantasy imagery takes that I’ve never been able to follow… but I’m not complaining. The clothing details, on what little clothing there is, are sculpted to look woven thread by thread, which is a detail that goes above and beyond most figures. If you demand poseability, her sword arm and wrist can be turned. Some past McFarlane girls have had disconcerting man-hands, but that’s not the case with Isis.
The figure’s paint applications are flawless, with even the tiny details on the face being captured without a stray fleck, and a subtle bit of interference gold around the eyes and mouth than can only be seen when the light hits it right. If you’ve never seen a McFarlane figure, stroll into your local toy store and really take a look.
With every McFarlane beauty comes a beast, and the beastliest of the figures is the Crocodile King – a massive. scary. scary thing standing upright and hissing, with a snake for a tongue. I think it’s likely that the McFarlane sculptors realized how awesome this figure was without adding too many grotesque fantasy / anthropomorphic elements, so the snake tongue is removable, leaving behind a great monster of a crocodile without the whole Aliens thing going on.
The big ol’ Croc King is articulated to turn at the ankles, wrists and elbows, though you probably won’t be using the joints all that much. Red, glossy eyes poke out from a dusty, dark green and matte skin surface, expertly textured with pebbly, reptilian scales. One of the things I’ve always loved about McFarlane’s reptiles is how their scales seamlessly fade from one type into another, from biological function to function, with real consideration for how they’d operate were the fantasy animal in question were actual.
The lack of crazy-fantasy-warrior elements is actually the most appealing part of the figure. While the rest of the line is appropriately decked out in unmanageable, impractical (but good-looking!) weapons, the Croc King is comparatively subtle. Okay, so he’s got an ankh tattoo, but really – a crocodile holding a 5-foot long sword wouldn’t be too much scarier than a plain ol’ angry crocodile. Unless his sword was made out of another crocodile. Fans of reptiles, scary animals, and even students of sculpture – this is the figure for you. It appeals on all creative levels.
Of course, you can’t forget the titular character, Spawn. If there are two things that every Spawn wave must include, those things are a character with one giant spiky boot, and a whole bunch of weird skulls poking off of things (and sometimes, on a small length of twine). All of these prerequisites are filled in this single figure, and I enjoy the tradition.
Spawn is the first of four humanoid figures in the set, all muscled and leaping into battle with various weapons and accouterments. The set’s male-warrior sculpts are classically sinewy and heroic, classical in their execution. Spawn here is likely some kind of mummy, given his desiccated face and red bandages wrapped around his legs and arms. He comes with a removable collar, snake, spear, shield, and skull helmet – the latter of which is a very ornate dragon / ram skull that I prefer to leave off. With so many fine details, it’s easy to get too visually busy.
If there’s a distracting detail, it’s Spawn’s skirt – not because it’s a skirt, but because of the bluish hue it’s been given, making it look like a pair of exceptionally old blue jeans that Spawn just refuses to get rid of because he was wearing them that time the cute blonde asked for his number and now he considers them lucky. Little did he 
know that it wasn’t the jeans at all, but the magic in the air that night. The rest of the figure, like the remainder of the set, is painted really well, and it fits nicely into the Gallery of Spawn, right between the Ashley Wood cover figures and Raven Spawn.
I consider this to be a reinvigoration of the Spawn line, as it’s a series of consistent and original characters from an alternate and dark Spawn universe, instead of the charming Animated figures and revisions of existing characters – something we’ve not seen since Series 22’s Vikings. So, what’s next? Can we get a Steampunk Spawn, or an Outer Space Spawn set? Or how about Spawn : Life in Minnesota? Or Spawn : American Gothic?
I’m looking forward to it.
