The battle between Heaven and Hell has waged eternal, their armies fueled by souls harvested on Earth. The devil, Malebolgia, has sent a lieutenant to Earth to recruit men who will turn the world into a place of death in exchange for wealth and power, a place that will provide enough souls to complete his army and allow Armageddon to begin. All the Dark Lord needs now is a great soldier, someone who can lead his hordes to the gates of Heaven and burn them down.
- Cogliostro; Spawn (the movie)
Hi guys,
a couple of months ago I ordered the Spawn Series 24 - Classic Comic Covers: Spawn I.043 Action Figure from McFarlane Toys and ever since I received it, I have been very impressed by this figure.
As a statue collector buying an action figure may seem to be a classic case of going 'one step up and two steps back' but let me tell you upfront that not even the biggest die-hard statue collector would be disappointed with this figure.
One of my first steps on the road of becoming a fan and collector was formed by buying and collecting action figures and I never forgot where I came from.
When I got the chance to buy this amazing figure I therefore jumped on the occasion.
This is not a polystone statue but instead an action figure made of hard plastic.
This figure delivers the goods in spades however and it does so in a similarly convincing way as its bigger and more expensive brothers.
This action figure is an eyecatcher in the truest sense of the word and once assembled it is much, much bigger than you might expect when looking at the box.
I hope you will enjoy this review and perhaps you will be just as astonished by the presence and beauty of this figure as I have been since I displayed it in my collection room.
Have fun!
My verdict
Armageddon (from Ancient Greek: Harmagedōn, Late Latin: Armagedōn) will be, according to the Biblical Book of Revelation,
the site of gathering of armies for a battle during the end times, variously interpreted as either a literal or a symbolic location.
The term is also used in a generic sense to refer to any end of the world scenario.
Manufacturer: McFarlane Toys
Series: Spawn
Subseries: Series 24 - Classic Comic Covers
Release date: 2003
Statue size: 14 inches
Sculpt:
8.5 - Very impressive
No matter from which angle you look at this figure it is clear that we are looking at a top-notch sculpt here. Spawn, the bats which accompany him and his incredibly detailed cape just look Awesome with a capital A! Spawn’s impressively muscular body, the stern, grim look on his face, the spikes on his costume and the demonic skull ornaments on his costume, it all looks incredibly cool. And then I have not even begun talking about Spawn’s amazingly cool cape which is uniquely shaped and really createst he illusion of Spawn being in full flight coming down hard on his unsuspecting target below (Death From Above! could have been a watchword used by Spawn) The form and detailed shape of Spawn’s cape make you realize that his cape is just as much part of his symbiotic suit as his body armor and is driven by supernatural energies.
This figure is a worthwhile and undeniably beautiful tribute to the fighting Al Simmons and the warrior he became after he died and went to Hell. The sculpt is large and a true eyecatcher and I believe this must be one of the best Spawn figures out there.
That does not mean however that there is no room for improvement. As stated the bats are cool but they would have looked even better if they would have been a bit bigger. The bats are a bit on the small and flimsy side and I think that’s a pity.
Furthermore I am not entirely sold on the position of Spawn’s legs. While I dig the flying pose I just can’t shake the thought completely of seeing Spawn doing a tribal dance or participating in a musical.
I don’t know what it is but the pose of Spawn’s leg reminds me a bit of the dancing students which I saw in the TV series FAME when I was a kid.
These are relatively minor points in my opinion though. All-in all is very impressive and befitting of the fearsome warrior that Spawn is.
Paint & Mixed Media:
8.5 - Very impressive
I love the addition of the iron chains since they really add a lot to the appearance and look of Spawn’s suit and body armor. The paintjob on Spawn’s cape and suit generally is well done and I love the colors. The expressive red of Spawn’s cape and body armor looks great together with the muted black and grey colors of his costume and together they make for an impressively looking Spawn.
The green glow of Spawn’s eyes is furthermore a fantastic reference to the necroplasm coursing through his body and it’s another touchdown on the scorecard of this figure.
I would have liked the bats to have a deeper black color since they just too greyish-black looking to me but other than that there are lots of goodies to enjoy and admire here.
Design:
9.0 - Excellent
The fact that Spawn seems to be floating in mid-air is very cool. The bats flying in front of Spawn really create the illusion of Spawn flying and I think that is a tremendous feat.
The design of Spawn’s cape is really impressive and I really like the usage of metal chains in Spawn’s outfit.
Too bad that the poles which are holding Spwn and the bats up in the air are still clearly visible even though they are made of transparant plastic. This is however not very distracting and the poles blend in a bit with the figure after a while.
The base is a relatively simple platter but I very much like the holes made in the base since these give you great freedom in deciding where you will place the rod holding the bats and in which angle you will place the bats towards Spawn.
It gives you the option of creating your own unique personalized display which is great.
When assembling the figure I had some trouble attaching Spawn to the rod holding him up in the air (it’s about the angle you use to insert the rod; brute force will not help) and also faced some problems when assembling his cape (it’s a bit of a puzzle but after a while you will figure it out)
Designwise the assembly could have been a made a bit easier but other than that I have no complaints whatsoever.
Production & Build Quality:
8.5 - Very impressive
The statue is built very well and if handled with the normal TLC which we all apply to our beloved statues and busts, I have no doubt that you will be able to enjoy this statue for a very long time to come.
The cape, the figure, the bats and the base are all made of plastic but I do not consider that to be a disadvantage. The cape is beautifully made and sturdy enough to take away all your worries of bending it out of shape unintentionally.
Because Spawn is attached to a pole the figure does wobble a little when I move the base around but I am not very concerned about this since I do not believe Spawn will fall of the pole (as stated above it took some efforts to attach Spawn securely to the pole holding him up but one attached correctly Spawn is going nowhere).
The bats are a bit flimsy so please treat them with care. If you do so however and do not mess with them too much after you have displayed them , they will last many, many moons to come. This is not a heavy polystone statue but when it comes down to build quality I feel you have nothing to worry about.
Overall rating:
8.5 - Very impressive
When I started collecting years ago the figures of Spawn were amongst my absolute favourites. I loved the story of Al Simmons and the quality of these figures and after all this time I am happy to see nothing has changed since these good old days.
This figure is a very impressive piece which has just as much appeal to me as the more expensive statues of Bowen, Sideshow or Kotobukiya in my collection.
Being a statue collector buying an action figure might seem taking a step back but nothing could be further away from the truth.
This figure absolutely rocks and it’s a relatively inexpensive gem which will shine in the collection of any collector and fan.
Two Thumbs Up; definitely recommended!
Background Information
Spawn was once a man named Al Simmons, a highly trained assassin who was considered to be the best in his field of work.
Albert Francis Simmons was born in Detroit, Michigan. He was the second of three children (Marc, Al and Richard) who's father was a traveling salesman and grandfather was a Hellspawn called "Gunslinger Spawn". Simmons was a very intelligent and physically strong officer in the United States Marine Corps, attaining the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He later joined the United States Secret Service and became a highly decorated member after he saved the President from an attempted assassination.
This led to his promotion to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). In the CIA, Simmons was recruited into a special division known as the U.S. Security Group, a task force with jurisdiction in all domestic and foreign situations, commanded by CIA Director Jason Wynn.
However, Al soon realized that the Government wasn't always right and started questioning if they were truly correct in their actions. This caught the attention of people in high power.
Jason Wynn who had long since been his superior found out about this and knew that Al knew too much. So he hired Chapel who was Al's friend and partner to kill him.
In a blazing inferno Al Simmons was murdered and his soul was sent to Hell because he had knowingly killed innocents in his CIA days.
Al made a deal to sell his soul to Malebolgia, one of the many rulers of Hell, to get to see his wife Wanda Fitzgerald once again. He was allowed to come back however he came back five years later as some kind of strange Hellspawn with no memory of what he had done.
After remembering what he had done, he sought out his wife only to find she had moved on and married his best friend, Terry Fitzgerald and had even had a child named Cyan.
It was after this event that his demonic guide the Violator whom appeared as a clown showed up. He revealed to Spawn the purpose of his life and fought him but had his battle interrupted by Malebolgia.
Now realizing his purpose he must fight to survive against both the forces of Heaven and Hell.
Name: Albert Francis Simmons
Military rank: Lieutenant Colonel
Gender: Male
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 234 lbs
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
Nationality: African American
Powers
Necroplasm - The Power of a Hellspawn.
The source of Spawn’s power comes from necroplasm. It is the necroplasm which gives him his strength and durability. His strength is capable of lifting an entire building and throwing it with ease. Necroplasm was originally dubbed by humans as Psychoplasm, but later in translation has become the green goo we're all more familiar with. Each Hellspawn is given 9:9:9:9 units of necroplasm and when that is gone they go straight back to Hell. Spawn’s main weapon however is his symbiotic suit. His suit is called Leetha of the 7th House of K or K7-Leetha.
The suit is connected to his central nervous system which allows him to control all parts of the suit, but at times the suit has protected him even if he is unconscious. He uses the suit to create his chains, spikes and to animate his cape to attack his foes, even cutting and dismembering limbs. The costume feeds off the necroplasm in Spawn’s body however the suit can also feed off evil from humans, certain animals such as insects, bats, etc and even from different parts of the city itself. Spawn’s power is only truly limited by imagination and his units of necroplasm. However due to Spawn retaining his military training he often uses firearms instead of his powers.
Spawn also has unique powers that other Hellspawn do not have. He can detect when someone is in danger or has been killed and he can feel negative emotions such as pain, hatred and misery. It was recently revealed that Spawn’s body contained a number of lost souls. Twitch Williams estimated that their may have been near 6,000 souls in his body. He was able to summon those souls as Hellspawn anytime he needed thanks to the help from a young Hellspawn named Christopher who escaped thanks to his heart being removed early in a battle. However these souls have currently moved on, but Spawn still has their knowledge and experiences. He later shows that a few souls still remained and were the most powerful of the group but these were truly finished off by Spawn's daughter Morana.
Spawn had been given great power due to the help of the Greenworld and the Mother. He was given the power to control the Earth itself after his battle with Urizen and used this power to swallow him whole in the Earth. After giving him a piece of fruit from the Tree of Life the Mother gave Spawn godlike power. He used these new powers to engulf an army of Hellspawn in the Earth and send them back to Hell. He also used this power to destroy all of Hell and Heavens forces and the reconstructed all of Earth and it’s people and trapped God and Satan in their own realm to fight.
One special power that Spawn has is mutation. Spawn first used this power when he fought the redeemer an Anti-Spawn from heaven that can manipulate energy but not powers he also has necroplasmic powers making him a tough foe. This power allows Spawn to mutate into a creature with enhanced strength this power is similar to shape shifting except he can only evolve to creatures and monsters rather than his opponents. Spawn might use this power when he trying to scare off bad guys or defeat another monster from hell.
Spawn is often known as
'The One' because of his abilities another common reason is because spawn was brought to hell and was leader at one point and would give all other Hellspawns orders to defeat their rivals, but Spawn found out that they were evil and then decided that he wanted to leave hell and continue his mission to conquer the world. The ruler was Violator a foe of Spawn and had to fight him in order for him to leave, this was the second battle they fought but didn't last long since Spawn had fought him and learned Violator's weaknesses and used them to his advantage. Spawn won the battle then was allowed to leave. Spawn returned to earth very fast due to his speed and teleportation skills after this battle Spawn learned that he had the power to travel to different dimensions.
One of Spawn's weaknesses is the Greenworld. The Greenworld is a dimension that drains Spawn's powers. Once Spawn is in this dimension all of his past starts to haunt him and starts to make him slow in combat, although Spawn still knows martial arts. When he is in this world his attacks may not be as strong. Spawn was brought to the Greenworld when he started to gain the upper hand between the battle of him and Violator, Spawn was wounded and sought a way to defeat Violator but would soon find help from the Mother who helped him defeat Violator.
Spawn is rendered powerless (and therefore mortal) in a patch of alley known as "The Dead's Zone": a small patch of Earth that is Heaven's domain and in the ethereal realm of the "Greenworld." In this alley Spawn has to abide to the laws of the Greenworld and not those of Hell or Earth.
The war between Heaven and Hell depends on the choices we make, and those choices require sacrifice. That's the test.
- Cogliostro; Spawn (the movie)
Rainer
