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Todd McFarlane Announces 'Spawn' Kickstarter


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Todd McFarlane, owner of McFarlane Toys announced a brand new Kickstarter campaign during this year's Toy Fair.  McFarlane explains how the company started out as a Kickstarter and shows off from 1995, the original line of Spawn toys with the original Todd Toys logo.  He wants to start with the first Spawn figure and release the figure with the modern sensibilities and techniques of what has made McFarlane Toys what they are today.  If the first Kickstarter figure is a success then McFarlane will do the next figure or even the whole line.

The buy-in for the Kickstarter will be on different levels and will be under the MasterWorks title.  No word on when the Kickstarter will launch.

"BIG SPAWN KICKSTARTER NEWS!!! Head HERE to get all the info: https://facebook.com/liketoddmcfarlane/videos/191714708717989/?vh=e&d=n
#spawn #mcfarlane #mcfarlanetoys #toyfair"

McFarlane_Kickstarter.jpg

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1 hour ago, Satam said:

Isn't Todd a multi-millionaire who owns a successful toy company?

Yes, but without a media tie-in he cant get stores to put 4 feet of pegs full Spawn figures... this isn't 1995 anymore, they all want some sort of guarantee the stuff will sell. Hence why Spawn was tied to Mortal Kombat... hopefully this will succeed and he cam show people want Spawn figures.

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So what’s the price for this figure???

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21 hours ago, Satam said:

Isn't Todd a multi-millionaire who owns a successful toy company?

I was thinking the same thing, maybe he should wait for the movie to come out and see if retailers would go for it. Also if he can't get Target or Walmart to carry the line maybe he should try comic book stores or online retailers.

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1 hour ago, Belmont13 said:

I was thinking the same thing, maybe he should wait for the movie to come out and see if retailers would go for it. Also if he can't get Target or Walmart to carry the line maybe he should try comic book stores or online retailers.

That's what I was thinking.

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Really looking forward to this method of distribution. Has a lot of potential if they have a good price point and interesting extras at different tiers. Not that different from places like Super7 where they only make what is pre-ordered and love those original designs of those figs so an updated articulated version is very tempting.

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I wonder how they the final figure will look like but it’s pretty good idea. 

21 hours ago, supermancrotch said:

I hate his figures are super big, he started with 6 inches, now his toys are 7 inches, what´s next 8?????????????

This series will be shrunken down to 5 inches, or at least that’s what Todd said in some video. 

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On 2/24/2020 at 10:45 PM, Satam said:

Isn't Todd a multi-millionaire who owns a successful toy company?

Is that meant to ask why is he's not just giving them away for free and trying to sell them directly to the consumer via (Kickstarter),  or why he isn't selling it at places like Walmart? If it's the first, that's why he is a multi-millionaire. Because he runs a successful business, and businesses requires you pay for stuff. If its the second, see JoeRyno's response, its pretty dead on. Even with the MK Spawn, I was told retailer interest wans't super strong. I think the retailers are wrong and that MK Spawn will sell like wildfire, but we shall see.

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I don't know what the buy in amount is, but I think they should keep it the size of the prototype and load it with articulation, or at least be fairly on par with the MK version. If they were going to go a different scale then I would say make it 6" but changing scale at this point I feel like is a mistake regardless of the original line.

I'd love to see him take that cape after the articulation is added and do a McFarlane style Batman.

At the end of the day I think this is Todd's idea to try an circumvent the Walmarts and Targets from telling him what he can and can't do with these figures.

If this Spawn figure ended up as 5" with minimal articulation, it will be interesting to see just how well the Kickstarter will do.

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On 2/25/2020 at 5:45 AM, Satam said:

Isn't Todd a multi-millionaire who owns a successful toy company?

15 hours ago, Belmont13 said:

I was thinking the same thing, maybe he should wait for the movie to come out and see if retailers would go for it. Also if he can't get Target or Walmart to carry the line maybe he should try comic book stores or online retailers.

He could make it an Amazon exclusive, the whole "retailers won't carry it" is a lousy excuse.

 

 

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5 hours ago, SubZero said:

McFarlane probably has a hard time getting DC Multiverse and Mortal Kombat into major retailers.

I doubt that. He has the master retail license for both properties (12+ in DC's case), and I've been seeing these things at every Target and Walmart I've been to in the past month, and that's probably six or seven stores.

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19 hours ago, SpiderS said:

I wonder how they the final figure will look like but it’s pretty good idea. 

This series will be shrunken down to 5 inches, or at least that’s what Todd said in some video. 

Why not go all the way to 4” then?  The existence of 5” is a travesty.

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I'm actually preferring the crowdfunding method. He can keep prices down by cutting out middle men (assuming enough sell to be able to lower the cost), but you also have the potential of customizing what you buy. I know he mentioned an idea of a tier where he adds a signature to the comic book section of the packaging which helps people out who wouldn't be able to meet him at cons. Curious how creative he can get with the options and tiers as long as they are priced fairly. Going directly to consumers means he doesn't have to deal with marketing people who don't understand the appeal demanding things so he can get as unique with his offerings as people will support. If companies like Hasbro decided to start selling very niche characters this way people would love it. No idea why he's getting push back on it. He's even mentioned this is an experiment and if it doesn't work out the way he'd like than he can try a different method using his own website in the future. 

Ultimately he's trying to create new methods for people to be able to get figures and options that other companies don't have the means to offer. I'm all for it. Worst case people don't support it and nothing comes of it. Best case it works and he has a new avenue to release product more geared to collectors directly to collectors. Companies like Super7 make only as many as are preordered for figures, he's essentially doing the same thing. 

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10 hours ago, JayC said:

Is that meant to ask why is he's not just giving them away for free and trying to sell them directly to the consumer via (Kickstarter),  or why he isn't selling it at places like Walmart? If it's the first, that's why he is a multi-millionaire. Because he runs a successful business, and businesses requires you pay for stuff. If its the second, see JoeRyno's response, its pretty dead on. Even with the MK Spawn, I was told retailer interest wans't super strong. I think the retailers are wrong and that MK Spawn will sell like wildfire, but we shall see.

It was the second thing, Jay. That first thing...well, that makes no sense.

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An interesting approach from Todd, but I guess it's one of the most logical things to do in this case. Correct me if I'm wrong, but even if McFarlane toys has been around for almost 30 years I don't think the company is really that large. They still are a company focused on collectors, so they rarely depend on children buying their stuff, or at least untill now that he's got some popular licenses like Fortnite and DC. And even if he's got the money, I can understand why retailers like Walmart wouldn't be interested in carrying an expensive action figure based on an character that has no mainstream presence, 'cause for them, that wouldn't sell. Offering it through KS gives him the certainty of how many people actually want it, and how much are they willing to pay for it and its extras. At the end of the day, his running a company, and can't take that much risks of losing money.

Personally, I'm not interested in his KS Spawn, not only because of my lack of attachment to the character, but because I'm outside the US and shipping, taxes and maybe some other paperwork that customs may feel like throwing in would be a pain in the ass.

 

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  • 1 month later...

Todd McFarlane announced it was coming back during Toy Fair in February, and now he has put out word that his first Kickstarter for his new Remastered Spawn figure will launch this coming Wednesday (4/8). No other details have been announced at this time.

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5 hours ago, SpiderS said:

It would be good if he showed something that is closer to production sample since the prototype they showed wasn’t an actual thing we will receive according to Todd. I wonder what scale and articulation will be.  

I would guess that will come this week as well.

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