The McFarlane Toys Show Episode 3 Coverage - New Marvel Statues

On 3/13/2025 at 5:52 PM, TheArrow said:

I can refute this, having known Todd personally, worked with him, broken bread with him. He's seen my early toy collection in the late 80's, so I'm confident when I look at what he makes, he's sincere about making "cool toys", both statues AND poseable figures. And on the latter, if statues were all he ever wanted to do, he'd have stuck with action figures that pushed sculpt and deco, but had under 10-12 POAs. He's done a LOT more than that when other players were still inside those limits.Instead, Todd's always been about pushing the boundaries/ envelopes where he could, in all respects,

I'm not going to argue that he wasn't an innovator at the 5 POA+ era. His Spawn and Wetworks and Youngblood figures were amazing for the time and he pushed the big guys to do better. His Werewolf figures were a masterpiece of the time. But I'd say that was his threshold. He basically made Toybiz push above and beyond. But he never moved into that space himself. I vividly remember that era. I was collecting ML at its inception. I was buying TB and McF with birthday money, paper routes and collecting aluminum cans. On one side I was buying an ultra articulated Beast for $9 and then scraping pennies to buy 5 POA Creech and Cygor and Heap at EB and Gamestop for $16. And say what you will those were statues with articulation worked into it to qualify them as action figures. Were they cool? Damn right they were. And they still are. But they are what they are. Even his today's modern stuff are barely action figures. The articulation is only an afterthought. The joints he does use are very often very restricted by the art of the figure making them effectively useless. And I do believe him when he says he wants to make cool toys. I think he's sincere. The problem is is just as I said. He thinks of toys and statues as one in the same. That's irrefutable. He's said it in many interviews and videos on many occasions and says it still to this day. And also it is well established that he not only thinks articulation is ugly but he downright hates it. I have no doubt his intention is to make cool toys. But his definition of what qualifies as toys is much different from what the majority of the collecting community defines as toys. I don't have any personal relationship with Todd but I have worked with him on many occasions at cons and expos and he is exactly who he is on his videos. Good on him for not being fake. But he's got an artists heart and it is that very part of him that keeps him from being a top teir action figure producer. I'll never argue his capabilities as an artist, designer or visionary but discipline to his art are his limitations.

On 3/13/2025 at 1:30 PM, AndyL said:

Honestly I think statues are all he really wants to do and all he's ever wanted to do. He truly believes statues are toys and he constantly and sincerely uses the terms interchangeably. He's even said he thinks toys should be works of art. He makes no distinction between the two. I'm cool with works of art but toys are called toys because they are made to be played with. Or in a collector's case at least have the potential to be played with.

I can refute this, having known Todd personally, worked with him, broken bread with him. He's seen my early toy collection in the late 80's, so I'm confident when I look at what he makes, he's sincere about making "cool toys", both statues AND poseable figures. And on the latter, if statues were all he ever wanted to do, he'd have stuck with action figures that pushed sculpt and deco, but had under 10-12 POAs. He's done a LOT more than that when other players were still inside those limits.Instead, Todd's always been about pushing the boundaries/ envelopes where he could, in all respects,

On 3/13/2025 at 10:49 AM, Lord_Scareglow said:

Hey if Todd articulated these Marvel statues, and they were action figures, Wow, that would be gold, with Diamond possibly being bye byee, Maybe Todd can take on the select line, I mean the guy is gonna need some sort of Cash Cow, with him losing the DC license.

Honestly I think statues are all he really wants to do and all he's ever wanted to do. He truly believes statues are toys and he constantly and sincerely uses the terms interchangeably. He's even said he thinks toys should be works of art. He makes no distinction between the two. I'm cool with works of art but toys are called toys because they are made to be played with. Or in a collector's case at least have the potential to be played with. Meaning at least some level of movement and poseability. Marvel Select is a good idea because it would give him the outlet to exercise his love for aesthetics with no standard or expectation for any amount of specific articulation or scale. But I honestly think he intends to try to land a statue or "posed figure" deal with DC similar to his Marvel deal. To me this is the way to make people happy on many fronts. First there would one company that is honestly great at making statues doing work for both companies at a pretty reasonable price point. Not my thing but a lot of people do love them. Of course I think DC would have to have some kind of control as to how many Batman he would be able to produce because man he could easily oversaturate the market it there isn't some cap put on it, but even so Todd would be in his perfect happy little place. Then with Mattel reacquiring the DC license we might finally get a decent 6" line to match with our ML. Certainly with their WWE Elite and Masterverse lines they've shown they are somewhat capable of doing an extra articulated figure. Sure I'd rather a hungrier company like Jazzwares or Jada had gotten the license but at this point I'm ready to give Mattel another chance. I just don't see a future for McFarlane in the action figure lane anymore. He's reached his peak of what part of aesthetics he's willing to sacrifice for the amount of articulation he's already done. Statues and art is where he needs to be right now. For all our sakes.

Hey if Todd articulated these Marvel statues, and they were action figures, Wow, that would be gold, with Diamond possibly being bye byee, Maybe Todd can take on the select line, I mean the guy is gonna need some sort of Cash Cow, with him losing the DC license.

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On 3/12/2025 at 7:24 AM, MvCfan said:

Not a huge Mcfarlane fan but very much disagree with this part. Multiverse figures are just about as articulated as a marvel legend or anything else being produced by Hasbro, Mattel, Neca, etc. Also they frequently use wired capes. If anything i think they need to work more on their joint designs and cuts...and scale lol.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if he ends up taking over from Diamond Select.

I guess we can kind of agree to disagree on this and that's fine because you are right about his joints and their design. But that's kind of my point. Fact is though they are dependent on each other articulation and poseability are two different things. True McFarlane figures tend to have as much and in some cases more articulation than your average ML figure such as with toe articulation. But the ability to actually put good use to that articulation is severely impeded by McFarlane's desire to "keep the spirit of the art in tact". Many times the joints are there but the fact that he is unwilling to either delete or tweak details to make the joint serviceable many times make the joint pointless. And I'll put it quite simply and full disclosure I stole this from other people online but I use it quite often because it holds true. Take a McFarlane Batman figure and put him in a pose swinging from a line. Cool right? Take a McFarlane Superman and put him in the standard SM flying pose. Okay that's good too. But basically they're the same pose right? Hand above the head a little angle on the legs to give the perception of some inertia. Great that's the way it should be. Now take a Flash figure and put him into a proper pose of him full on running as he's typically shown in the comics. Actually go by McFarlane's own resource. Look at McFarlane's own Flash statue and try to just put the Flash figure in that pose. Can't be done. You can get him in kind of a take off pose but not full on running. Of course you can get the movie figure in that weird leg out hand down pose that was so ridiculous looking in the movies. But what's that worth? Try putting a Green Arrow in a proper archer pose. Not justs the gangster sideways grip with the arrow pointing down which seems to be the default. Can't be done without having to do the side eye John McClain pose. Of course I don't think McF has done any figures that require the kind of articulation as say a Spider-Man but I would hold firm that there's no figure in the existing line up that has the poseability of even the worst Spider-Man figure. Not saying he can't. Just saying he won't simply based on the fact that he has not. Will not. Probably never will sacrifice any more amount of detail to accommodate that kind of movement. Good thing? Bad thing? I guess it's all subjective. To me articulation and the ability to put figures in their associated poses is of high importance. Maybe it's just me. Maybe again it's all just subjective. And another statement I stole from someone else just to drive another point. If you're looking to just stand your figures side by side and shoulder to shoulder as an Alex Ross Kingdom Come cover art class picture style display then McFarlane has it nailed. But even then you have to be very mindful of which figures you stand next to each other because McF cares less about scale for characters even within their own line than the worst in the business. No Catwoman figure ever should stand taller than any Batman figure ever. Yet she does.

On 3/11/2025 at 11:15 PM, AndyL said:

They were/are essentially just statues with some joints built into them to qualify them in the simplest sense as action figures. But still very light on the action.

Not a huge Mcfarlane fan but very much disagree with this part. Multiverse figures are just about as articulated as a marvel legend or anything else being produced by Hasbro, Mattel, Neca, etc. Also they frequently use wired capes. If anything i think they need to work more on their joint designs and cuts...and scale lol.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if he ends up taking over from Diamond Select.

Not a statue person and certainly not a McFarlane person but I must say this is where McFarlane shines. And this is the lane he really needs to stay in. Whatever the heck he was doing with the DC license it sure wasn't action figures. They were/are essentially just statues with some joints built into them to qualify them in the simplest sense as action figures. But still very light on the action. Thank goodness that nightmare is almost over. This is his zone. These look good and he has the potential to make statue collectors very happy at a very reasonable price. Now all that's left is to stop pretending and just stop calling them "toys" and just call the company McFarlane Studios or something. He could easily land a statue license with DC and possibly end up in the design field for legit toy companies similar to what Iron Studios does. Just take the plunge Todd. The charade is wearing thin.