Articulation, music figures, and McFarlane Toys in 10 years... In this, the third and final part of our in-depth interview with McFarlane Toys’ president Larry Marder, we dive into the future of the Dragon series, how music figures are developed, and more!
Figures.com: Will future military assortments be limited to US service only or modern day services only?
LM: I think the answer to both, in the short term, is yes. Everyone is cognoscente that military collecting is much larger and much broader (than US and modern soldiers only). I think that it’s safe to assume there are all types of military collecting. There are people into World War II and Civil War and World War I “dough boys” and Calvary (soldiers)… I think that we could do an interesting job with all of those. But the short term is modern military (only).
Figures.com The military line, like many McFarlane Toys’ figures, are static posed and many fans are clamoring at the bit for a series of figures similar to the Viking Spawn figures, with more articulation and great sculpts. A fan states: “It has been said the designers at McFarlane know the demand for articulated figures, but that the sculptors will never add articulation if it would compromise a figure’s sculpt. If that is the case, how come a figure like the new Mandarin Spawn 2 (from the forthcoming Spawn Series 28: Regenerated figure line, seen above) who could be highly articulated - thanks to hidden joints under his armor - has been left stuck in an awkward pose?”
LM: That is a legitimate question. It’s true that we won’t add articulation if it compromises a sculpt. We have done things where we have hidden articulation in a lot of the costuming. I think there is a certain collector that really, really likes that; and I think there is another that wants the (static) posing (figures) and never shall the two meet…
We’ve experimented with it both ways and I can’t personally address what was discussed with Mandarin Spawn 2 so I’ll have to pass on that. But there is no inherent rule that figures have to be stuck in a pose.
Figures.com: Moving on to music figures… One particular fan on the Spawn.com forums has asked time and again about the possibilities of making Twisted Sister figures. I was told by this fan to threaten you with bodily harm if you didn’t give me a straight answer: what is the possibility of McFarlane Toys making Twisted Sister figures?
LM: (laughing) I don’t know that we’ve ever actually talked with Dee Snider or anyone else. I’m aware of the fact that, as a band, they (Twisted Sister) are keenly aware of pop culture. I don’t know about that one. I’ll take that one back with me… I don’t think we’ve ever considered it…
Figures.com: What other music figures does McFarlane Toys have planned at this time?
LM: Slash is coming out and we are in constant negotiation with management of music people and the estates of music people. (Some) of these licenses are (difficult to aquire), but we do the best we can. Everyone likes doing the music figures. The come out one-by-one and there’s a certain amount of competition…
The issue of doing only one or two (members) from a band, and the band wants everyone (made into a figure) or a boxed set. (We have to ask) how they might perform at retail. We know there are always hard core fans of every band, but in order to have (the figures) be reasonably priced if not mass distributed, (we have to ask) how many people are there out there that will cough up their hard-earned bucks for a set of the whole band with a stage?
You want to do justice to people and reflect the stories the fans have in their own head and the relationship the fans have with the band and music. It’s important to be able to do that in a complete package.
In some cases, the bands come to us and in others, we’re out there looking (for them). We will continue to do it…
Figures.com Where do you see McFarlane Toys in 10 years?
LM: (smiling) I think we’ll still be in business. I think we’ll continue to try to make intelligent decisions to diversify into areas that we know we can really put our finger on the pulse of what the fan will like…even if the fan doesn’t know they’ll like it. In the sense of starting off with just “superheroes” (as McFarlane Toys began). I think that we’ll continue to experiment in our own internal (series) that we’ll invent. We’ll experiment with new materials. We’ll put our feelers out into other genres. We’ll never decide to go off and make plush animals just because they’re popular. We like to do things that have an internal objective that follows the types of things we do.
If you think about it, it’s like how we got into music (figures). We got into music figures because we did Kiss. We did Kiss because they wore makeup and looked like superheroes and monsters. We did it and they looked good and we decided we were pretty good at making guys standing there with guitars. And then we did Ozzy. It’s making small steps… How did we arrive at Slash? How did we arrive at Metallica? How did we arrive at Elvis? We got there in incremental, logical steps. That’s what we do. At the end of the day, it’s McFarlane Toys and it’s what interests Todd. His batting average is really good and I’ll follow his instincts any year…
Figures.com: One last question, and this too is from a Spawn fan who asks “Will there be any more McFarlane Toys clothing?” Some collectors don’t think homes and offices full of McFarlane Toys are enough…
LM: (laughing) The answer to that is yes. I actually have a bunch of apparel merchandise that came in the other day that I’ll be discussing with Todd as soon as I’m back from this. How they will be distributed still needs to be discussed, but more apparel? Yes… (smiling)
A very special “Thank You” to those that made this interview possible: Ms. Suzy Thomas, Ms. Corrinne Robinson, and Mr. Larry Marder.
