In-depth interview with Pres of McFarlane Toys... If Todd McFarlane is God of the Spawn toy universe, Larry Marder is King. The president of McFarlane Toys sat down with us at the 2005 San Diego Comic Con and revealed new and exciting information on what's in store for 2005 and beyond!
Figures.com: First of all, thank you for sitting down with us at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. We’re making this an annual event and fans really enjoy hearing the McFarlane Toys news straight from the top of the food chain.
The first question comes straight from a fan who asks, “Will we see any more RoboCop figures in the future?" Last year, during a similar interview, the possibility of a figure based on ED-209 was mentioned…
Larry Marder: I can honestly say we were in a meeting last week and we are trying to figure out how to slot it into the schedule. We are in negotiations with some people about taking an interesting turn of events with the Movie Maniacs franchise. I’m sorry I have to be so cryptic, but I think people are going to be really surprised at what we are going to do in the Movie Maniacs area.
I’m sort of speaking in code here, but we are going to do something very sculptural but transcend traditional action figures. We really want to do something that will reinvent the genre and the movie collectibles.
Figures.com: That actually leads me right into the next question: Dracula figures have been announced, but fans are wondering why only monsters were made and not specific characters from the film?
LM: First of all, only the monsters at this point have been sculpted. I don’t know that we won’t do more.
Why the monsters? That is what Todd thought was most interesting. We have the license for the whole movie and I think that we will do something…It is our experience that the fans gravitate toward the monsters first. The more human characters seem to have a harder time moving their way through retail. We may do something (later) in the arena of a boxed set (with human characters).
All of this is a way of saying, at the center of everything we do is storytelling. I have probably said this every time we’ve spoken… It’s really the difference between us and a lot of other toy companies out there. Because Todd comes out of comics and has spent so much time in animation and film, we recognize the fact that what really truly is most appealing to fans is the sense of story. I think it’s true, particularly true, with action figures.
The success of our sports figures compared to what came before is ours looked less like equestrian statues and more like “snap shots.” If someone is jumping up on the wall and catching a ball…it might be a very famous picture or play and thus is “storytelling.” I think we are trying (now) to reinvent that in the horror genre. We’re trying to get back to storytelling…
Figures.com: This is actually a quote directly from a fan: “Why have you left your faithful fans out in the wind – so to speak – since obtaining sports licenses? I mean we get to see Spawn, after Spawn, after Spawn, but what’s the deal with the movie licenses? What about the ‘hard core’ horror and action fans?”
LM: I think partly the answer to that is the perception of scale…We still do a lot of other things (besides sports figures). Out of all the lines we put out per year, a certain percentage of them are sports. We are still doing monster lines and things.
I don’t think we are necessarily doing any less than we ever did (before the sports figures), I just think the figures are now surrounded by so many other (action figure lines), particularly if you consider McFarlane’s Monsters. As far as Movie Maniacs goes, the main thing we can honestly say is we pioneered the idea of a line that is “multi-movie.” What has happened now that more and more toy companies have entered this category, the movie companies themselves ask (us) not to do just one figure from the film, but an entire line. We’ve made the decision that not every character in the movie may make a good toy. It may only be the protagonist, it may be the bad guy, but it’s not necessarily (all the characters).
We have done lines like Texas Chainsaw Massacre with numerous figures and I think (the line) warranted that and the sales reflected that. It’s a business decision and, at the end of the day, it’s only a business decision.
A particularly famous or classic horror movie may be available, and we may find that there is a point where we’re not sure the sales of an entire movie line are worth the guarantees and royalties – the sort of things that are off the radars of fans – to make (figures from that movie) a tenable business decision. Ultimately those are decisions Todd makes. What we do is gather information and formulate. It’ll all come down to what (Todd) thinks… I don’t think we’ve necessarily “abandon” anyone, I think (horror & movie action figures) have become a crowded category…
Figures.com: With NECA and SOTA now making movie figures in the style you pioneered, where does McFarlane Toys fit?
LM: I think it’s like settling the west – when you move from Virginia to Kentucky, and Kentucky gets too crowded, you move to Kansas… You blaze trails, and after the trails are established, you know that people will follow you. We pride ourselves on our creativity and our ability to stay ahead of the pack. When the pack catches up with you, you move ahead. The only thing that I can say about that is keep your eye on Spawn.com. I think people are going to be pleased with what’s to come!
Figures.com: Many fans want more Conan and Dark Age-type lines. What are your plans for these type of series in the future?
LM: Certainly our sculptors love playing in that era. They love armor, they love weapons, they love helmets… Everyone’s had a really good time working on the first two Conan lines. The second Conan line was a quantum leap above the original Conan line, being tied specifically to one story. I think, in the future, as we develop more Conan lines, they will be following themes, countries, and stories. Most of the (Conan) stories stay in a specific locale. We hope to do (lines) based on “Tower of the Elephant” and “Red Nails.” In what order and when will they come out? Those are (again) business decisions. We are willing to start sculpting them tomorrow!
I think Conan Properties is a very enlightened licensor. Robert E. Howard’s creations are in the hands of curators. They are taking very good care of Conan and Conan is going to have a very long life in pop culture and it is our intention to stay a part of it. We are all very interested to see what the fate of Conan will be in movies (editor’s note: a new Conan movie was announced at SDCC and is slated for a 2007 release) and in video games. In the last year, it has really been only us and Dark Horse (Comics) out there. I think there are going to be a lot of other people joining the party. This is multimedia and I think we’ll be able to find our spot!
Check out the second part of this three part interview here.
