The 1990s were a fascinating time when talking about toys and comic books. And whenever talking about when the twain met, we have to talk about Todd McFarlane — above all else, in the ’90s, Todd was a working man, a regular Joe, who done good.
His hit comic managed to score him a long-running spot on the top-selling list, putting him on nearly even footing with the “big 2,” scored him a movie deal, some cartoons, and gave him the capital and brand recognition to launch his own toy company. Lots of stuff happened after, mostly crap, but let’s focus on that moment in 1994 when Spawn became a true multimedia property, and that one crowning moment when he entered the action figure pantheon — the day Al Simmons got himself a vehicle and a playset.
Spawn Alley is an interesting concept for what was essentially a homeless superhero. Basically, it’s sort of a run-down garage that Spawn uses as a base of operations. Toy Spawn used it, anyway. The box art is still excellent to look at. There’s some nicely artist-embellished pictures of the set, and the back has comic-style images of the action features in use. In addition to the parts inside, there is also a sticker sheet, instructions, and a short comic showing Spawn using his hideout’s secret traps to scare off Violator.
After getting the assembly done, I opted against doing the stickers for now, maybe later. But check out that awesome overspray paint detailing! I remember when I thought that’s what paint jobs were supposed to be like. Anyway, the colors and effects still do look pretty good, if very ’90s.
There’s actually a lot of nice detailing in the sculpt as well — cracks in the concrete, grates, wood plank fences, broken bricks and walls — it’s all done really well for an old mass-market product.
And there are accessories in addition to the action parts, like these two rats, a buzzard, and a missile launcher — none of which I’m fond of.
Rather than walk you through the action features in detail, here’s some quick shots — there’s the toppling rooftop, the launching garbage can and sewer vent, opening garage door, perch for the launcher, elevator, and the ever-awesome exploding brick wall.
I actually considered including this among my “5 of the best playsets” feature, but I’m afraid even in its day, there’s a few things that keep it just out of the top spots. Now, granted, I don’t own a classic series 1 Spawn anymore, but I did still have this deluxe bad boy from the McFarlane heydays, and as you can see, he’s a bit big for the size of the set. With Sgt. Slaughter here, you can see this is definitely on the small side, even for 6-inch. It’s a shame we don’t have a SH Figuarts or Figma Spawn to throw in the mix; I bet they’d size up more accordingly.
I came across this in-box at a great spot in Boise called Captain Comics. I ended up taking it home for about $20 — can’t beat that. There’s a shop here locally (don’t want to call them out) who have one they’ve had shelved for years, and at their price they’re asking (about three times what I paid), they can keep it. This is absolutely worth it for a bargain, but no scalper prices need apply. We get enough of that in this nostalgia arena as it is.
