D’Spayre is the type of character that turns a lot of Marvel Legends collectors into owls: Who? Who? Who?
He is on the deeper cut side of things, maybe not as much as Rock Python but he’s never going to be Magneto or Dr. Doom. But as this might be obvious, it’s the exact type of figure choice that makes me the most excited about the line.
D’Spayre is a fear lord who has gone up against a lot of heroes over the course of his four-color history. He’s had steady appearances, fighting such heroes as Dr. Strange, man Thing, Hulk the X-men and so on. He’s a demon created by the Dweller in the Darkness, and he’s responsible for the drug that gave Cloak and Dagger their powers.
So yeah, he does get around.
The figure, befitting the design of the character, is rather simple. It’s the Sunfire body, a mostly blank body, with just a new head and cape. That makes him the perfect low-budget add-in for a wave with a lot of new sculpting, most of which was aimed towards the MCU figures.
The cape reflects the more raggedy nature of some of his later appearances. It came disconnected in the package, and you have to pop his head off to slip the cape on. Once it’s on the head pretty much locks it into place. As I’ve said on many occasions, I’m not a fan of plastic capes, but as far as they go, this one isn’t terrible. The biggest bonus is that it stays in place. Too many capes these days seem to be hanging on by nothing but hope, so the fact that this one isn’t going anywhere at least put a check mark in the positive category. There’s a nice texture to the underside.
The head is excellent, with a creepy, evocative ghost/skull/whatever look to it, with that stretched out connective tissue look that makes it look like his lips have been stitched together. He looks like he should be responsible for spreading fear.
With a palette that consists of black and white, the red on his eyes is the only burst of color.
He comes with two sets for hands: fists and expressive hands. As the expressive hands do a good job and being expressing spookiness, they’re going to be my default hands on him. They’re perfectly for that over the top Grand Guignol gesturing. This is the dude that comes out of your closet at night. He’s also under your bed. You’re welcome.
I would never have expected a D’Spayre figure. He’s not the type of character that’s going to have die-hard fans, and he doesn’t make the top ten lists, but it’s the type of thing I love to get in the line, and that makes it all worth it.
Holy crap, you just sent me back 25 years to when I first read that!
While I would’ve preferred his earlier, more blue look, I’m just thrilled D’Spayre was made! We’re an Aletys Forrester away now from randomly re-creating that one issue of Uncanny with Man-Thing and Cyclops.
I’m glad you were able to get one with a good paint job on the face. I have seen a few of these in stores and they all had these mopey, sad faces. It was like Droopy Dog became a super villain. Maybe from the right angle and lighting it would’ve worked but we are getting soooo much product right now I’m starting to get choosy.
D’Spayre is great and all, but here I am, waiting on Umar and Margali, who have even less of a chance of being made.
The lighting on the first and last four photos really makes that face pop.