Mandarin Spawn (Spawn Reborn) by McFarlane Toys

Mandarin Spawn, originally released with Spawn 14, is one of the more interesting Spawn figures.  Instead of the traditional insignia, cape and chains, Mandarin Spawn is a dramatic departure with an Asian influenced design that results in tons of detail, a wicked paint job, and a 12” double-bladed sword. (Makes me wonder why he wasn’t included in Soul Calibur II instead of Necrid.)

Mandarin Spawn stands about 9” tall and features a sculpt that almost boggled my mind when it was originally released.  Mandarin is one of those figures you could stare at all day.  The details are elaborate and intricate from top to bottom, including the shield.  Not a lot has been changed with this re-release, aside from a gold strand that can be twined around as an extra detail.  The major difference is, of course, the paint job. (What should I expect from a re-paint?)

The original features a lot more gold and brighter reds but my preference for one over the other isn’t clear.  They’re both awesome and nice to look at.  The lines and highlights are all defined and accented extremely well on either one (particularly around the head).  But this one is available right now at retail rather than paying through the nose on eBay, so if you missed it the first time around now’s the perfect time to snag him.

If you’re even slightly worried about the stability, worry no longer.  This is a stable figure because he doesn’t have much in the way of strange leg articulation.  (There are seam joints at the hips and that’s it.)  The remaining articulation points are all seam, but a couple of ball-joints would make Mandarin way more poseable; however, even with that limitation, Mandarin can be kept “fresh” as a display piece by swapping out the massive sword with one of his short swords (holstered on his hip), removing the shield, or even just moving his head.  He’s just an overall cool warrior figure.

I’d recommend against playing with Mandarin.  There are too many fragile and breakable pieces to make to make it much of an “action” figure.  Here’s just a quick list of things that can be broken: the swords, the sword holster, the wrists, and the clips on the back of the shield that hold it to his forearm.  (Even with all those pieces snapped and useless, Mandarin still makes a cool display piece.)  There are other potential dangers associated with playing with this figure, but the chief one is the big spike on his left shoulder, which is sharp enough to cause damage – to the figure and whatever body part you impale on it.  In terms of compatibility with other Spawn figures, Mandarin is pretty good – other figures can actually use the swords.

Mandarin Spawn comes highly recommended – either the original or this repaint – as it’s a very sweet display piece.  Just don’t play with it.

- Omni