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Series: Spawn Reborn 2 Craftsmanship: 8.4 / 10 - Some improvements over the original release - Great stability - Good articulation and sculpt - Never noticed it before, but he only has four fingers Playability: 7.0 / 10 - Battle-axe is big and hard to lose - Spike out of right hand is easily snapped and dangerous - Helmet can be lost - Great diorama possibilities
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The Raven Knight (Spawn Reborn) by McFarlane Toys |
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By my own omission I am a jaded and cynical gamer (for the most part). Playing so many games with the same objectives, tired stories and “me too”-ness it’s easy to fall into the trap of judging everything as a rehash with no originality. Although McFarlane Toys has released repaints of past action figures previous to Spawn Reborn 2, it’s only now that I felt the creep of cynicism on my shoulder. The Raven Knight was originally released with Spawn 11 (Dark Ages Spawn) and it was the figure that really sparked my action figure collection. It was a big figure with a certain amount of quiet menace about him and just looked cool on my dresser. With this series, McFarlane brings us a repaint of Raven Knight, with a couple of improvements. The sculpt, detail and articulation is exactly the same as that from Spawn 11, but the paint application is new. Instead of the rust red, black and fleshy highlights, this version is colored with off-white, silver/gray, and green highlights. I really like this color combination – even more than the original. This paint job makes the figure stand out far more than the dark, dusty colors on the original. In fact, most of the figures included in Spawn Reborn 2 use lighter color combinations to make the figures stand out. Raven Knight’s upper body articulation is good and allows for different poses. He has ball-jointed shoulders and seams at the biceps, which doesn’t sound like a lot but taken with the sculpt of the arms and the hidden torso joint there is actually quite a few different poses available. His hips are seam joints as well, but these are completely useless in terms of poseability because there’s really only way to keep him standing. The resulting stability is a real plus. You really wouldn’t want Raven Knight falling off a shelf. Not only because you risk breaking something but also because that vicious-looking spike could easily puncture you or skewer an eyeball. The accessories consist of the removable helmet and big battle-axe pegs into his left hand. On the original figure, the shoulder pads and thigh plate on his left leg were also removeable – and extremely loseable. McFarlane has addressed this by gluing them in place. If you want to pry them off, go ahead! But I’m glad they’ve been glued in place so they can’t be lost. And so to the issues of playability… Realistically, playability is pretty low, mainly because of the sharp spike but the howling demonic visage doesn’t help either. My other gripe is the battle-axe. I like the fact that it’s big and therefore harder to misplace, but the pegs that secure it to his left hand can be snapped off. If it’s pegged in his hand this means the pegs remain firmly in the holes in his hand. I speak from experience on this one – during a slight play-test they both snapped forcing me to glue the axe to his hand. Also from experience, the spike is easy to snap off. On the original figure I glued (and re-glued) the spike in place a half-dozen times so I’m being really careful this time around. This repaint of Raven Knight is clearly aimed at those that missed the original the first time around. Whether or not owners of the original pick up this version really depends on taste. Do you like the new colors? Then you won’t be disappointed. - Omni (June 6, 2004)
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