Series: Spawn 25, The Classic Comic Covers

Craftsmanship: 7.5 / 10

- Limited articulation

- Good comic book likeness makes for a nice display piece

- Plastic chains

- Fits in with the other monochromatic figures

Playability: 2.0 / 10

- Plastic chains and sickles are easy to break

- Poor articulation

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Action Figure: Raven Spawn (Spawn 22)

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Nearly every action figure series – no matter the manufacturer – features at least one figure that just doesn’t stack up well with the other figures.  In the retail world they’re known as “peg warmers.”  These are the figures that collect dust until the retailer finally gives up on them and tosses them into the bargain bin.  Raven Spawn 2 isn’t exactly a peg warmer, but it isn’t as catchy as the other figures in the series.

Raven comes packed with a backdrop and turnable base, much like Metal Gear Solid Spawn (Spawn 24).  This alone should be enough to tell you that Raven is for display and features the usual statuesque points that McFarlane is known for.

I’m convinced that there is some international regulation that requires a certain number of articulation points on a figure to be classified as an “action figure.”  If Raven didn’t have any articulation it wouldn’t be very much different from the articulated version.  Your best chance for a different pose is with the arms, which have a total of three articulation points.  There are also seam joints at the neck, waist, and thighs.  These can all be written off, particularly the thigh joints because the sculpt is so limiting that you’d be lucky to squeeze a 1/16 of a turn out of them.  There isn’t much reason that Raven couldn’t have been outfitted with more useful articulation, particularly because so much of the source material is in shadows.  Ball-joints at the shoulders and legs would have gone a long, long way to create a very poseable figure.

With such a statuesque nature, the sculpt is good, capturing the essence of the comic book cover.  As with a few of the other Classic Comic Cover figures, the source material is more inspiration than an exacting creed when it comes to creating the action figure counterpart.  It does look good and the details are standard (at least, in accordance with McFarlane standards).

Playability isn’t given a thought here.  There are some diorama options with other 6” figures, especially with the monochromatic Spawn figures, but play value is very small.  The plastic chains are fragile and the sickles can be broken – that is, only if you’re playing with Raven.

Raven Spawn 2 can be safely be labeled as “For Collectors” because this is the runt of the litter.  While it possess the McFarlane standards, it’s just doesn’t stack up well in comparison to the other figures in the series either in display properties or playability.  If it had been outfitted with an array of useful articulation the judgment might have been different.

- Omni

(March 27, 2004)