company of image comics industry comics and toys founded tempe arizona usa 1994 founder todd mcfarlane headquarters tempe az usa key people todd mcfarlane ceo products spawn hellspawn sam & twitch revenue 8.9 million usd 2005 number of employees 100 2005 website spawn.com mcfarlane toys a subsidiary of todd mcfarlane productions inc. is a company founded by comics creator todd mcfarlane that makes highly detailed models of characters from movies comics popular music video games and sporting genres . mcfarlane has attracted both acclaim and criticism for offering a select range of action figurines that graphically depict torture mutilation bondage and murder . contents 1 overview 2 spawn figures 3 mcfarlane s dragons 4 horror figures 5 movie maniacs 6 music figures 6.1 kiss 6.2 the beatles 7 the simpsons 8 the mckenzie brothers 9 mcfarlane s military 10 sports figures 11 television action figures 12 controversy 13 see also 14 references 15 external links overview edit in 1994 todd mcfarlane was working with mattel to produce action figures based on his comic book characters . when the two could not decide on how to make the toys to mcfarlane s satisfaction he reclaimed the toy rights to his characters and started his own toy company . originally dubbed todd s toys the name was changed in 1995 following pressure from mattel who feared that the new company s name would be confused with that of barbie s younger brother . 1 production began with action figures based upon todd mcfarlane s spawn comic series and has since grown to feature a large number of licensed property lines including the simpsons and movie maniacs which features numerous famous horror icons such as freddy krueger jason voorhees michael myers the terminator leatherface and the thing as well as other characters and lines like basketball and baseball legends and characters from video games such as soulcalibur onimusha and metal gear solid . other media such as story book characters from where the wild things are have been represented . 2 the company has produced original works giving a grotesque twist to fairy tale stories such as the wonderful wizard of oz and historical figures . mcfarlane has collaborated with artists like clive barker and h.r. giger to produce other original figures . 1 spawn figures edit the first line of spawn toys ever produced was released in 1994 and consisted of six figures the hero spawn and his medieval counterpart aptly named medieval spawn with tremor and the villains violator overt kill and clown as well as a spawn alley playset the spawnmobile and the violator monster rig . they were notably different from the toys common on shelves at the time because of their level of detail in both sculpting and painting . other toys utilized only a few colors painted in general areas a singe flesh tone for the face etc. and were tacked to cardboard backs . mcfarlane s figures had individual items such as spikes teeth claws and buttons painted individually and packaged encased by hard plastic that surrounded both the figure and blister card making them more suitable collectors items . each toy in the first line came with a regular sized comic although with fewer pages than the standard 22 which were individualized to the character . 1 in later years the series would include alternate timeframes and different takes on the classic characters with series 10 20 3 and 30 4 showing homage to the core characters of the books . mcfarlane s dragons edit mcfarlane s dragons are a line of action figures that was launched in 2005 under the horror fantasy and sci fi action figures section of mcfarlane toys . these figures were released biannually . 1 the set features several highly detailed six inch dragon action figures and a slightly larger and more expansive boxed set figure . for the first five series the figures were broken into these clans eternal dragon clan fire dragon clan komodo dragon clan sorcerer s dragon clan water dragon clan and berserker clan . series six includes new clans fossil dragon clan hunter dragon clan ice dragon clan scavenger dragon clan and warrior dragon clan . in addition to these highly detailed dragons mcfarlane released a part of the dragon s history with each dragon set ; some had a piece of the story with each dragon and some had whole chunks of the story in one boxed set . 5 horror figures edit mcfarlane had been a long time fan of the horror genre and decided to produce his own perspective on the classic monsters with the todd mcfarlane s monsters playsets line in 1997 . 6 mcfarlane continued the idea of generating new versions of classic stories and characters releasing a shocking line subtitled twisted land of oz in 2003 which featured vicious or sadistic versions of the wonderful wizard of oz characters created by l. frank baum . 1 in 2004 the third series subtitled 6 faces of madness used historical killers and madmen as its theme generating vividly detailed figurines of the 5th century conqueror attila the hun american wild west gunslinger billy the kid the mad monk rasputin the british serial killer jack the ripper the hungarian blood queen elizabeth bathory and the real life inspiration for dracula vlad the impaler . 1 the fourth series featured twisted fairy tales . the figures were of classic children s stories including peter pumpkin eater hansel & gretel little miss muffet humpty dumpty & red riding hood and incorporated many of the gory elements that consumers had come to expect from mcfarlane but with a sense of ironic humor . series 5 featured mcfarlane s twisted christmas . like the previous series the figures all are twisted variations of christmas including a hunchback and obese santa claus who hides a lifeless skull under a gasmask like headpiece and wears contraptions on his hands similar to the glove of freddy krueger . 7 movie maniacs edit in 1998 mcfarlane introduced the movie maniacs line of figures . series one began as a line of horror and science fiction based figures that had been licensed from influential and financially successful horror films such as a nightmare on elm street the texas chainsaw massacre and friday the 13th . the second series of figures expanded the character base for the line into the realms of cult and action cinema with a figure based on the title character to the crow . series three would further push the boundaries of character selection into fantasy with edward scissorhands straight action with shaft and back into cult sci fi with escape from l.a. . these conventions would continue with character selections in future series frequently containing a mix of many or even all of these various film genres much to the chagrin of a small section of fans and collectors who incorrectly saw the line as being meant to be horror specific . 1 music figures edit mcfarlane toys did not solely limit itself to creating figures based on todd mcfarlane s creations . rather it branched out into other forms of media capitalizing on the popularity of famous rock musicians with the release of figures based on the rock legends kiss in 1997 . the number of music figures produced by the company continued to grow in number diversity and quality in the following years as they acquired the action figure rights to famous properties such as the beatles rob zombie alice cooper ozzy osbourne metallica slash iron maiden s mascot eddie jimi hendrix freddie mercury and elvis presley . 1 kiss edit main article kiss action figures in 1997 action figures were part of an overall marketing deal between mcfarlane toys and the rock band kiss with both toys and comic books based on their album psycho circus . 8 release of new kiss products from mcfarlane continues to the present day . the beatles edit the second musical property that mcfarlane released was based on the immensely popular pop culture icons the beatles featuring figures of paul mccartney john lennon george harrison and ringo starr as they appeared in their 1968 animated movie yellow submarine as well as their appearance in the 1965 abc cartoon show also titled the beatles or commonly known to fans and on the mcfarlane toys packaging of the figures as saturday morning cartoon . 8 it is interesting to note that despite three figure series based on cartoon versions of the band 2 incarnations of the yellow submarine figures in 1996 and 2004 no figures of the real life band members have been created by mcfarlane toys . 1 the simpsons edit in 2005 mcfarlane acquired the rights previously held by rival manufacturer playmates toys to produce figures based on the popular fox tv series the simpsons . 8 the mckenzie brothers edit released in september 2000 the figures were based on the characters of sctv and strange brew fame bob and doug mckenzie . originally portrayed by rick moranis and dave thomas respectively . the figures were sold separately and each came with half of the diorama from the great white north set . each had a sound chip with famous lines from the film and various extras to complete the scene . 9 mcfarlane s military edit the company gave a modern day revival to the classic toy soldier with the release of mcfarlane s military in 2005 which capitalized on the fervor and media coverage surrounding the american military and support for its soldiers serving abroad . the figures did not depict actual people so much as it did their professions named simply by their job descriptions such as army ranger or navy seal . all were of stern looking males in full military gear with highly detailed weapons and accessories modeled after the exact materials each soldier would be carrying in real life . 1 sports figures edit main article mcfarlane sports picks mcfarlane toys reflects todd mcfarlane s love of sports in its creations of popular figures from all five major north american sports baseball football basketball hockey and stock car racing . the company has official licensing rights to the major professional leagues of all of these sports and began this line officially known as mcfarlane sports picks in 2001 . 8 television action figures edit in january 2007 mcfarlane toys announced plans for a line of 24 action figures . 1 other series figures have included lost and the walking dead . 10 11 controversy edit a number of mcfarlane s figures have attracted criticism and led to boycotts for the subject matter they depict such as death row marv which depicts the central character from the graphic novel sin city in the electric chair which includes a toggle switch that allows the user to execute the character who shakes and speaks as if being electrocuted when the switch is flipped . 12 others such as austin powers were criticized for risque language in their sound chips and packaging . 13 see also edit neca sota hot toys mezco toyz sideshow collectibles references edit a b c d e f g h i j k scott sharon m. 2010 . toys and american culture an encyclopedia . abc clio . pp. 58 201 203 . isbn 978 0 313 35111 2 . mcfarlane toys . playthings via highbeam research subscription required . december 1 2000 . szadkowski joseph 2001 . film tv comic characters ready to hit store shelves . the washington times via highbeam research subscription required . washington dc . spawn series 20 looks back at classic characters in mr. mcfarlane s 8 year old sequential art universe and pays tribute to its most popular characters domina overtkill violator and spawn benitez tina october 1 2006 . spawn at 30 . playthings via highbeam research subscription required . szadkowski joseph april 2 2005 . justice league heroes fire breathing berserker .