Todd McFarlane, creator of Spawn and self-named McFarlane Toys, recently sat down with the boys at Bungie to discuss the creation of the new line of Halo toys. While we don't get any new pictures of the upcoming toys (we want a shot of the light-up Cortana ... now), we do get to hear Todd's impressions of Bungie, as well as the philosophy behind creating great toys. Thankfully, McFarlane notes that the most important aspect of toy creation is authenticity. With the Halo toys, the goal is to strike a balance between detail and cost. Obviously, they want the toys to appeal to die-hard Halo fans, but they don't want to price them outside the range of the mass market (which is one of the reasons the figures are relatively small). Finally, McFarlane says that the Halo universe presents McFarlane Toys with a chance to "do all of the things we're good at," namely aliens and badass superheroes. Hit the "read" link for the full interview.
Todd McFarlane talks Halo toys
Todd McFarlane, creator of Spawn and self-named McFarlane Toys, recently sat down with the boys at Bungie to discuss the creation of the new line of Halo toys. While we don't get any new pictures of the upcoming toys (we want a shot of the light-up Cortana ... now), we do get to hear Todd's impressions of Bungie, as well as the philosophy behind creating great toys. Thankfully, McFarlane notes that the most important aspect of toy creation is authenticity. With the Halo toys, the goal is to strike a balance between detail and cost. Obviously, they want the toys to appeal to die-hard Halo fans, but they don't want to price them outside the range of the mass market (which is one of the reasons the figures are relatively small). Finally, McFarlane says that the Halo universe presents McFarlane Toys with a chance to "do all of the things we're good at," namely aliens and badass superheroes. Hit the "read" link for the full interview.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-21-2007 @ 12:54PM
Andy said...
Might as well milk the franchise for all its worth
http://playb3yond.com/
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6-21-2007 @ 1:19PM
BadVermin said...
Andy - Yes, we all know Final Fantasy... I mean Metal Gear, no wait.. HALO is the only franchise to have merchandise.
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6-21-2007 @ 1:20PM
Lucipher said...
How is this milking the franchise? Joyride has been making Halo figures since 2003. The only thing that's changed is the company making the figures. Now with McFarlane on board we can expect: smaller scale, more detail and probably less articulation.
And if this is "milking the franchise", then the same can be said for Sony for making the God of War figures and the Shadow of the Colossus statues.
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6-21-2007 @ 1:34PM
BadVermin said...
Personally I plan on buying a few of these. McFarlane has some of the best sculptors in the biz, and they are nicely articulated to boot. While I bought a Spartan and Grunt from the Joyride line, they wont be able to compare at all.
More decorations for my office. :)
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6-21-2007 @ 1:37PM
BadVermin said...
Lucipher - It looks like the McFarlane versions will have MORE articulation than the Joyride ones.
Shocking I know, since MF is known for making either highly articulated figures, or statues with useless articulation.
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6-21-2007 @ 3:20PM
skunkworks said...
I'll never understand the adult gaming male's obsession with dolls. Err, "action figures"
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6-21-2007 @ 7:34PM
Insomnious said...
Once you get Todd Mcfarlane talking, you'll never get him to stop. That man seriously loves his job.
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6-25-2007 @ 9:53PM
Ralph said...
Wait, the figures are to scale with each other, but the vehicles are not? Seeing the vehicles as 3" compared to 5" Master Chief.
Another sucky toy line. Make the figures GIJOE (the new smaller ones) and STAR WARS sized, and you're guaranteed continual sell-through of the toy.
Don't give the license to someone who's going to make them just for "don't take it out of the packaging!" collectors. I *love* McFarlane's statues but he's not known for making real toys.
I'm probably in the minority here, but I'm pretty disappointed in this announcement. It would have been better had Hasbro gotten the line; at least we'd get a full run of figures, characters, and vehicles -- at the "industry standard" 3 3/4" or thereabouts, we could probably have gotten a Pelican out of the line as well.
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