The line, which originally began with action figures based upon Todd McFarlane's Spawn comic series, has since grown to feature a large number of licenced 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, video game characters (from Soulcalibur, Onimusha and Metal Gear Solid), and Where the Wild Things Are characters. The toy line has also made original works of their own, giving a grotesque twist to fairy tale stories, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and historical figures. They have also collaborated with people like Clive Barker and H.R. Giger to produce other original figures.
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, Overtkill, 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 came with a regular-sized comic (although with fewer pages than the standard 22), which were individualized to the character.
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, Overtkill, 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 came with a regular-sized comic (although with fewer pages than the standard 22), which were individualized to the character.