Feature : Todd McFarlane talks toys, Spawn movie sequel, and Curt Schilling's secret MMO [Rumor]

Todd McFarlane talks toys, Spawn movie sequel, and Curt Schilling's secret MMO

By Sid Shuman
December 11, 2008 13:41 PM PST
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The outspoken creator of Spawn explains why McFarlane Toys is dominating video game toys, why he wants to direct a Spawn movie sequel, and why Curt Schilling's upcoming MMO will be something special.

GP: McFarlane Toys is fast becoming the dominant force in video-game action figures. Has that been your goal all along?

Todd McFarlane: It was a happy accident -- we didn't sit down and say, "let's go in a new direction." It just happened that way. We're up against the big boys, the Fortune 500 companies, so when the Iron Man and Spider-man [movies] come out, those guys back up the Brinks truck, drop a lot of money to the movie studios, and they get the license. So we [MacFarlane Toys] have to be more clever. Because we either get their leftovers, or things that they aren't paying attention to. And with video games continuing to grow, and Halo 3 coming out and setting financial records that make Spider-man's opening weekend pale in comparison, we saw [an opportunity].

The best video games have merit. We try to convince the toy companies that this is true -- there's a mindset that every toy has to be based on a movie or TV show. To ignore this segment of pop culture [video games] is kind of silly... It defies the reality of what consumers are doing in their spare time.

You have some new toys in the works, including Halo Wars, Call of Duty, and Guitar Hero. What else is in the works? Are you working to secure other game licenses?

Well we are, but it's not great protocol to talk about things you don't have nailed down, because they'll know you want it bad and they can up the ante. But we'll continue to look, and at the same time, we're curious to see how long the legs are on [the Halo Wars, Guitar Hero, and Call of Duty toy sales]. As you might imagine, one strategy for toys based on Batman and Spider-man is putting it out once, then dusting them off and releasing them a second, third, and fourth time. Selling the first line of any toy is...well, not easy, but you're feeding an existing hunger. The tougher time is the second release: if you can get decent sales with a second release, then you can see the possibility to do four or five releases.

Does a game like Halo lend itself to repeated toy line re-issues? It's a pretty huge series...

You know, we're going to see. We came out with the first Halo toy line and it did gangbusters. Then we pulled back the quantities on the second line, it was a non-selling season for toys, and again they came and went. Which is always good, because retailers will carry more for Christmas, and you've got a bigger set of eyeballs in the toy aisle. The question then is, can you create a program to keep coming back -- five years later, you're still selling the same product. From a toy manufacturer's point of view, that's the Holy Grail. We're not lazy, but you don't want to keep re-inventing what you're doing. Who doesn't want Batman, or Star Wars? You keep regurgitating the same 20 characters with some tweaks here and there. Then five years later, you use some new techniques and start all over again. It's not much different from the video game market.

The collectible market is an important one for toys. What are the most valuable game-centric collectibles from McFarlane Toys? What's the most rare?

We limited our Cortana from Halo. For most toy lines, as you might imagine, the female characters don't sell as well to the laymen. We do some exclusive items as well that are harder to find -- we sent some pink Spartans to Europe, and we gave it to one small vendor in North America. Once the fans know that you didn't make a lot of something, then they want it!

Superhero films are red hot at the moment, with Iron Man and The Dark Knight seeing blowout sales. Is this a good chance to bring back Spawn for a second Spawn movie?

Yeah, you know...ever since Iron Man came out, the phone's been ringing. A movie studio CEO called me today, actually: "I just wanna say we're interested." But I think he was the last of the big studios to call me! [laughs] But I'm still of the mind that [a Spawn movie sequel] is a lower budget, cooler, creepier movie. When we get there, it'll get made. [This goes back to something I said a few years ago], which is that the movie studios will start burning through the A and A- characters. They did a fantastic job with Iron Man, who I don't think many fans would describe as an "A+" character, by getting him up to that level with the movie.

The dealbreaker is, I direct it. I tell everybody that in advance. The answer is, the only way anyone will say 'yes' to that is if I keep the budget low. If I make it an $80 million budget [Spawn movie sequel], they won't let me direct it...nor would I want to direct it. There are too many guys who are smarter that can do it. But a $10 million dollar creepy movie? I can do that one....In the movie idea I have for Spawn, there is no super villain. It's a completely real drama that happens to have a spook in it. And it doesn't mean that the spook has an arch-enemy or a nemesis, or any of that. It just means that there's a sentinel stuck in the middle of The Godfather

Interesting -- are you saying you actually want to direct a Spawn movie sequel?

That's why I haven't sold it! I keep telling people that...there have been a few people who have called over, and they said "I already asked my boss and the answer is 'okay'!" [They're saying,] "keep the budget low and it's yours. We just want it." Look, with $10 million -- and understand that I'm just picking a number here -- you're not going to have a lot of money to work with. They'd have to get a young, inexperienced director anyway. My answer is, why not me? If you're going to go get a schmuck, let me be your schmuck. And oh by the way, I've been living with this movie in my head for a long time. I don't feel like trying to convey what's in my brain to somebody else...it would take too long. I can just do it myself. And people aren't adverse to it. You know, Frank Miller is directing his stuff now.

So according to Wikipedia, you're the art director for Curt Schilling's 38 Studios. How is work coming along on the new MMO? What art style are you considering?

When I signed up with Curt, my bigger concept was less about 2D concept art -- I wanted the whole to be better than the parts. I told Curt that the one thing I'd be the most intrigued about would be the animation. It's not something I've dealt with a lot, but it's something that frustrates me when I see video games. Now with motion capture, advances have been made...but not necessarily in the MMO genre.

So one of the things that we're doing is creating characters who are interesting to look at...stylistic, but not so much so that it becomes annoying. [Then, the question is], is the gameplay more fun? When our guy casts a spell, mounts a horse, or stabs someone, does he look cooler? When a giant 600-pound beast stops running, does it feel like it weighs 600 pounds? You have to have a good design to care, but once you've got that, how do you put it all together?

There's another big company out there that makes World of Warcraft. They have the "WoW" factor; what I'm working for is the "woah" factor. They can have "wow," we want "woah." [laughs] When you're playing, and your character does something you've never seen before, you say, "woah...that's cool!" A few of the guys who work with me stuck their head into my office the other day, while I was going over things with [38 Studios headquarters in] Boston over a video linkup. They watched some things moving on the screen, and in just a few minutes they picked up on the subtlety. Again, we're not trying to re-invent the wheel - we're trying to polish it up, put chrome on it. The wheel is there, now how can we make it sexier? It doesn't have to be obvious; it can be in the subtlety of how a character sheathes and unsheathes his sword. Can we do that in a more dramatic, realistic, and interesting fashion than the other guys do?

We haven't said a lot of stuff [about the 38 Studios MMO game], but a tremendous amount of work has gone into it. Curt has assembled a good group of people. I deal with them: I see the environments, the characters, and the animation, and these guys all get it. These guys have been dazzling me: I'll see a character running, and the jowls bounce, the ears move a little...it's just stuff that feels real, not robotic. There are limitations, but there are tricks too: animation is all about tricking the eye. Even though that guy is two inches tall on your screen, I want him to feel alive, like a real, living creature.