Since this February it’s been on my mind constantly. In February of this year McFarlane Toys revealed they’ll be producing 7″ Colour Top figures and that their 5″ Walking Dead TV line is now dead. Like many of the collectors of the 5″ TV figures i was absolutely pissed off that McFarlane Toys cancelled them.

They are being replaced with a 7″ Colour Top line which will merge all their licenses into one line. Spawn, Walking Dead, Fear The Walking Dead, Naruto, Attack on Titan, Titanfall and Assassins Creed. We’ll still be getting the 5″ Comic book line though. Since the announcement there’s been outrage at McFarlane Toys and Todd McFarlane for his decision to cancel a successful line of figures to release Spawn figures again.

Todd’s told us multiple times that these new figures will have around 12-15 points of articulation and as of yet, a month before the first line will be released we’ve seen no physical evidence of useful articulation. All we’ve seen, well for an upcoming figure: The Walking Dead Rick Grimes figure is a ball joint in the head and swivels in the thighs that’s it ! A month before the figure is expected to released.

Also we’ve only seen him in this one vanilla pose and nothing else. Some people are fearing that McFarlane are going back to their Movie Maniacs and Spawn days where the action figures were 7″, highly detailed and little (mostly useless) articulation which consists of swivels which are no good except for in the thighs and biceps.

I can’t understand for the life of me why Todd McFarlane is going backwards. Companies such as Mezco, NECA and Diamond Select Toys time and time again release 6″ – 7″ figures with great articulation and an incredible level of detail. Why can’t McFarlane Toys do the same.

Don’t get me wrong they look good as posable statues, but I don’t really want posable statues I want action figures. Also what has me worried is the character selection of what characters will get down the line and what about the walkers which are an integral part of the program ? The figures are gonna look pretty stupid without some zombies to go up against. Also the Spawn ones look pretty cool too.

For the life of me i can’t understand why Todd is doing this. He changed the way toys were perceived 20 years ago and how they can be for a more mature audience. Despite adding articulation into his Halo, Assassins Creed and The Walking Dead and they were really going places adding more characters and fan favourites along with better detail, paint and accessories. He seems much happier and content going back to where he was 20 years ago. I can’t see why both the 5″ lines and the 7″ can’t co-exist he would make a hell of a lot of money.

I have respect for what Todd’s done for the industry but I’m beginning to lose respect for him. With him going backwards just proves to me he’s a stubborn man who thinks the industry works the same as it did 15 years ago and those who don’t believe  him, he doesn’t give a damn what they think. For the colour tops I’ll see where it goes but I don’t hold out much hope.