SPAWN 4
Unlike Spawn 1 which features a masked in the original edition and an unmasked in the repaint edition; unlike Spawn 2 which features a figure in half a mask; unlike Spawn 3 which features two versions in one edition with only animals to differentiate them, Spawn 4 provides two versions in one edition - masked and unmasked appearing together. No prize for guessing which is the more popular version!
The figure comes with an awesome display of firepower: "Spawn the Arsenal of Doom is a metal jacket juggernaut of firepower. Get in his way and he'll part your hair a new way...through your skull."
If you are a Display Collector, only 5 of the 6 figures here are unique.
September 1998 Series 12 Original: Spawn IV
Spawn 4 has very detailed sculpting and v1 is heavily influenced by the interior art found in Issue 55, too bad the eye-scope was missing. He is part of Series 12 that was unveiled in September 1998.
September 1998 Series 12 Variant: Spawn IV
Until the phenomenal success of the Art of Spawn, Spawn 4v2 would be the very first figure based on the cover of the monthly comic series, in this case, the cover of Issue 55. This is one of the rare Spawn sans Mask that receives more attention than the Masked One simply because of its eye-scope or in this case the lack of it!
THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING SCOPE
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Spawn 4v2 with scope
Spawn 4v2 w/o scope
Because of poor QC, the one w/o the scope was at one period considered a specialty variant and attracts higher resale price! LOL, I thought a refund should be the fairer option! The anomaly however was thankfully corrected and by early 2004, the trend is reversed and common sense prevails. Scope aside, I am glad that this figure comes with a bandana that hides his ugly face.
February 2000 Retail Exclusive: Arse nal of Spawn
This is NOT A UNIQUE FIGURE! Released in February 2000, this store exclusive is carried in the US by Toys R Us. Titled as "Arsenal of Doom Spawn", this figure is an exact duplicate of Spawn 4v2 and unlike said, for example, Spawn 1v8 that comes with a different accessories or Spawn 5v3 that comes with a glossier paint job, this arse-nal spawn figure is presented without two accessories - the bandanna and the eyescope! The only way you can prove that your displayed figure is a v3 is the base (described in End Cap 90 December 1999 as special oval Spawn logo stand)...made of very cheap plastic...and hollow! Display Collector - be forewarned!
For a figure that is a duplicate of a figure that was never very popular in the first place and missing two important items to boot, it is ironically the most popular of all fishtank display case figures and picking up good resale value! I can only think that this must be due to the fact that this is the last figure to be housed in an acrylic display case. The case, by the way is frosted, I doubt it is done on purpose or if it is, it is to cover up that ugly mug of a face.
November 2001 Series 12 Diamond Exclusive: Spawn IV
He appeared in November 2001, courtesy of Diamond Distributors, a rare occurence since the last time Diamond carry a Spawn exclusive was back in 1995. An interesting titbit, if you look at the back of the original card of both v1 and v2, published in 1998, you would notice that the figure in the instructions column is that of v4.
September 2007 Trading Series 2 Original: Spawn IV
A miniature replica of the regular-sized Spawn 4v1 was introduced in October 2007 under Trading Series 2. The bio card in this figure claimed that this figure was inspired by the cover of Spawn issue #55 and one of the most requested Spawn figures.
September 2007 Trading Series 2 Repaint: Spawn IV
This is one of the rare grey-toned miniature figure that actually has a precedent! Grey-toned miniatures are really popular in the Trading Series but how many grey-toned 6" regular-size figures are there?
