Trick or Treat Studios’ Captain Spaulding Figure Brings 1990s Toy Style to House of 1000 Corpses

Trick or Treat Studios’ 2022 Captain Spaulding is built around a particular kind of collector appeal: it looks like a horror character translated into the action feature toy lines of the late 1980s and early 1990s. That retro approach shapes the figure’s sculpt, packaging and accessories, giving the release a playful, deliberately exaggerated feel.

Captain Spaulding, played by Sid Haig, is the best-known character from Rob Zombie’s 2003 film House of 1000 Corpses. In the movie, he runs a gas station and fried chicken joint that also houses Captain Spaulding’s Museum of Monsters and Madmen. He’s a member of the Firefly family, and his colorful clown appearance makes him an especially natural subject for a figure with a cartoonish vintage toy sensibility.

Trick or Treat Studios released a five-figure series in 2022, with a carrying case and a build-a-figure spread across the releases. Spaulding was the exception: he didn’t include a build-a-figure piece. His own draw is easy to see in the finished toy, which comes with a revolver, a fried chicken drumstick and a bucket.

Figure details

The figure stands 5 3/8 inches tall, not including his hat. Articulation consists of swivel hips, swivel shoulders connected to the action feature, swivel biceps and a swivel head. The original retail price was $25. The listed accessories are a revolver, a bucket of chicken and fried chicken.

Packaging and presentation

The blister card nods to older toy packaging without trying to pass as a direct reproduction. Cross-sell art, a character bio and a name tied to the figure’s action feature all help establish the period-inspired style. The card also includes a small illustration showing how the feature works and a collectible proof-of-purchase cutout.

The figure’s broad build and wide-legged stance suit the source character, while the sculpt leans into a softer, animated look. His red, white and blue clown suit gets a lively set of paint applications, and the treatment makes him feel like a character who might have stepped out of an imagined cartoon tie-in.

Spaulding’s portrait is stylized rather than realistic, and that choice works in the figure’s favor. The beard is picked out in paint, his tall hat is fixed permanently to his head, and the overall look recalls the expressive character toys of decades past. It has the odd familiarity of a toy that feels as if it should have existed when those lines were on shelves.

Details on the pant legs add texture to the outfit, and the paint stays clean and bright. Those colors help carry the character’s loud visual design across the figure’s relatively compact 5 3/8-inch frame.

Action feature and accessories

The extra swivel joints give Spaulding more posing options than the familiar five-point format. His elbows are bent, so rotating the biceps shifts the hands inward or outward. The hips offer a useful range, but movement through the arms is tied to the action feature, and the head can only turn partway. The figure feels sturdy in hand, though lighter than its size might suggest.

His pistol suits the “Pistol Whippin’” name, even if it’s noticeably oversized and inaccurate to the film. In House of 1000 Corpses, Spaulding uses a Colt Lawman MK III during a killing at the gas station; the revolver included here may take that scene as its cue. Either way, its exaggerated proportions fit the toy’s throwback design.

The food accessories make the “Finger Lickin’” part of the name tangible. The single drumstick is a fun, unusual inclusion, while the bucket has more visual presence and neatly recalls Spaulding’s restaurant. Both bring a bit of the character’s setting into the display.

The drumstick is also the figure’s main handling flaw. It’s small for Spaulding’s grip and doesn’t sit securely, especially with the pistol taking up so much space in his hand. Trigger the action feature and the chicken can go flying, so the bucket makes the steadier display choice.

A playful retro interpretation

Kenner’s Star Wars figures tend to define the faux-retro action figure conversation, but this release reaches for a different reference point: action feature toys from the late 1980s and early 1990s. The connection is in the whole package, from the card design to the exaggerated accessories and joints built around a gimmick.

Even for collectors who aren’t devoted to House of 1000 Corpses, the design has its own appeal. Spaulding feels like a character from a toy line that could have been made if the film had arrived several years earlier. The result is an entertaining, distinctly stylized figure, and a memorable centerpiece for this series. The reviewer rates it “Good and a 1/2” and describes it as likely the line’s biggest draw.

This is the reviewer’s first Captain Spaulding figure review, and the toy makes a strong case for the line’s period-inspired approach. Its most useful details for collectors are clear: a 2022 release, 5 3/8-inch height, $25 original retail price, limited but distinctive swivel articulation, and three accessories that carry the character’s familiar look into the display case.