Package Description
Since he was fifteen years old, Peter Parker has borne a terrible responsibility. At that young age, he was simultaneously gifted and cursed, bitten by an irradiated arachnid and given the proportionate strength, speed and wall-climbing abilities of a spider. Since then, he has been obsessively targeted by the most dangerous and depraved men in the world – not the least of whom is the GREEN GOBLIN. Every hero has a nemesis, but few have suffered so greatly as SPIDER-MAN at the hands of this frightful foe. Fore decades, the GREEN GOBLIN has toyed with SPIDER-MAN, playing games with the wall-crawler’s life. Fortunately, SPIDER-MAN has defeated his enemy every time, but he’s never been able to put the GREEN GOBLIN down for long!
Appearance
This figure is a brand new sculpt, although there’s some similarities in construction to the Spider-man Unleashed 360 figure. Spidey is very shiny and plastic looking despite the use of some blue paint and even a paint wash on the legs. Painted red portions would have helped this, as in the prototype photos, but as it is the red is a little unnatural looking on this figure. I like the etched in web lines though, their definition reminds me of the comic art. The lines add texture that is sorely needed on the large red areas and are generally clean and the black paint well applied. The etched lines on the head are shallower than on the body, and it makes the head not as clean cut, but I think the excellent shape and color of the eyes make up for it. This figure is done well enough that I can tell it’s modeled after the art on the box of Mike Deodato Jr. This figure looks like much higher quality than I was expecting.
Joint visibility is a problem on this figure. The torso joint and the ball joints for the shoulders are particularly noticeable. There’s nothing really in this costume made to hide the joints, but I think the body shape is easy to make out. I’m actually very happy with his proportions, because usually Spidey’s figures are too skinny. But this figure seems to be muscular without being huge like figures of characters such as Captain America. I wouldn’t mind at all to have this figure shrunk down to 6”, although I would make him a little less hunched.
I’m happier with the way this figure looks than I was expecting when I bought him. The webbing looks a little silly, but I wouldn’t really expect it to look good in mass production. The included base though is great, and has even more detail than on the figure. Spidey fits well onto the base, and stands fairly easily on it with the peg holes in some good poses. I’m disappointed though that there’s nothing included to mount the stand on the wall. It’s a good thing though that he comes with a good looking base because he doesn’t fit in scale or style with any other Marvel action figures out there (that I know of). Overall, I’m very happy with the look of this figure. I’m outright impressed though that I can tell Spidey is comic book styled by looking at him as opposed to the more “realistic” style of Marvel Legends 6” and 12” figures.
Articulation
Spidey does not have standard Hasbro or Toybiz articulation. The ball jointed head, torso, and shoulders are normal, and there is no cut in the bicep. The separate ball joints at the hip are reminiscent of Toybiz sculpts. The knees however are like a mix between two ball joints and two pins. The joint bends like a pin, but also rotates for greater range of movement. The elbows, however, are simple ball joints which also rotate. The ankles also look like ball joints, but bend to the side as well. It’s as if the ankle looks like a Hasbro joint, but behaves like a Toybiz joint.
The range of motion on Spidey is adequate. The shoulders bend and move fine, but the elbows only bend 90 degrees. The knees can bend all the way back though. Combined with the separate ball joints at the top of the legs Spidey has a pretty good range of movement in the legs, although he can only put his legs up about 90 degrees. The torso joint doesn’t bend back at all, but he bends forward a decent amount. The head doesn’t look up, but he can look down very well. His head can also tilt to the side, which is nice. Overall, Spidey again surprised me mostly because the Unleashed 360 Spider-Man had such a terrible range of motion. However, I think the articulation is fairly good for a figure this size.
Poseablility
Spidey’s biggest drawback is that Hasbro is offering us yet another scale to buy when there are several well established scales already. Furthermore, this line so far is Spidey centric, and he could use some buddies. I think this will be less of a problem once the line picks up, but some Spidey friends like Daredevil and Punisher are sorely needed to display with this figure. In the mean time, Spidey is big and he sticks out because so far there are only two figures in this line.
Spider-man can’t do his characteristics moves very well, but that doesn’t mean he can’t look good. I think a pole that could support Spidey would have been a huge plus with this figure, but as it is the best way to display him is on the included display stand. The web shooting hand really gets in the way of posing though, since he can’t really get into good Spidey poses. I have to say though, don’t expect any amazing display with this figure unless you want to come up with good fight poses between him and Green Goblin. I’m not a personal fan of the Green Goblin costume though, and so I’m going to content myself with just Spider-man for now. I think Spidey looks fine by himself; for now he’s a unique figure among my collection. Overall, I think he looks more like a collector’s item than a toy when on display, and the only thing I really want changed is an improved range of motion (which is true of most Spidey action figures).
Final Judgment: 7
This figure was done surprisingly well, and I’m very pleased with it. I was expecting another bland Hasbro offering like Unleashed 360 but am instead looking forward to getting some different characters in this line. My impression of this line is that it would be good for getting some medium sized iconic versions of Marvel characters for larger central displays. I’m hoping Hasbro stops trying to keep this line Spidey centric, because I don’t need more Spider-mans when they’re the only figures I own in this scale. This Spider-Man is great, and I’d be willing to get more classic characters in this style. I’ve got hardly any problems with this figure, and so Spidey gets a score of 7. I think with a few other heroes to pose with though, Spidey could have been an 8. This figure is definitely recommended for Spidey fans. If Hasbro makes it clear they won’t do any other characters though, this figure could be a pass for many people.
SCALE
10. My favorite possession.
9. My favorite action figure.
8. One of my favorite action figures.
7. An exceptional action figure.
6. A good, but not exceptional action figure.
5. An adequate action figure.
4. Not worth the money I spent.
3. I'll give it to somebody's kid.
2. I'll give it to somebody's dog.
1. It's going to lose a fight with my car.
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