BEN REILLY SPIDER-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“After years of self-imposed exile, Spider-Man is back! Now calling himself Ben Reilly, and sporting a brand-new costume and web-shooters, the Wall-Crawler returns to fight crime!”

In the midst of the monster of a cross-over that was “The Clone Saga”, there was a big shocking twist, revealing that Ben Reilly, the clone of Peter Parker, with whom the audience had just become re-acquainted, wasn’t a clone at all, but was the original Peter, and, by extension, the Peter the audience had been following for 20 years, was actually a clone.  With this (obviously temporary) revelation, our Peter stepped down from the role of Spider-Man, leaving it to Ben, who would take over the Spider-titles for a year, up until the ultimate conclusion of the Clone Saga, which saw Ben’s demise.  But, of course, no one stays dead in comics, and so Ben came back.  He re-adopted the Spider-Man title quite recently, making it the perfect time to revisit his time as Spidey in figure form.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ben Reilly Spider-Man is s the last of the three Spidey variants in the latest Spidey-themed Retro assortment of Marvel Legends. He’s the second version of the Ben Reilly Spidey in the Legends line-up, following up on the one from the Absorbing Man Series in 2016.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 36 points of articulation.  He marks the third figure on the updated Retro Spidey body, following regular Spidey and the Symbiote costume.  This one uses all of the main retro body parts, as well as the exterior web shooters previously used with Scarlet Spider and the last Ben Reilly Spidey.  It’s a pretty by the numbers construction, which does about what you expect.  If I’m honest, it doesn’t work quite as well here.  The head sculpt and build on this figure are very much a Romita Spidey, and that doesn’t quite so much fit with the Bagley design.  He just feels too bulky for how Ben was usually depicted, at least to my eyes.  That said, it still makes for a decently assembled figure, even if it’s not one that’s quite as ripped from the pages as the others.  Ben’s paint work is generally pretty decently handled.  It brightens up the colors compared to the last one, which is different.  I’m not entirely sold on the colors, especially the blue, which does feel a touch too bright and also means this figure isn’t quite able to match the Spider-Carnage pieces from the last one, despite the larger build making more sense for that particular design.  Speaking of extras, this Spidey gets the full run of extra hands again, which is always nice to see.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I really like the Ben Reilly Spider-Man design, and I really like it as an action figure.  That said, I was pretty happy with the last Legends release, and he’s definitely a solid instance for me of the Pizza Spidey really working in the appropriate context.  So, I was iffy on this one, but I still really like the design, so I grabbed it anyway.  I don’t like it quite as much as a standard Ben Reilly Spidey, but I do like it as a way to display the Spider-Carnage parts, even if the blues don’t quite match.  And, I’m glad there’s another Ben Reilly Spidey available to those that couldn’t get the last one.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.