AMAZING FANTASY SPIDER-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“In Spider-Man’s first-ever adventure, tragedy teaches a young Peter Parker that with great power comes great responsibility.”

On August 10, 1962, the world of Marvel changed forever, with the publication of Amazing Fantasy #15.  With the anthology series officially ending, writer Stan Lee was given free rein to do whatever he wanted for the final issue.  So, Stan dusted off an old concept he’d been trying to get published for a little while and Spider-Man found his way to print.  60 years later, he’s effectively the face of Marvel, and one of the biggest super heroes out there.  In honor of the character’s 60th anniversary, Hasbro’s running all sorts of figures from all throughout his history.  I’m kicking things off today with Peter as he appeared in the very beginning.  Let’s take a look at Amazing Fantasy Spider-Man!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Amazing Fantasy Spider-Man is a single release figure in the “Spider-Man 60th Anniversary” sub-line of Marvel Legends.  He’s based specifically on Spidey’s first appearance, the second Legends release to do so, following up on Toy Biz’s own stab at it back in 2005.  Things have certainly changed a bit since then, so a re-do feels like it was overdue.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and has 34 points of articulation.  Amazing Fantasy Spider-Man is built on a brand-new base body which, more so than the retro Spidey base from 2020, feels designed as a direct replacement for the Pizza Spidey base.  It’s key strength is how its articulation works; not only is it sporting those fancy pinless elbows and knees that Spidey has been deprived of up to this point, he’s also sporting an impressive range of motion on just about all of his joints.  Okay, so let’s talk about this figure’s articulation, because oh boy is that worth focusing on for a bit.  Perhaps the best area of range is on the figure’s ankles, which have enough forward motion that the figure can stand in a crouching pose while still keeping both of his feet flat on the ground.  Like, *I* don’t even have that kind of range.  He’s also got enough crunch range on the mid-torso and waist, and enough forward mobility on his butterfly shoulders that he can get his hands resting on the ground in front of him while crouching.  The coolest thing about all of this mobility, however, is that it doesn’t require the joints to horribly break up the aesthetics of the mold.  It’s the best of both worlds. The sculpt gives us a slightly more balanced set of skinny proportions than the Pizza Spidey body did, which I think will help it work a little bit better for other characters than that release did.  He also gets an all-new head; it’s not specifically Ditko-based, but it’s got the thinner eyes, which certainly suit the earlier days look a bit better.  The figure’s paint work is a decent set-up.  Thanks to the way the articulation and part break down works, he’s get less need for paint than earlier figures, since a lot of him can just be molded in the proper colors.  The work that’s there is generally pretty solid.  I did have one issue of slop on my figure’s left arm, and there’s a slight mismatch of the reds between the upper torso and the rest of the figure, but beyond that, it’s all reasonable work.  They’ve made sure to give him the slightly modified logo on the front and back, which I love.  I’m also just really overjoyed about the pinless elbows meaning we finally have a Legends Spidey without bright red dots on the interior of his arm.  Spidey is packed with four sets of hands (in thwipping, gripping, fists, and open gesture), a webline, and swappable web wings in both compact and stretched out set-ups.  I love the inclusion of all of the extra hands, since there’s a tendency to drop them these days.  These ones give him a great range of expression.  The webline’s the same one they’ve been using; it works out alright.  The web wings are always tricky in figure form; the swapable pieces feel like the best way of handling them.  They work well on mine, but I know that for some people they’ve been really loose fitting.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve got a soft-spot for the AF Spidey, especially when it comes to Legends.  The Series 10 version from Toy Biz was my standard 6-inch Spidey for a very long while, only being retired by the Pizza Spidey.  Pizza Spidey himself has been a favorite of mine, and, while the retro figure was okay, he wasn’t really an upgrade to me, just a lateral move that I personally didn’t like as much.  With this release, I feel like Hasbro has a suitable replacement for Pizza Spidey.  I mean, sure, he’s still not in standard colors, but in case you hadn’t been clued in by how attached I was the Toy Biz AF Spidey, I’m clearly not too shaken up about that.  This guy’s really, really great.  Honestly, he’s my favorite Legends Spidey to date.

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.