Tag Archives: Peter Parker

#3548: Amazing Spider-Man

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0027: The Marvel Legends assortment that contained tie-in figures for Amazing Spider–Man 2 was one of two that launched Hasbro’s modern era of Legends 10 years ago.

I was pretty staunchly anti the Amazing Spider-Man series when it first hit theaters. Raimi’s films had defined my love of the character, and I was bitter about him being ousted, so I avoided them both in theaters. I did eventually see them both, and I could see some of the potential behind them, but never the full payoff. So, when I say that Andrew Garfield’s return as Peter Parker in No Way Home was one of my favorite parts, I want you to understand the weight behind that. And hey, it got me to review something Amazing Spider-Man related!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Amazing Spider-Man is part of the retro-card style No Way Home tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends. Or is he? Despite shipping in a case with five other figures all on No Way Home cards, Andrew is on an Amazing Spider-Man 2 card. Why? Well, the exact reason hasn’t been stated officially, but we know that the Figuarts NWH Andrew, which had an unmasked Garfield head when solicited, had to have said unmasked head removed at the last minute, with contract issues being cited. Hot Toys’ Andrew Spidey, despite being shown off with other NWH figures was ultimately marked Amazing Spider-Man 2 upon release as well, and Hasbro’s original three-pack release for him under the NWH banner was sold without an unmasked head, suggesting that there’s some sort of hang-up with specifically Andrew’s likeness from NWH. Thankfully, he’s not all that different looking between the two films, so it’s easy enough to just mark him as being the other version without any real change-ups. Much like the Tobey figure, Andrew’s core figure is identical to his three-pack release, with only accessory change-ups. The figure stands a little over 6 1/4 inches tall (making him, accurately, the tallest of the three Spideys) and he has 34 points of articulation. His articulation set-up is the same as Tobey and Tom’s, but I personally found Andrew had the best range of motion. It’s still a little restricted, but not terribly so. His sculpt is all-new, and wow is it an overhaul to the one from 2014. That one was a good basic Spidey, but this one is more specifically tailored to the actual movie costume design. Say what you will about the films, this suit design is one of the best Spidey looks out there and it translates well to this figure. While I felt rather let-down by the paint on Tobey, the paint on this guy is particularly good. I dig the darker tones and the slight metallic finish, which really capture his on-screen look well. The three pack have this guy three sets of hands (thwipping, open gesture, and fists) and a webline. The single drops one gesture and one fist, as well as the webline, and gives him an unmasked head. The extra head is a pretty solid likeness, and feels more on point than the Tobey sculpt, but maybe not as nice as the Tom sculpt.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As sort of the dark horse performance in the movie for me, I was definitely down for a new Andrew Spidey. While Tobey’s my favorite of the three for sentimental reasons, I think Andrew is the best Spidey figure in this particular set. It’s nice to see him get his due both in toy and movie form.

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 and their eBay storefront.

#3545: Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0024: Delays in the production of the original Spider-Man movie meant its tie-in line had to be shelved, leading Toy Biz to create Spider-Man Classics to fill the gap, ultimately leading to the creation of Marvel Legends.

Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man was a pretty big deal for superhero movies, and proved perhaps the most influential film since Superman The Movie it terms of how the industry treated comic book movies. Though certainly a product of its time, without Spider-Man, there’s not really an MCU. So, it was certainly appropriate for Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker to show up in No Way Home, officially crossing over into the very universe he indirectly helped create. It was also really cool for me, because, much as I love Tom Holland in the role, Tobey Maguire is *my* Spider-Man. I saw all of his movies in the theater, and I loved them all (yes, even Spider-Man 3). A lot of my attachment to Spider-Man at all comes from those movies. And getting new toys based on the characters from them, especially Tobey as Spidey? Just kind of the best.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is part of the retro-card backed No Way Home tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends. Previously, he was available in a Pulse-exclusive three-pack with Tom and Andrew. The two releases are identical core figures, with different accessories, which I’ll touch on in that section.  The figure stands just shy of 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  His articulation scheme is pretty much the same as the Finale Tom figure, so it’s a slightly more restricted version of the Amazing Fantasy set-up.  It’s still a little stiff, but generally not bad.  Tobey’s sculpt is an all-new one (shared with the three-pack, of course), courtesy of sculptor Dennis Chan.  While he’s billed as specifically No Way Home Tobey, the sculpt goes for a little more middle of the road for all of his movie looks.  The masked head isn’t quite a spot-on recreation of his mask from the movies; the shaping of the eyes and the layout of the webs looks right, but the underlying shape of the head is off.  It’s not terrible, but it’s not quite right.  Admittedly, it was an issue on his figures from during his movie run too, with the super poseable figure from Spider-Man 2 being another prominent offender.  The head also seems maybe a bit large relative to the body.  The body sculpt’s pretty nice, though, and has a nice set of proportions, far more balanced than prior figures.  The paint work on this guy is another area that doesn’t quite hit the mark.  It’s not bad, but the colors seem a little too bright and saturated to properly convey Tobey’s suit.  It results in the weblines in particular getting a little lost.  The application’s still clean, though, so it’s less a technical issue, and more a design choice one.  The three-pack version of Tobey got three sets of hands (in fists, open gesture, and thwipping) and a webline.  For this release, he gains an unmasked head sculpt (handled by Chango Customs), but loses the webline, the right open gesture hand, and the left fist.  It’s a bummer that we lost one each of the non-thwipping hands, since they were already sculpted and all.  The unmasked head is okay; something seems off about it.  It’s hard to tell which Tobey it’s supposed to be, and it looks more like Tyler Hochlin than Tobey Maguire to me.  Still, it’s not the worst likeness I’ve seen in this line.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

Tobey’s return was the thing I was most excited about in No Way Home, and I definitely wanted a figure of some sort.  I actually managed to get a good deal on the three-pack version *right* before the singles got announced, so I’ve have the figure for a bit and opted to upgrade to the single when he finally hit.  This figure’s not perfect.  In fact, I’d say he’s the weakest of the three Spideys in this line-up.  But, I can’t help but love him, and I’m happy to have gotten him.

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 and their eBay storefront.

#3543: Spider-Man

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

SPIDER-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0022:  Tom Holland’s Spider-Man is one of the few core MCU characters to have all of their costumes covered in Legends form, starting with his homemade suit and ending with his…other homemade suit.

The MCU Spidey suits have certainly had their ups and downs.  The original Civil War design is a pretty nifty MCU-ification of his classic costume.  Iron Spider grew on me, but wasn’t a basic look.  I was actually a pretty big fan of the advanced suit from Far From Home, because I’m a sucker for the red and black set-up.  I wasn’t so much up on its upgrade to the Integrated suit for No Way Home, but there have certainly been worse designs.  It just was unfortunate that Holland wasn’t wearing one of his best looks when he teamed up with Garfield and McGuire, who were in their best looks.  Thankfully, he moved onto his best look yet (which is admittedly just a pretty straight recreation of his classic comics look) for the film’s final swing.  It’s been late to the merchandising game, but so has everything else good from the movie.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Man, who is just called “Spider-Man” on the box, is part of the second No Way Home-themed tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends, which hit right at the tail end of last year/beginning of this year.  As noted in the intro, this figure is based on Holland’s “Finale” suit from the movie.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  This guy is sporting an all-new sculpt, courtesy of sculptor Rene Aldrete.  It’s got an articulation scheme that’s got pinless construction and follows a set-up similar to what we saw on the Amazing Fantasy sculpt.  The range of motion’s not *quite* as good on this guy as it was there, but he’s still quite mobile.  I just wish he had a slightly deeper motion for the ankles.  The sculpt’s a pretty solid offering, with the appropriate svelte build for Holland in the suit.  The details of the suit are slightly raised, which makes for a nice detailing pop.  In terms of coloring, this figure is pretty bright and colorful, and certainly the brightest of the Holland Spideys, but if you want to get technical, he should be a little bit brighter.  I mean, just a smidge.  It’s not enough to ruin it, and the application is sharply handled.  Spider-Man is well-accessorized, with a full selection of hands, in fists, open gesture, and thwipping.  He’s also got an unmasked Holland Peter hand (a surprisingly rare occurrence for Holland Spideys), which is a re-use of the more serious expression head from the Peter and Ned two-pack.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I was looking forward to this release (because I’ve honestly dug all of the Holland Spidey Legends up to this point), but in-hand, after a lot of hype, I was a little let-down.  At least at first.  But, as I got the chance to mess with him for the purposes of the review, I came back around on him.  He’s not a perfect figure, and sure, he pales in comparison to Amazing Fantasy Spidey, but most Spideys do.  As an MCU Spidey, though, he’s pretty darn great.

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 and their eBay storefront.

#3377: Peter B. Parker

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

PETER B. PARKER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Peter B. Parker must decide between protecting his old pal Miles and siding with his more experienced comrades.”

While Peter Parker was the main character of the comics version of “Spider-Verse,” for the Spider-Verse movies, the focus has been shifted to Miles Morales, with Peter, specifically the alternate universe Peter B. Parker, serving as a mentor to Miles.  It’s a change-up, but a decidedly fun one.  And there’s all sorts of goofy slacker Peter in costume looks that we got out of it.  So, let’s have a look at another Peter B. Parker!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Peter B. Parker is the fourth figure in the Across the Spider-Verse tie-in line-up of Marvel Legends.  Technically, he’s not actually an Across figure, and is in fact the line-up’s one Into the Spider-Verse figure, making him the first true repeat.  He does at least get a slightly changed-up look, though.  While the last figure was based on Peter B’s fully civilian look, this one takes the next step in his costume evolution, with his into action look…well, at least the one before he gets his full costume back.  Yay sweat pants!  The figure stands just shy of 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Last time around, Peter was the most limited of the Spider-Verse figures in terms of articulation, but this one ends up fairing just a little bit better, largely due to the lack of bulky over coat, but also thanks to some of thinner limb parts, most notably the ankles and the neck, being less wobbly when posing.  Peter marks the sets one tiny little bit of re-use; the sweat pants are the same ones used on the prior figure, which does make a degree of sense.  Everything else is all-new, and it’s generally pretty good.  It’s certainly very on-brand for the film’s styling, though if I have one complaint it’s that his lower torso is definitely too fit and defined.  Those are Peter A’s abs, not Peter B’s.  It’s interesting, because that’s an area where re-using the torso from the prior figure would have solved the issue, and yet they opted not to.  One almost has to wonder if there was a plan to do a full Peter A figure, but they opted for the budget friendlier sweat pants version of Peter B.  Or perhaps there was some sort of a mix-up on the models being used.  Whatever the case, it’s not the end of the world.  Peter’s paint work is quite on the basic side, but that’s not a terrible thing, and he’s at least pretty eye-catching, and what’s there is clean.  Peter is quite on the light side for accessories, getting two sets of hands, one in fists and one in thwipping pose.  They look to be re-used from the last one.  Since we’re getting re-use anyway, getting one or both of those alternate heads might have also been nice, if there wasn’t any chance of any new parts.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t sure I was going to like this guy.  He honestly perplexed me a bit, since it’s odd to get another Into Peter B. before getting his new look from Across, but perhaps there’s a good reason for holding off on that one.  I was also a bit surprised that we still didn’t get Peter’s full costume.  That being said, I think I’m honestly happier with him this way.  We’ve gotten plenty of basic Spider-Men over the years, and a Spider-Verse one is kind of inevitable, so doing this one first is at least a slightly more unique look, and he’s also just a rather fun figure at that.

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 and their eBay storefront.

#3228: Peter Parker & Ned Leeds

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , ,

PETER PARKER & NED LEEDS

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Civilians in Spider-Man movie tie-ins are always a bit hit or miss.  The first Raimi film actually did kind of crazy good on that front, with not only civilian versions of both Peter and Norman, but also Mary Jane and J Jonah Jameson.  Since then, they’ve been less invested.  For the latest range of films, we started off with no civilians, but did at least get an MJ for the Far From Home tie-ins and a JJJ from No Way Home.  We haven’t actually gotten a basic Tom Holland Peter, though, nor had we gotten Peter’s “guy in the chair” Ned Leeds.  Hasbro’s celebration of Spider-Man’s 60th anniversary amends both of those.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Peter Parker and Ned Leeds are one of the three two-packs in the “Spider-Man 60 Amazing Years” sub-line of Marvel Legends.  It’s the one movie-inspired part of the line-up, which I suppose is alright.

PETER PARKER

“Peter Parker is a high school sophomore with a big secret. Instead of rushing home to do homework, he spends his afternoons fighting crime as the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man!”

Civilian Peter Parker figures aren’t a total rarity when it comes to tie-in lines, but thus far the only Tom Holland version of Peter is in Minimate form.  Legends has also been pretty stingy on the unmasked heads for the MCU Spider-Men, with them only being available in a handful of rather tricky to acquire exclusive offerings.  So, I guess this release just generally makes up for all of that.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  The articulation scheme on this figure is actually quite impressively handled for a civilian figure; he’s not quite as posable as the top-end Spider-Men, but it’s still pretty agile, which is certainly appropriate for Peter.  He’s also got the pinless construction for the arms and legs, which makes him a little sleeker looking.  Peter’s sculpt is entirely new.  The standard head sports a rather impressive likeness of Tom Holland, which is definitely amongst Hasbro’s best.  The body sculpt is patterned on one of Peter’s sweater wearing looks from one of Homecoming‘s school sequences.  It’s a suitably character appropriate look, especially for Holland’s take on the character, and the sculpt does a solid job of capturing the outfit, as well as balancing his proportions in a realistic manner.  The color work on the figure is generally pretty basic, with a good chunk of it being molded colors.  The face is nice and lifelike in its paint application, and the plaid pattern on what we can see of his shirt under the sweater is quite nice for the scale.  Peter is packed with an alternate smiling head, two sets of hands (fists and open gesture), a back pack, and a book.  The alternate head is an interesting concept, and I appreciate Hasbro’s attempt at something a little different, but it’s not quite right, especially compared to the standard head.  He looks more like Marty Feldman than Tom Holland.  The book’s lacking any paint details, and neither set of hands can really hold it, but it’s a decent enough extra anyway.  The back pack’s definitely a solid piece, though.

NED LEEDS

“Classmates and best friends, Ned is the only person at school who knows Peter Parker’s secret.”

While we’ve had a number of Peter Parker figures over the years, Ned Leeds has been completely absent from the world of action figures.  His comics counterpart was honestly never really notable enough to warrant any coverage (though an extra head with a Hobgoblin at some point might be nifty), but movie Ned is far more prominent.  Still not particularly action oriented, but that hasn’t stopped other figures from being made, so why would it stop Ned?  The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  Compared to Peter, the articulation scheme is a fair bit more restricted on Ned.  He’s obviously a far less agile character, so there’s a degree of sense to that, but I do wish he at least had a better range on his elbows.  Ah, well, you can still get some decent poses out of him.  His sculpt is another all-new set-up, courtesy of sculptor Dennis Chan.  The head sculpt has a likeness of Jacob Batalon that’s pretty much on par with the Peter figure’s Holland likeness.  I particularly like the small trace of a grin on the face; it feels very on the mark for Ned.  The body sculpt puts Ned in an outfit that matches up with Peter, which is definitely nice, and he gets a set of proportions that matches up well with Batalon’s build in the movies.  The paint work on Ned is a bit more involved than was the case with Peter, with some wear on the pants, and a decent job with the stripes on the shirt.  Ned is packed with an alternate head sporting a Spidey mask (as seen briefly in the movie), and he’s also got his own back pack, unique from Peter’s.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up MJ back when they released her, and she’s kind of just been there on her own since then.  I was definitely hoping we might see at the very least a Ned figure.  Getting him and Peter together was something of a surprise, but a pleasant one.  These two aren’t going to be the most thrilling of the anniversary line-up, but they’re both still a lot of fun, and do a great job of rounding out the cast just a little bit.

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

#3204: Spider-Man & Spinneret

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , ,

SPIDER-MAN & SPINNERET

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Peter and Mary-Jane Parker are partners in marriage and crime-fighting as Spider-Man and Spinneret!”

With the character’s 60th anniversary upon us, now’s as good a time as any to really look into the history of Spidey and his supporting cast.  In 1987, Peter Parker and Mary-Jane Watson officially tied the knot in not one, not two, but three different venues, which included the mainstream Marvel universe in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21, the Spider-Man newspaper strip, and even a live performance of the marriage held at Shea Stadium and officiated by Stan Lee himself.  Within the main universe, the marriage lasted 20 years, before Joe Quesada, during his absolutely wonderful and not at all the worst thing ever run as Editor-in-Chief at Marvel, decided he didn’t think people could relate to a Spider-Man who was married.  Because, apparently people had been not relating to Spidey for the last two decades at that point.  Obviously, the solution to this issue of relatability was to have Peter and Mary-Jane sell their marriage to the literal Devil in what has got to be the most convoluted sequence of events ever crafted in order to end a marriage.  Very relatable.  “One More Day” went over about as well as a lead balloon at the time of its publication, so there have been plenty of attempts at circumventing its effects.  During 2015’s Secret Wars crossover, Dan Slott and Adam Kubert helmed a limited series exploring a world where Peter and MJ had never sold their marriage to the literal Devil, called “Renew Your Vows.”  The story was generally seen as a good thing, and has spawned itself its own two-pack, Spidey and Spinneret, which I’ll be taking a look at today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Spider-Man and Spinneret are one of the pair of two-packs in the “Spider-Man 60th Anniversary” sub-line of Marvel Legends.  The pack is officially branded “Renew Your Vows” after the story that spawned it.

SPIDER-MAN

There has been no shortage of standard Spider-Man variants in Legends, but Hasbro is intent on continuing to improve their standard issue Spider-Man wherever they can.  Just under the current run of Legends, we got Pizza Spidey in 2015, and the Retro Spidey in 2020, and now, there’s a whole new one.  Well, I say “whole new,” but that’s not entirely accurate.  I’ll get to that.  The figure stands just over 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 38 points of articulation.  Yesterday, I spend a good portion of my review of discussing how impressive the Amazing Fantasy Spidey’s articulation is.  Today’s Spidey is…well, he’s different.  A lot of it comes down to how this guy is built.  While AF Spidey is an all-new sculpt from the ground up, Renew Spidey is sort of retrofitting older parts into a modern set-up.  He’s taking a lot from the Retro Spidey from 2020, a figure that was himself slightly hindered by his reliance on pieces from the ANAD 2099 figure.  In order to make up for that figure’s older pieces, this one replaces or at the very least alters a few more pieces to modernize things just a bit.  The arms and legs are now adjusted to feature the pinless construction on the elbows and knees, which was a major issue with the last release, since he literally *just* missed the implementation of that feature.  This figure also gets a new set of feet, which see the return of toe articulation, something that was once a staple, but has been absent from Legends since shortly after Hasbro took over the license.  Admittedly, I tended to find the toe articulation overused, but on Spidey it does make a degree more sense.  It’s all topped off with a head that looks like it might be a re-use of the Pizza Spidey head, but there’s enough slight change-up of the width of the jaw that I’m not sure if it’s actually new or if that’s just a slight variation in the mold over time.  Whatever the case, it’s a more current looking Spidey head than the one that was on the retro release.  The whole set-up on the mold is a little bit piecemeal, but it’s greater than the sum of its parts.  The articulation gets the job done, and he ultimately gets a similar range of motion to the AF Spidey.  There are definitely some areas where one articulation set-up is compensating for another, so it’s not as fluid in its motion as the other figure.  Still, it’s not a bad set-up.  The figure’s paint work is generally pretty good.  The palette is a little darker than the Retro Spidey, which fits well with the particular storyline the figure’s adapting.  Spidey is packed with an unmasked head and three sets of hands (in fists, thwipping, and open gesture).  The unmasked head is the same one we’ve seen a few times, though this time with the face printing, which is honestly a notable improvement.

SPINNERET

Within the original run of Renew Your Vows, MJ is still doing the civilian thing, but when it was continued as an ongoing book under veteran Spidey scribe Gerry Conway, he gave MJ her own super hero identity as Spinneret.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and it has 29 points of articulation.  MJ winds up as about as much of a patchwork job as her husband, which is appropriate, I suppose.  She starts with the AoA Rogue-modified version of the Polaris-modified version of the Phoenix torso, which translates to her having two separate ports on her back that don’t actually do anything for this release.  She’s then got the upgraded pinless-style arms and legs from Shriek, an all-new head, and a pair of add-ons for the cuffs on her ankles.  I’m not super thrilled by the extra ports on the back, but otherwise it’s a body with a decent set of proportions and a really nice range of motion.  The new head does a solid job of recreating her masked look from the comics, and manages to do a not so terrible job of a teeth baring grin that doesn’t look frightening or goofy.  Spinneret’s paint work is pretty decent.  I dig the rather unique color scheme, and the paint on the face in particular, which is using the face printing.  The figure’s packed with an unmasked head (the same one included with the Retro Gwen Stacy figure) and three sets of hands (fists, thwipping, and open gesture).  As with the Peter head, MJ gets the face printing, which is again a marked improvement.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was on the fence with this set.  I enjoy the storyline and all, but it’s a pricey set, and I’d not really been wowed by the Retro Spider-Man in his first release.  That said, once this set was in front of me, it was harder to turn down, especially when I suddenly found myself getting another item for a lot cheaper than I’d expected, so I had some extra cash to justify it.  Spidey is definitely a bit of a Frankenstein, but it ultimately works out better than I’d expected.  He’s the slightest bit undercut by how well the AF Spidey turned out, but they serve different purposes and they serve them well.  Spinneret isn’t the main draw of the set, but she’s still a really solid figure, and rounds out the pack really nicely.

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

#2943: Zombie Hunter Spidey

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , ,

ZOMBIE HUNTER SPIDEY

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Zombie Hunter Spidey is in a ragtag group of survivors, fighting his way through a zombie-infested world.”

In the original Marvel Zombies, just about all of the major heroes had been zombified, which included everyone’s favorite web-slinger, who in the main story actually served as sort of the token good guy of the zombie group.  For the purposes of the MCU version of the story, the zombies no longer retain their personalities, and Peter Parker is also spared his zombified fate, instead becoming the story’s central remaining human character.  It makes him a solid choice for toy treatment, I suppose, and so I’m looking at that figure today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Zombie Hunter Spidey is figure 3 in the Watcher Series of Marvel Legends, and the second figure in the assortment based on the “Zombies” episode.  The figure stands just under 6 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  The articulation scheme on the figure is a little bit outmoded in its implementation, so he’s not quite as agile as you might hope.  Notably, as a first for an MCU Spidey, he lacks butterfly joints on the shoulders.  Not exactly sure why, but that’s how it is.  Peter’s design in the episode is a mix of a few of his designs from the movies, most heavily leaning on his Homecoming appearance, which is really the most classically “Spider-Man” look of the bunch.  To that end, his sculpt makes use of parts from the Homecoming figure (which does again raise the question of why the shoulder joints were adjusted.)  The figure’s upper torso and arms are new pieces, following the slightly tweaked design of the suit from the episode.  It’s really not terribly removed from the other MCU Spider-Men, which I suppose is the point, really.  During the course of the episode, Peter inherits Doctor Strange’s cloak of levitation, and as such the figure gets its own version of the piece.  It’s totally unique from the ones we’ve gotten with the various Strange figures, which was honestly surprising.  It also has no peg or anything to hold it in place, which does make it a bit hard to keep it seated properly.  Zombie Hunter Spidey’s paint work is notably brighter in color than other versions of the MCU suit, bit it works well.  There’s a bit of shading to indicate the suit’s gotten a little dirty during the apocalypse, which makes sense, and also keeps him from being too bland.  Spidey is packed with an alternate unmasked head, two sets of hands (fists and thwipping), and the right leg to the Watcher Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had not particular attachment to this figure before the episode aired, and I still really didn’t have any after.  Mostly, I got him because I was getting the whole set.  He’s an MCU Spidey wearing a Doctor Stange cape.  That’s really it.  It’s not like he does that badly, I suppose, though the decision to remove the butterfly joints and not to include a peg on the cape both do seem rather strange, and also serve to kind of hold him back a bit.  Ultimately, he’s a rather middle of the road figure.

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.

#2677: Peter B. Parker

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , ,

PETER B. PARKER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Peter B. Parker mentors Miles Morales, an all-new Spider-Man, to understand the importance of power and responsibility.”

Up until Into the Spider-Verse, Spider-Man movies always had Peter Parker as their lead, and typically a younger version of Peter at that.  Even the comics version of “Spider-Verse” had the mainstream Peter Parker as its central Spider-Man.  So, it was a bit of a shift when the movie’s version of Peter was aged up and moved into the role of mentor for Miles.  It ended up working very well, of course, and gave us a Peter that was consistent with prior incarnations, while still offering up something audiences hadn’t really seen before.  It also gave us a Peter with a lot of kind of goody and distinctive variants on his usual Spidey costume, which are really just ripe for toy treatment, aren’t they?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Peter B. Parker is figure 3 in the Stilt-Man Series of Marvel Legends, the third of the four Spider-Verse figures included.  Like Miles, Peter has several notable looks over the course of the film.  This figure goes for his appearance when he first encounters Miles.  It’s definitely distinctive, and matches Miles in terms of theme, even if it doesn’t quite match up in terms of actual interaction.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  In terms of posability, Peter’s a little more stiffer than Miles and Gwen.  There’s still a good range, but the joints can be a bit tight, and the rather thin limbs can make them a little tricky to get posed.  Also, on my figure, the neck keeps wanting to come out of the torso.  Ultimately, I think this will loosen up over time, but it’s definitely tricky right out of the gate.  And, like Miles, he’s got a little trouble standing, so it takes some more careful posing to get it done.  Peter’s sculpt is all-new (though, as with Miles, I wouldn’t be shocked to see some of these parts get used for a more fully suited Peter down the line), and it’s a pretty great recreation of his animation model from the movie.  The head really nails the disheveled appearance of Peter in the movie, and I love the sort of out of it smile he’s got.  Even the sweat pants and the mismatched shoes look great, and really sell that hastily assembled appearance.  The paint work on this guy is pretty well rendered.  The basic color work is largely handled via molded plastic, but the paint application that is there is pretty clean.  There’s a lot of detailing going on on the face (though I did notice a bit of variation from figure to figure on the stubble), which matches up pretty well with the movie, and they’ve even included smaller details like all of the buttons on his jacket.  I’m still iffy on the total lack of paint for the weblines on what we can see of his costume, but it does mean he matches Spider-Ham.  Additionally, since he’s not supposed to go with the comics style figures, per se, the change isn’t as drastic as it was on, say, 6-Arm Spider-Man.  In terms of accessories, Peter makes out probably the best of the three Spiders, with a second head with the mask on the top of his head, plus three sets of hands (ungloved, and gloved in fists and thwipping), and his fast food beverage.  The lack of a fully masked head lends credence to a full-suited version coming later, and I do like the beanie style look they’ve given him here, as well as the fact that he’s got a slightly changed up facial expression.  They’ve changed up the neck joint, however, making the ball for this one much smaller than usual, meaning it’s a different construction even from Miles.  Not entirely sure why they moved away from the standardizing for these two figures, but hopefully it’s a) just a fluke and b) any further variants of these two characters will at least remain internally consistent.  The hands are a decent mix, with the ungloved ones in particular being designed for use with the drink, which is itself my personal favorite of the accessories included.  In addition to his own accessories, Peter also gets the head for the Build-A-Figure Stilt-Man.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Schlubby Peter is one of the movie’s most distinctive visuals, right next to “What’s Up Danger?” Miles, so he was definitely a design I was wanting to see in some form, especially when the more basic lines completely left it out.  I was definitely down for his inclusion in Legends, and he was another figure I was really looking forward to.  Ultimately, I do wish his posing wasn’t quite as stiff, but beyond that he’s pretty awesome, and definitely a figure I’m glad I have.

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

#2537: Peter Parker

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

PETER PARKER

MARVEL LEGENDS RETRO COLLECTION (HASBRO)

“Peter Parker is the college student & photo-journalist who is secretly the Amazing Spider-Man!”

The civilian identities of super heroes don’t tend to be the most toyetic things, so they don’t tend to actually get toys, unless their alter ego is really well-known.  Fortunately for ol’ Peter Parker, Spider-Man is kind of up there on the list of well-known super heroes.  So, since all the way back in 1974, Peter’s been privy to the toy scene.  For the majority of the Legends run, Peter’s inclusion has been more through extra unmasked head sculpts, but now we’ve finally gotten a proper full Peter Parker figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Peter Parker is the fourth figure in the recent Spider-Man-themed assortment of the Marvel Legends Retro Collection.  Unlike the three prior figures I’ve looked at from the assortment so far, Peter actually has a direct comparison in the ’90s Toy Biz line that this set is meant to be a throw back to, which featured a standard Peter Parker figure as part of its Series 2 line-up.  That said, this figure still calls attention to the fact that these are comic figures that happen to line-up with a few animated elements by virtue of pretty much not looking like the cartoon’s version of Peter in the slightest.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Peter’s sculpt is technically mostly re-used, but will end up being new to most collectors, due to the Stan Lee figure that he’s patterned on not really showing up in most places yet.  Honestly, it’s a pretty clever idea having the two share parts, given their usual similar build and the fact that Stan was pretty vocal about seeing Peter as something of an author avatar.   But I can get more into that if I ever get the Stan figure.  Let’s focus on Peter.  In addition to using the new windbreaker jacket from Stan, he also uses Spider-Punk’s sneakers, as well as a new head and hands.  The hands are pretty basic in their own right, mostly just getting tweaked posing so that they can hold his camera accessory.  The head is…well, it’s an attempt at something, but I’m not certain it worked. They’re clearly going for a heavily Ditko-inspired head, which isn’t a terrible idea in its own right, since it’s a surprisingly rare thing to see.  What I’m not so big on are the permanently attached glasses.  They’re thick, goofy, and totally opaque, which really plays up the cartoony side of the figure.  If there were at least the same head sans glasses included, it wouldn’t bug me nearly as much, but it feels very limiting this way.  The paint work on this guy is probably the most basic in the set.  It’s a lot of neutral colors.  They look fine, but I was a little bummed by the stark white shoes; the ’90s figure had actual colors, and I wouldn’t have minded seeing those crop up again here.  Also, they’ve painted the eyes under the glasses, which seems a bit silly, given that no one’s ever going to see them.  In terms of extras, Peter’s got the camera I mentioned above, as well as an alternate spider-sense head, which is certainly an improvement on the standard head, but still falls into that slightly limiting category.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was quite fond of the old Toy Biz Peter Parker figure, and he’s definitely one of the best civilian figures out there.  The prospect of an update was definitely okay by me.  The final figure’s certainly not bad, and I can’t really directly fault anything about the figure.  It’s just a few minor things that hold him back.  That said, throwing on the previous unmasked Spider-Man head actually looks pretty solid.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this guy for review.  If you’re looking for Marvel Legends, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2402: Unmasked Spider-Man & Dr. Octopus

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

UNMASKED SPIDER-MAN & DR. OCTOPUS

MARVEL MINIMATES

Marvel Minimates hit shelves again their second year in early March, kicking off their sophomore efforts with a return to the world of everyone’s favorite wall-crawler.  The second series of the line had given us Spidey and three of his best known foes, but there was definitely a major one missing, and that was Dr. Octopus (who was, probably not coincidentally, the main foe in Spider-Man 2, which hit theaters two months after this assortment was released), who made his Minimate debut here, alongside unmasked Spider-Man, the sort of Spider-Man variant that wouldn’t really be a proper variant in this day and age.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Unmasked Spider-Man and Dr. Octopus were first released in Series 4 of the specialty line of Marvel Minimates, but the set was one of the ones that was carried over unchanged into the Walmart/Target assortments of the time, as well as both figures being released in one of TRU’s 4-packs, alongside Captain America and Absorbing Man.  I actually already reviewed the Spidey on his own a while back, and that review is here.  I don’t talk about packaging much on this site, but it’s notable that these guys were to first to be in the much smaller, windowless box packaging, which would be the line’s main jam for two years or so.  I myself am quite nostalgic for this particular style of packaging, although it did limit the ability to include extra parts with the figures.  Still, it was quite a good look for the line.

Doc Ock was a slight departure for the line, with one of the most extensive add-ons at the time.  Though characters like Hulk and Venom would go without any bulk-up, Ock got his requisite fat piece, which was rolled into his tentacle arms as well.  The arms are rather on the small side, but they did have articulation at each connection, making Ock the most articulated Minimate at the time and for a fair bit.  His hair piece is very similar to Bruce Banner and Peter Parker’s, with the glasses being permanently attached.  At least it makes more sense for Ock’s eyes to not be seen beneath the glasses.  In terms of paint, Ock’s pretty darn basic.  There’s the detailing for the gloves, boots, and belt, which was rather inconsistent in coverage.  I do quite like the face beneath the glasses, though.  Something about those eyebrows is giving me serious Alfred Molina vibes.  Ock didn’t include any accessories, but with the extra arms, that’s not really a big issue.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got an Ock with my original Unmasked Spider-Man, but I was never as impressed with him, and ended up losing most of his parts over the years.  I ended up replacing him outright a couple of years ago when I found the set for a really low price on Luke’s Toy Store.  Rather amusingly, I only opened them up when it came time to write this review, and I found out they’d been slid into their box upside down, all this time.  Ock’s still not amazingly impressive, but I must admit I have more of an appreciation for him now than I did as a kid.