Tag Archives: Peter Parker

#4120: Spider-Man – Web-Shooter

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

SPIDER-MAN — WEB-SHOOTER

SPIDER-MAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (TOY BIZ)

“Not all of Spider-Man’s amazing powers came from the bite of a radioactive spider – some were created by Peter Parker himself. Case in point, his astonishing web shooters! Using his scientific know-how, Parker crated a device which, when filled with a secret formula of his own design, could duplicate the super-strong web of a spider!”

When Toy Biz started out with the Marvel license, they divided the characters into two sets, with one line dedicated to X-Men (which would also quickly spin-off into an X-Force dedicated line) and one covering…the rest.  Spider-Man was undoubtedly a major focus of Marvel Super Heroes, with multiple variants per series.  So, it wasn’t a shock that he was the first property outside of X-Men to get his own line, launched to coincide with his own animated series.  There were two Spidey variants in the line’s inaugural series, both dealing with his web-slinging powers, and today I’m taking a look at the Web-Shooter variant!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Man — Web-Shooter was released in the first series of the Spider-Man: The Animated Series line in 1994.  In contrast to the X-Men line, which was (mostly) a comics based line that happened to coincide with the show, the Spider-Man was a specifically cartoon-based line, with all of the official branding from the show, and Spider-Man figures clearly patterned on his show design.  Web-Shooter was pretty much the closest the first series got to just a standard Spidey.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  Apart from lacking a right elbow joint due to the action feature, he’s got the basic set-up for the Toy Biz 5-inchers, plus a waist joint.  Not a bad set-up.  The figure’s sculpt is something I’ve actually sort of looked at before, because its two-up prototype served as the basis for the standard 10-inch Spidey.  It’s a good, solid, basic sculpt, which does most of what it needs to.  It’s perhaps a touch stiff for a Spidey, and the right arm is very limiting, especially given than the “web missile” is attached to a string and therefore cannot be removed.  There’s a reason so many of these show up loose with the string cut.  The color work on this figure is pretty standard for Spideys of the time, being an almost exact match for the Web Racer from the same series.  The early figures all utilized painted webs, and, honestly, I’ve come to prefer that over the years.  Otherwise, it’s bright and colorful, and just a good looking Spidey.  Since his “missile” was attached to him, Spidey’s only accessory was one of those plastic clips that mostly served as a way of padding the figures out for the appearance of value.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t have either of the Series 1 Spider-Men as a kid, and both are much later, “hey it’s in front of me” sort of purchases, rather than actually actively wanting him…which is probably why this is one of those Toy Biz figures that I accidentally bought twice without even realizing it.  Whoops!  Well, I have him, and that’s the point.  He’s basic and a little limited by his action feature, but he’s certainly not bad.  Since we’d had so many Spider-Men from Toy Biz already at this point, experimenting a bit on these first two always felt like an okay choice.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0086: Spider-Man – Spider-Sense

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , ,

SPIDER-MAN — SPIDER-SENSE

SPIDER-MAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (TOY BIZ)

Hey, whoah, it’s Friday!  Welcome to Friday, here at the Figure in Question, where we like to celebrate the week with a little bit of flashing back, with some addendums to older reviews.  Today?  We’re taking a second look at a Spider-Man variant that really should have seen it coming!

“Perched on a ledge high above the city, Spider-Man’s ‘6th sense’ begins to tingle – providing a split second warning that imminent danger looms behind him. Back-flipping with a speed and precision well beyond an Olympic athlete, Spider-Man turns to see the ledge blasted into airborne shrapnel thanks to the Scorpion’s thrashing tail! For on the day Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider, his life was changed forever. And although he gained super-human strength, amazing agility, and enhanced reflexes – it’s his uncanny spider-sense which alerts Spider-Man to the dangers of his adversaries – and benefits him the most!”

Early in its run, Toy Biz’s 5-inch Spider-Man line actually tried to have some valid variants of its main character.  They weren’t always perfect, and sometimes there were some definite reaches to justify a whole new figure, but they gave it their best shot.  In Spider-Man: The Animated Series, there was this animation gimmick they had every time his spider-sense went off, where he’d get this drastically different, rave-esque color scheme for a few moments.  It was different enough in Toy Biz’s eyes to milk a few figures out of it, the first of which is today’s offering.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Sense Spider-Man was released in Series 5 of Toy Biz’s Spider-Man line, which hit shelves very late in 1995.  He was one of three Spidey variants in the line-up, with the other two being battle-ravaged and six-armed.  The figure stands just under 5 1/4 inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation.  His articulation scheme is kind of wonky, in that it doesn’t really match with any other figure Toy Biz produced, in this line or any other.  The arms move only at the shoulders, but the legs get all sorts of range at the hips and knees.  He seems to be built with a wall-crawling pose in mind, which makes sense with his built-in action feature, which sort of mimics this with his arms…or at least it did when mine still worked.  It was pretty easily worn out.  It’s a little odd that they didn’t put in a little motion on his neck, since its inability to move the head upwards kinda wrecks the credibility of most crawling poses, but there it is.  The sculpt follows the model of the earlier Spideys from this line, being quite sparse on the sculpted details, opting instead to paint most of them on.  In that respect, the paint’s pretty good.  It’s taken a bit of a beating on my figure, but it’s held up alright, and the color work matches the scheme seen on the cartoon pretty well.  It’s a somewhat unique look, and I can certainly get behind it.  This guy was packed with a web-line, web hook, and a collector’s pin, though none of them really did much for the figure.  But hey, extras are extras, right?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

For Easter when my cousin Rusty and I were four, our grand parents bought both of us one figure from this series.  If you’re thinking this is the one I got, you’re wrong.  My cousin got this guy, and I got Six-Armed Spidey.  I wasn’t happy with that decision as I recall (which seems a but silly to me now, because Six Arm is clearly the better option.  Silly child Ethan), and my parents ended up working out some sort of deal (I’m sure related to cleaning my room or something) in order to take me to the mall and get me this guy for myself.  He’s not bad, but I don’t know how exciting he is, honestly.  I really wanted him, though.

This was a May 2020 review, which was written during the shut down, about a month ahead of publication.  He would have most certainly been a “pulled from the back catalog to fill out the schedule” review, which was a lot of what I was doing at the time.  In general, it’s a good stretch of time for my writing, so I think the review itself holds up pretty well.  Missing at the time of the original writing, I was missing all of the figure’s accessories, but in the mean time, I did manage to find both of his web accessories.  They’re still not really all that relevant to the main figure, but there they are.

#4044: Spider-Man with Real Web-Shooting Action

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

SPIDER-MAN with REAL WEB-SHOOTING ACTION

MARVEL SUPER HEROES (TOY BIZ)

“Spider-Man gained his amazing powers when he was bitten by a radioactive spider! Now he’s super-strong, super-athletic, and able to crawl up any wall! Not only that, but he’s got an amazing “spider-sense” that warns him of trouble before it happens. To help him catch criminals, Spider-Man invented a secret weapon — web shooters that shoot out webbing at lightning speed. In fact, the webbing is so strong that it can trap even the toughest super-powered enemy! ”

Though typically more of a solo hero, Spider-Man’s spot as Marvel’s top super hero has frequently been leveraged in the world of merchandising as a way to get the other heroes in the door, rather than jumping straight to just the Spidey-exclusive stuff.  This was especially evident with Toy Biz’s early run with the license, where their main Marvel line was still very heavily leveraged on Spidey.  The first assortment of Marvel Super Heroes just had one Spidey and one antagonist for him, but as the line progressed, both the web-slinger and his nemeses became more plentiful.  Here’s one of the first “variant” Spider-Man figures, quite a novel thing at the time.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Man with Real Web-Shooting Action was one of two Spidey variants in Series 2 of Toy Biz’s Marvel Super Heroes line.  Since the figure in Series 1 was a bit more general purpose, Series 2 focused on recreating specific powers via gimmicky action features.  The figure stands just under 5 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation.  At this point in the line, Spidey was still operating on the same articulation scheme as everyone else.  Likewise, he’s using a variation of the Series 1 molds for the character, which also have a lot more in common with everyone else in the line than they do later Spider-Men.  That means he’s rather chunky, oddly proportioned, and very stiff.  None of that really adds up to the ideal sort of Spider-Man.  This is especially notable on the head, which is small, has a very long, but also very thick neck, and just generally doesn’t look like any notably incarnation of Spidey’s quite distinctive mask.  He does at least have the benefit of losing the obvious suction cups present on the original figure’s hands, so his left hand is now just a flat hand with noting attached to it.  Unfortunately, to facilitate his action feature, his right arm is totally straight, at an odd angle in relation to the rest of the body, and his hand permanently has a big whole in the front of it.  Also, his hand is in a fist, as opposed to, oh, I don’t know, maybe the very distinctive pose his hand is usually in when he’s shooting web?  Weird choice.  His color work is…fine.  Much like the sculpting, it’s kind of weird and off kilter, and the web lines of the costume don’t really line up with usual depictions of his look.  Also, it’s very fuzzy on the lines, which makes the whole thing look wonky.  In accordance with his “Real Web-Shooting Action,” Spidey includes missile with a rubber “web” attachment on the front.  Look, I don’t want to split hairs here, but, umm, that’s not a “real web-shooting action.”  Because a missile isn’t “real” web.  So, you know, weird choice of words.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The MSH Spider-Men are an interesting and eclectic bunch of figures that generally all look very similar and are easily confused.  Also, they all have completely different selections of accessories that don’t really correspond with the main figure, which can be extra confusing.  Several years ago, a bunch of the MSH figures got traded into work, and there was a bag specifically of Spider-Men, which I of course grabbed.  This was the only one in the bag that was complete.  It’s not a great figure.  it’s not even a good figure.  You might call it a bad figure.  But, it’s also one of the first Spider-Man variants, and so it’s neat and sort of quaint.  Earnest, perhaps.  So, we’re gonna let it have that.

#3951: Spider-Man, Green Goblin, The Lizard, & Electro

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

SPIDER-MAN, GREEN GOBLIN, THE LIZARD, & ELECTRO

WORLD’S GREATEST SUPER HEROES (MEGO)

After a few sort of false starts in the ‘00s and early ‘10s, Mego seems to have well and truly made a return in recent years.  Perhaps their biggest boon for the main line was successfully landing the DC license, which has become a backbone of their offerings.  Of course, back in the ‘70s, Mego was home to both DC *and* Marvel, so you gotta have both for the full success, right?  Marvel being a much bigger license than it used to be, and also being tied-up in Hasbro’s master license means that it’s not as simple a score.  However, Mego was able to partner with Disney Parks, allowing for at least a little bit of Marvel to go with all that DC.  Yay!  Anyway, the first set was Spider-Man themed, and I’m looking at it today.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Spider-Man, Green Goblin, Lizard, and Electro were the first offering in the Marvel off-shoot of World’s Greatest Super Heroes line.  They went up for order through Disney’s online store at the end of last year in limited quantities, and have been showing up at the parks locations intermittently since then.  The set includes the four figures, each with their own replica box, as well as a coin, based on the Spider-Man Medallion coins offered in Marvel house-ads in the ‘70s.

SPIDER-MAN

Star of the show and one of the most distinctive of the original Megos, it’s Spider-Man.  Spidey was one of the few figures to get re-released during the previous attempt at relaunching Marvel Megos under Diamond, so we’ve gotten the replica with the box once before.  The figure stands 8 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation.  He moves over to the updated bandless body that the main line’s been using for a while now, meaning he’s less prone to breakage and also more posable.  He’s still using (a replica of) his original head sculpt, which remains a very strong take on the character.  As with prior versions of the character, his outfit is a single, silkscreened jumpsuit.  The DST version went with the earlier circle-logo version of the costume, but this release goes for the more standard issue, from the wider run of the line.  The finish on the costume is also closer to the original, rather than the shinier finish of the last replica.  The print is generally pretty good, but the belt seems to go a little lower than it should, especially the dip at the front.

GREEN GOBLIN

Spidey’s primary antagonist Green Goblin was added to Mego’s run in the second Marvel assortment, and hasn’t been revisited by any sort of follow-up since.  Like his original release, he gets a unique head.  It’s not quite as definitive as Spidey, generally dialing back some of Goblin’s features to something closer to a standard human face, but it still looks enough like the character to read pretty well.  His outfit gets a jumpsuit, assembled from different parts for the torso and limbs, as well as including a sewn on belt piece, and cuffs for his gloves.  The arms and legs have a printed scale pattern, which is fun, and a good match to the vintage equivalent.  It’s all topped off with a pair of plastic boots, which have a tendency to make him topple, unless you get him posed *just* right.  Goblin is also packed with a plastic satchel piece.  Like his vintage counterpart, he lacks his glider.  It’s a bit of a bummer that they couldn’t add it this time around, but it’s not quite within the scope of what they’re going for.

THE LIZARD

Joining the vintage line alongside Green Goblin (and Iron Man and Hulk) was The Lizard.  Though the package also billed him as “Spider-Man’s Arch-Enemy”, that doesn’t quite feel like it fits for Lizard, who’s hardly obscure, but still seems a little more of a deeper cut than Goblin.  Lizard was the most involved of the original Spidey line-up, and that’s replicated with this figure.  In addition to the “new” head sculpt (which was shared with Star Trek’s Gorn during the vintage run), Lizard also got specially sculpted hands and lower legs.  They all sell the reptile angle pretty well.  The head’s pretty goofy and all, but also has that perfect charm for the line.  The left hand’s notable for being in a fist, a unique feature for the original line, and still unique here as well.  Lizard’s outfit is involved like his sculpt, with a lab coat, and a shirt/pants combo that also includes a cloth tail piece.  The tail has the same pattern of scales as Goblin, just in a darker green color.

ELECTRO

Electro is notable in this set because he *wasn’t* in the vintage line, making him the set’s one new addition to the line-up.  He gets a replica package made-up to match the others, so that you can just sort of pretend he always existed.  He gets a totally new head sculpt, which isn’t bad, apart from the one drawback that the way the package tray is set-up, his head is pressed up against it, so the top “bolt” of his mask is folded down.  It’ll need some work to get it properly reset.  He gets a single piece jumpsuit, with a printed pattern matching his classic costume set-up, and additional pieces on the forearms mimicking the bolt attachments from his gloves.  He also gets a standard pair of boots, molded in yellow.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I have a few actual proper vintage Marvel Megos, but for the most part, I rely on my dad’s collection for my memories of them.  He actually didn’t have any of the Spidey characters, and Spidey himself was one I got when I was about 9 or 10.  Lizard in particular is a figure I’ve wanted for a good long while, but I’ve never gotten the chance to track one down.  The prospect of re-issues was intriguing, but then they sold out really fast online, and they’ve been getting scalped pretty consistently since.  My dad took a trip to Disney a couple of weekends ago, and was planning to keep an eye out for this set, but before he even got to the park, he got notified that they were back in stock online, and was nice enough to order an extra set so that I could also have one.  I’ve got no shortage of Mego Spideys, but that doesn’t make him any less cool.  Goblin’s a respectable replica of his original figure, Electro is a fun new addition (slight issue with the mask aside), and Lizard just rules.

#3908: Peter B. Parker & Mayday Parker

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

PETER B. PARKER & MAYDAY PARKER — ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE

S.H. FIGUARTS (BANDAI)

The two Spider-Verse films we’ve gotten thus far have both had a lot of importance placed on growth of characters and definitively moving them forward in their own narratives.  In a world of super hero movies that change the main heroes’ costumes purely for the sake of change, it’s nice to see an approach that works those changes more into the story, and how it affects the characters.  Into the Spider-Verse showcases a Peter Parker at his lowest point.  He’s alone, out of shape, and disheveled, and spends a good portion of the film in a makeshift outfit that further emphasizes that.  Across re-introduces us to Peter as he’s well into his way of recovering, and he’s so not alone that he’s literally got another person strapped to his chest for most of his screen time!  Despite him being more on the mark and put together this time around, Peter B. Parker was surprisingly absent from the toy coverage for Across, with most of his figures actually being repurposed looks from the first movie.  He got a Pop, which is great if you like Pops, but then it was a rather long wait for a proper figure.  Bandai ultimately took the lead this time, with a figure from their SH Figurarts line, which I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Peter B. Parker & Mayday Parker are part of the larger sub-line of Across the Spider-Verse figures in the SH Figuarts line-up.  This is the latest of the figures to hit, and it’s the seventh in the set.  Certainly a more in-depth line-up than the prior movie.  Though billed as a two-pack, the set is really a Peter B with a Mayday accessory, so I’ll be treating it that way for the purposes of the review set-up.  Peter stands just over 7 inches tall and he has 40 points of articulation.  Figuarts has always occupied a sort of nebulous “1/12 scale” space, which can make scaling with other nebulous “1/12 scale” lines sometimes hit or miss.  What’s curious about the Across figures is that they land on the opposite end of the nebulous range than usual.  Relative to, say, Marvel Legends, Figuarts tend to run a bit on the smaller side, but Peter here winds up taller than all of the standard sized Legends for the movie.  Not so much so that you can’t fudge things a bit, but it’s a little funny to see him end up taller than Miguel.  Also, it’s not like they’re designed to scale with each other in the first place, but I did find it amusing.  Peter’s articulation is generally decent for a Figuarts release.  They’re definitely less floppy and sort of weird in their articulation schemes these days, so he feels a bit more naturally flowing and intuitive.  I still had some slight issues with stability, especially in the more intense Spidey-style poses, but it generally works okay.  The sculpt is totally new, and it’s doing a few different things at once.  Right out of the box, he’s just a standard Spider-Man in the movie style.  It’s a good match for the film design in terms of proportions and stylization.  The texturing is quite impressive, and there’s a lot of neat visual filler that keeps him interesting.  His build shows that he’s certainly working on getting into better shape then he was in Into, but he’s not quite back to Peter A levels, and I like that.  But, that’s just standard Spidey, and nobody’s really buying this one for a standard Spidey, right?  No, we want the goofy, more put-together, but still disheveled look.  To that end, this figure gets two alternate unmasked heads (with a corresponding neck piece with a lower collar), ungloved hands, and an alternate set of lower legs with socks and slippers instead of boots.  The unmasked heads give us Peter with a more neutral slight smile and with a more intense opened mouth laugh.  Both are very much on model and keep things nice and internally consistent.  The legs are goofy, and fun, and I like them a lot.  And it’s all topped off with the most important part of the whole ensemble: the pink bathrobe.  It’s quite a statement piece and neat counterpoint to his green jacket from Into.  Here, it’s a soft goods piece, which makes a lot of sense.  It’s very soft and fuzzy, and there’s a wire in it for dynamic posing.  Peter’s paint work is all pretty top-notch.  The work on the unmasked heads is by far the best, but even the suit is clean and well-rendered.  As mentioned above, Peter gets all the parts for both of his looks, as well as six pairs of hands (four gloved in fists, thwipping, gripping, and open gesture, two ungloved in open gesture and relaxed), the wrist bracelet goober thingy, and three different weblines.  The weblines are ultimately a bit unimpressive compared to others we’ve seen, but I don’t see myself using them anyway.  The most important selection of extras is Mayday and her associated parts.  The main Mayday is done up in a crawling pose, and is jointed at the neck and waist.  While the arms and legs are separate, they have rectangular pegs, so they can’t be posed, which is kind of a shame.  She does get two heads, so you can do with or without the hat.  Why you’d leave off the hat is anyone’s guess, but the option’s there.  Also included is the carrier for Mayday, which can be attached to the main Peter figure.  There’s a special neck piece that goes in that one of the two heads can be attached to (the hat fits better than the one without), and you can move the arms and legs over as well.  It stays on pretty securely, and scales well to the other figure.  It’s also relentlessly adorable.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Across the Spider-Verse was a well-timed movie for me, because I also had a daughter in the spring of 2023, and Mayday reminded me very, very much of her.  For Halloween that year, my mom knitted Aubrey a spidey hat, and I stole my wife’s pink bathrobe, so that we could be Peter and Mayday, and I assure you, we were also relentlessly adorable.  As we have become rather linked to the look, getting a figure of it was kind of important.  I have the Pop, but it’s just not the same, so I realized I was going to have to make the jump to Figuarts.  But, Rachel and Aubrey got ahead of me on that one, and this was my birthday gift from the two of them this year.  It’s awesome.  I’ve got some quibbles, but they’re minor, and this figure just does so much right.  Just a ton of fun.

#3906: Spider-Man

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

SPIDER-MAN

SILVER AGE (TOY BIZ)

“Peter Parker, a mild mannered honor student in high school was fascinated with all things scientific. While attending a science exhibition on the manipulation of wavelength radiations, Peter was bitten by a spider that was exposed to radiations. Peter was bitten by a spider that was exposed to radiation. As a result, he was given superhuman, spider-like abilities. Peter could now climb walls, leap incredible distances, and life more than 10 tons, prompting him to adopt the identity of Spider-Man. He made a costume and with his knowledge of science created “web-shooters.” Attached to each wrist, his web-shooters allow Spider-Man to shoot super strong, sticky webs to swing from and use as various weapons. Spider-Man also has a “spider-sense” that warns him of impending danger making him one of the most legendary crime fighters ever known.”

While he spent the first two decades of his existence with only a handful of action figures, but the end of the ‘90s, there was absolutely no shortage of Spider-Man action figures.  Toy Biz released a metric ton of them in the 5-inch line, mostly under his own self-branded line, launched to tie-in with his ‘90s Animated Series.  The more obscure offshoot lines weren’t as likely to include him, since he was better suited in other, more big-box-retail-friendly set-ups.  He did get the occasional less mainstream release, as was the case with today’s offering, which goes back to the character’s earliest days.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Man is the third of the four figures in Toy Biz’s PX-exclusive Silver Age line from 1999.  By far, he is the assortment’s heaviest hitter, making him this line-up’s correspondent to the Wolverine in the Modern Age line-up.  Unlike the Cap figure, which was emphatically *not* Silver Age, and the Gwen figure, which was a loose connection, Spidey is emphatically well within the timeline for Silver Age…for the most part.  I’ll get to all that.  The figure stands right under 5 inches tall and he has 15 points of articulation.  Spidey was entirely parts re-use, using the body of the Marvel Super Heroes “Multi-Jointed Action Poses” Spidey, with the head from the Animated Super-Posable Spidey.  It’s actually kind of a neat combo.  The MSH body is smaller and skinnier than most of the other Spideys that Toy Biz put out, and the head being originally meant for a more bulked up Spidey means it’s a touch too large…which is a pretty good match for Ditko’s portrayal of a teenage Peter Parker in the costume.  The base body is very posable, as well, which makes for a better general Spidey set-up.  To really sell the earlier Spidey look, they’ve also pinned a pair of vinyl “web-wings” to the backs of his arms, much like the first Fantastic Four line’s Black Bolt.  I limits the posing on the arms a little bit, but it’s not terrible, and it’s a good change-up for the look.  The figure’s paint work is more or less what you would expect from this era of Spider-Man.  I might have perhaps liked a slightly more Ditko-like pattern and eyes on the face, but it’s not incredibly far off, and it wouldn’t shock me to find out there may have been some branding involved in the look here.  The blue is a darker shade, but not the straight on black of his original appearance, meaning this isn’t a First Appearance figure, but rather a broader Silver Age figure.  While I always love a good First Appearance Spidey, the blue with the web-wings is the look less often done, so can dig it.  Spidey was packed with the web-shooters, belt, and ankle pouches from Scarlet Spider, all done in the same silver with darker accenting, as well as an actual rolled paper copy of the Daily Bugle, and a card with the cover of Amazing Fantasy #15 (which makes this line 3 for 3 on the figures not wearing the costumes depicted on the covers for their cards).  Not entirely sure why he gets all the Scarlet Spider gear, but it’s a neat extra nevertheless.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had *plenty* of Spider-Men by the time this figure hit, so he’s the one member of the line-up that didn’t tempt me in the slightest…you know, until I had the other three and he was all I needed to finish the set.  So, off to eBay I went.  In light of figures that are more obviously new and different, he sort of gets lost, but at the same time, he’s actually a pretty neat figure with a solid take on a more specific design.  And, he does at least actually stick to the theme.

#3812: Spider-Man Unlimited

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

SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

At the end of the ’90s, after wrapping up quite successful runs with X-Men and Spider-Man, Marvel’s animation side struggled to follow up.  1998 saw the ill-fated one season run of Silver Surfer, and the following year saw the release of not one, but two new cartoons, Avengers: United They Stand and Spider-Man Unlimited.  Unlimited‘s main aim was to serve as a direct replacement for Spider-Man: The Animated Series, which…well, it really didn’t do.  One of the craziest things about the whole thing is that, while United The Stand got a solid run of toys, Unlimited got no direct tie-ins at all.  There have been some loose reference figures over the year, but the first proper figure from the show has finally hit, 25 years after the fact!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Man Unlimited is part of the latest round of Spider-Man Retro-carded Marvel Legends.  He’s the assortment’s resident Peter Parker.  He’s on a ’90s throw back card, which is sort of the right vintage, I suppose, even if he doesn’t have a direct vintage counterpart.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Like Spider-Boy, he’s got kind of an older articulation scheme, very similar to the ANAD 2099 body, despite him not actually re-using those parts.  It’s a touch restricted, so I’m not sure exactly why they went this way, but I suppose it’s workable enough.  He’s got a small bit of re-use, making use of the upgraded pinless versions of the 2099 arms and legs, but is predominately new.  It’s a little surprising, but not upsetting.  It’s honestly pretty cool to see how they’ve gone three dimensional on the spider elements of the costume.  To my eyes, the head seems maybe a bit wide, but it’s minor, and I do like the general look of it.  The figure’s paint work is okay.  Kind of on the basic side, though nothing important got missed.  It’s weird to see him without the shading, especially on the face, but I’m also not sure they’d want to go the way of cel shading on a regular release figure, so it’s iffy on how best to handle it.  Spider-Man Unlimited gets the full compliment of extra hands, which I’m certainly a fan of, especially when they don’t drop the open gesture hands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was *not* a fan of Spider-Man Unlimited when it dropped.  Generally, I kind of found it boring, at least at first glance.  I was, admittedly, not the biggest fan of Spider-Man: The Animated Series in its first run, either, so maybe I just wasn’t the market for it.  I caught the show in re-runs, though, and found myself liking it a lot more than the first time around.  It’s also a really cool suit design, and it’s just been begging for an action figure.  This one’s not without his drawbacks, but he’s generally pretty cool!

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.

#3740: Peter Parker

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

PETER PARKER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

It’s been the better part of a moth since I’ve looked at any Marvel Legends, which isn’t a *crazy* long time, but it is a notable hiatus for me.  I largely blame that on Hasbro’s slightly more erratic release schedule for the line in the last year, though I suppose my slightly more tailored interests regarding which figures I’m picking up also contribute.  While Beyond the Spider-Verse, the third installment in Sony’s animated Spider-Verse films is still a ways off, there’s still plenty of product to be had from the first two movies, so Hasbro’s taking the opportunity to go back and do some more of those.  Up to this point, a notable omission from the line-up has been a standard, fully-costumed version of Peter, which this latest round finally gives us, albeit in the form of Peter A…or whatever is the “official” designation of the Peter from Miles’ home dimension.  The one what’s voiced by Chris Pine.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Peter Parker is part of the second Across the Spider-Verse tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends.  However, like the standard Miles from this assortment, as well as the Peter B from the last round, he’s officially Into branded, since that’s the movie he’s actually from and all.  We are, as of yet, still without any Peters at all from Across, but it’s not like I’m bitter or anything.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  He’s a mix of old and new parts, with the upper torso and arms from the Peter B figure from last year.  It also looks like his head is the same as the Stilt-Man Series unmasked head.  The rest is new, and it offers up some improvements to the articulation scheme.  He’s now got the waist crunch like we’ve been seeing on more recent Spideys, as well as drop hips for slightly better range.  Some of the joints are a little sticky, and it would have been cool to get some butterfly shoulders, but generally it’s a nice step up.  The actual sculpting is as top-notch as the Spider-Verse figures have been the whole time.   Generally, he’s pretty sharp, and they’ve given him those nice, defined abdominal muscles to show that he’s not Peter B.  Paint here is generally pretty basic stuff.  Largely, he’s using molded colors, of course, but there’s the blue/red overlaps, which are overall okay.  There’s some slop on the mid-section of my figure, but it’s minor.  The head gets some more in depth work, with a printed face, and some accenting on the hair.  Peter is packed with a masked head (the same as the one from last year) and two sets of hands in fists and thwipping poses.  It covers the basics, but does feel a little light.  Maybe another head with a damaged mask, like his final scene showed, would have been cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I honestly wasn’t expecting to get this guy, especially once we’d moved onto the figures from the sequel.  I even bought the Sentinel figure largely because it came with the parts to do this look, and I wanted the option.  Hasbro sure did show me, huh?  He’s pretty basic, as far as figures go, but that’s not a bad thing.  He does what he needs to, and he does it well.  He’s an easy variant, but also a new character, so that’s very cool.  Now, with this Peter covered, can we please get one from Across finally?

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.

#3701: Peter B. Parker

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

PETER B. PARKER

SV-ACTION (SENTINEL)

When Into the Spider-Verse first came out, it had very minimal toy coverage.  There were some basic figures from Hasbro and a few Funko Pops, but that was really it.  Then the movie was a big hit, and the proper licensing went out, and it was just a field day.  Everyone and their mother was making something.  The 1/12 scale in particular got flocked to, with a bunch of Miles and Peter offerings.  One of the companies in the mix is Sentinel, a company I’ve only recently looked into.  I’m taking a look at their version of Peter B Parker today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Peter B. Parker was released in Sentinel’s SV-Action line in 2021 as a single release.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  As I touched on in my first Sentinel review, their articulation set-up is somewhat unique, being a little more straight forward than a Figuarts release, but still a little more complex than, say, a Legends release.  There’s more nuance to the posing on this one than even the Armored Cap figure I looked at previously.  Generally, the tolerancing on the joints is pretty good, with no real floppiness, and a lack of things being too tight as well.  Peter B has a unique sculpt based on his fully suited-up look from Into the Spider-Verse, which has been a surprising rarity for his figures.  It’s very accurate to the animation model for the character, capturing his more unique build from the movie (right down to the slight paunch he has around his stomach), and working in the articulation without breaking things up too much.  It also handles all of the smaller detailing via sculpted texture work, which covers the whole figure.  It works very well, and again gives him a unique feel.  Peter B’s color work is pretty straight forward, but well handled.  There’s a lot of molded colors, with just enough paint to fill in the change-overs, and the painted vs molded actually match up quite well.  He’s got smaller work for the weblines, which are pretty decent, as well as the eyes, which are bright, clean, and sharp.  Peter B is packed with a whole plethora of extra parts, including four different heads (two masked, two unmasked, with differing expressions), 15 different hands (pairs of relaxed, open gesture, wall crawling, fists, webline gripping, thwipping with attached webs, ungloved, and right hand holding a coffee mug), a pair of glasses, four different webline pieces, and a display stand.  The glasses I feel are destined to get lost, but that’s what it is, I guess.  It’s too bad that we didn’t get an optional jacket and sweatpants, but there are other options for those, so I suppose this one is just more focused on the full suited look.  What he *does* get in addition to the Peter B parts is an extra unmasked head, lower torso, and pelvis, so that he can double as the Peter of Miles’s universe, making him a two-in-one figure, which is very fun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Much as I love the Spider-Verse films, I’ve thus-far stuck exclusively to Legends style figures for the characters from it, in part because the Legends have honestly just been pretty solid themselves.  That said, I’ve certainly become more connected to Peter B as a character, especially his journey into fatherhood in Across, which paralleled with my own personal journey, so when this figure landed in front of me, I felt urged to pick him up, especially because I was able to get a good deal on a used one through All Time.  I had initially used the Miles-verse Peter as my true justification for getting, but with the Legends one officially announced, I guess it’s back to really being the Peter B himself that sold me on it.  And, honestly, he’s just a very, very cool figure.  Now I just need to find him a pink bath robe.

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.

#3662: Spider-Man & Wolverine – Fantastic Four

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

SPIDER-MAN & WOLVERINE — FANTASTIC FOUR

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Though the emotional through line of the Fantastic Four is undoubtedly the core family of four, the team itself has been no stranger to line-up changes over the years. Perhaps the most drastic of those changes was “The New Fantastic Four”, a team quickly assembled when the original four were presumed dead.  Rather than leaning into the usual quirky second tier character set-up that FF replacements tended to be, the New FF was all heavy hitters, with a line-up comprised of Spider-Man, Wolverine, Ghost Rider, and the Hulk.  The concept’s been brought back a few times since, more recently during Dan Slott’s run on FF, where Franklin and Valeria need assistance defending the Earth while the main four are off-planet, and call in Spider-Man and Wolverine, who get snazzy new team uniforms for the set-up.  Super toyetic, right?

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Spider-Man and Wolverine are a Fan Channel-exclusive Marvel Legends two-pack, which just started hitting at the tail end of last month.  They seem to be loosely tied into the larger Wolverine anniversary celebration, though they’re slightly removed.  Both figures are based on their team suits as seen in Fantastic Four #21.

SPIDER-MAN

While Spidey’s gotten a few FF-related costumes previously, this marked his first time that got specifically a Fantastic Four design.  This one takes the usual Spidey costume layout, and mixes it with the inverted color scheme suit design the FF had earlier in the Slott run.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and has 34 points of articulation.  He’s built on the Amazing Fantasy body, which remains my favorite Spider-Man body that Hasbro has put out.  It’s just a really good base body, with balanced proportions and a really good range of motion on all of the articulation.  It’s a solid match for a more svelte Spidey, which is how he was depicted in the books.  The key selling point here is the new color scheme, which is heavy on the blue and black.  It matches with previously released Franklin and Valeria, and the application on the paint is all pretty cleanly handled.  Spidey is packed with four sets of hands, in fists, gripping, thwipping, and open gesture.

WOLVERINE

Wolverine’s ties to the FF are a little on the looser side, but he’s Wolverine, so, you know, he goes where he wants, I guess.  His costume design follows Spidey’s lead, also working in a bit of the classic brown costume, at least in terms of layout of the costume pieces.  The figure stands a little under 6 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. Wolverine is largely using the same bank of parts Wolverine has been using since the Juggernaut Series release. It’s not quite as slick as newer molds, but it gets the job done. Since this costume lacks Logan’s usual distinctive boot shape, he’s got the more basic shins from the Retro card black suit release, and he’s also using the slightly more modern claw shape from the X-Force costume. His color scheme matches Spidey, which means it also matches Franklin and Val, which is certainly a plus. The application is generally clean, with no real issues to speak of. Wolverine gets no extras, not even extra hands, which is a bit of a bummer.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set definitely falls into that category of “things you don’t know you want until they exist” for me. I read the issues where these looks appeared, and I enjoyed them, but I didn’t feel like I *needed* them. But, when they got shown off, and I already had Franklin and Val in-hand, I was a pretty easy mark. They’re not much to write home about, I suppose, since they’re just straight repaints of figures we’ve already got, but they’re still solid figures, and they’re sensible variants.

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.