Tag Archives: Peter Parker

#0425: Unmasked Spider-Man

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

UNMASKED SPIDER-MAN

MARVEL MINIMATES

Hey, look, more Minimates! So, yeah, the next few days are going to be Minimates reviews. Not anything new, but the randomized list sometimes spits out a few of them in a row. Hope you guys don’t mind me rambling on some more about them….

So, for this review, I’m going was back into the early days of Marvel Minimates, back when the concept of what constituted a unique figure was rather different than what it is today. So, without further ado, I present Unmasked Spider-Man.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Unmasked Spider-Man was released in a two-pack with Doctor Octopus in Series 4 of Marvel Minimates. Ock is MIA, so it’ll just have to be Spidey this time. This figure’s shtick is exactly what it says on the tin: he’s a Spider-Man without the mask. Of course, nowadays the unmasked head is just an extra piece included with just about every Spider-Man, but back then figures had a lot fewer extras. The figure is about 2 ½ inches tall, and he features 14 points of articulation. He uses the standard body of the first 7 series, which it should be noted featured feet that were longer and had no peg holes for stands. It was a darker time. Anyway, the figure also features an add-on piece for the hair, which was sculpted specifically for this figure and never turned up anywhere else. It’s an okay piece, but it seems like it shrunk a bit compared to the prototype. It has a little trouble staying on, and it looks like he’s got a receding hairline. The figure’s paint is actually pretty great. From the neck down, he’s the same as the Series 2 Spider-Man, which set the standard for what the line could do. While the figure’s lack of any musculature dates him a bit, the weblines are nice and clean, and the go all the way around, which the current Spider-Men don’t tend to have. The face isn’t terrible, though he certainly looks angry about something. Unmasked Spider-Man included a backpack made out of webs, which is actually a pretty neat accessory.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Unmasked Spider-Man was one of my earlier Minimate purchases. I remember I hadn’t actually gotten a regular Spider-Man yet, so this one served as my basic Spider-Man for a while. In retrospect, it’s not the most exciting Minimate, but at the time I was particularly fond of this one. Truth be told, all of the early Spider-Men were pretty outstanding examples of what the line had the potential to be.

#0181: Spider-Man – Unmasked

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

SPIDER-MAN – UNMASKED

SPIDER-MAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES

Spider-Man, Spider-Man.  Does whatever a spider can.  Spins a web any size.  Catches thieves just like flies.  Look out, here comes a Spider-Man….Review.  It’s a Spider-Man review.  That’s what it is.

Yes, it’s another figure from the 90s Marvel Licensing giant that was ToyBiz.  They made a big success with X-Men, so they moved onto Spider-Man and ended up finding even greater success.  This figure comes from that line.  It’s not the first figure I’ve taken a look at from this line, but the first figure was actually Captain America, so I didn’t really discuss it much at length.

Once the line proper had proved to be a hit, ToyBiz teamed up with BJs Wholesalers to have several exclusive boxed sets, consisting mostly of repaints, and based around certain themes.  Today’s figure comes from one of those sets.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

This figure was released as part of a 6 pack of figures, all based on the Clone Saga, which was going on in the comics at the time.  The figure depicts Peter in his Spider-Man costume, sans mask.  I guess he took his mask off a lot in the story?  I must confess, I haven’t actually read the Clone Saga, so I wouldn’t know.  I’m not opposed to having an unmasked Spider-Man, whatever the reasoning, so I’m not complaining.  The figure stands about 5 inches tall and features 11 points of articulation, which was pretty good for the time.  The figure was made from completely reused parts:  The head comes from the Spider-Man line’s version of Peter Parker, and the body is the same one used on Mutant X’s The Fallen.  It’s a body ToyBiz was fond of reusing.  It’s not bad, though it is a bit scrawny, especially in the lower arms.  The head was pretty nice.  It’s based on his look on the cartoon, which it emulates well.  Peter’s  paintwork is decent, not amazing.  Mine has some wear on the webbing from minor play and such.  As far as I recall, he included no accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, I’m going to give a shout out to my friend Pat Sponaugle, who follows this blog. This figure, as well as the rest of the set he was included in, was a Christmas gift from Pat way back when!  Thanks Pat!

Overall, he’s actually a pretty neat figure.  Perhaps not the greatest Spider-Man ever, but still pretty cool.  I have fond memories of getting this figure and adding it to my, at the time much smaller, collection.  I think this was the rough start time of me becoming the kid for whom everyone just bought whatever action figures they could find during the holiday season.

#0056: Superior Spider-Man & Ultimate Electro

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

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN & ULTIMATE ELECTRO

MARVEL MINIMATES

Hey look!  More Minimates!  Yes, it’s Ethan’s favorite line to review, up for review once again.  Unsurprisingly these are from the Marvel Minimates line.  I just recently acquired the latest Toys R Us exclusive wave from the ever stubborn Toys R Us website, so I’ll be taking a look at them over the next few days.  First up, it’s the flagship set of the wave:  Spider-Man and Electro.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of the 17th Toys R Us exclusive series of Marvel Minimates.

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN

First up, it’s the man himself:  Spider-Man.  Okay, actually that’s a lie, and I’ll get into that in a second.  Spider-Man is built on the typical Minimate body, so he stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  So, why isn’t he the man himself?  Because this figure is based on his most recent look from the current Superior Spider-Man series, where Peter Parker’s mind has been over-written by longtime foe Doctor Octopus.  So, that happened.  Anyway, good or bad, it’s made for some interesting designs, so here we are.  This look in particular is SpOck’s second look, which is somewhat based on Alex Ross’s proposed design for Sam Rami’s first Spider-Man movie.  SpOck’s look is completely conveyed via paint.  All the paint work is pretty good, although some of the red areas are a bit thin, but nothing too bad.  There have been reports of the eyes being misaligned with the web pattern of the mask, but mine doesn’t seem to have that problem.  SpOck also includes an extra unmasked head, a strand of web, and a clear display stand.  The unmasked head conveys the smugness of the new “Peter Parker” well.

ULTIMATE ELECTRO

Second, it’s one of Spidey’s foes, Electro.  Like SpOck, Electro is built on the usual body, so he’s got 14 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall.  Electro is based on his look from the Ultimate line of comics*.  Like Spider-Man, he’s just the basic minimate body with no additional sculpted details.  He’s got a few details, and a really great evil grin, all on a really neat clear blue body.  I love me some clear plastic.  Electro is packed with two clip on electricity parts for his arms, a power base, 2 electricity “whips”, and a clear display stand.  Everything but the “whips” is reuse, but it all works well for the character, so no complaints here.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, like most of the Toys R Us exclusive Minimates, I got these from the TRU website.  Fortunately everything went smoothly this time, so yay!  As far as the set itself, it’s a really cool set of Minimates, but not of looks that are my favorites.  But well-made toys are always really cool.

*The Ultimate universe was Marvel’s attempt in the early 2000s to create a more realistic, and easily accessible line of comics to lure in new readers.  It was a success for a few years, but has recently gotten incredibly bogged down in continuity and has more recently become Marvel’s place to do more “daring” things that they don’t want to do in their regular universe.