Tag Archives: Spider-Man 60th Anniversary

#3258: Silk

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

SILK

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Bitten by the same radioactive spider that gave Peter Parker his powers, Cindy Moon develops spider powers of her own and soon takes on the role of Silk!”

Marvel’s Original Sin cross-over from 2014 was one with a few lasting changes, none of them particularly huge status quo shifts, or anything, but notable none the less.  It officially added Neil Gaiman’s Angela to the Marvel universe by revealing her to be Thor and Loki’s long-lost sister, came up with a convincing way to write out the original Nick Fury so that his son, Nick Jr, who happens to more closely resemble the Samuel L Jackson version of the character, could replace him, and, most relevantly for today’s review, revealed that the spider that bit Peter Parker had also bitten his classmate Cindy Moon, giving Cindy her own set of abilities.  Cindy was worked back into the mainstream universe during the battle with Morlun and his family the Inheritors, having been hidden away for years to keep her protected.  She was given the codename Silk, and spun (heh) off on her own, though she does find her way back to the main Spidey book from time to time for cross overs.  Silk’s actually been pretty fortunate in terms of raw numbers when it comes to toy coverage, though perhaps a little bit less so when it comes to actual distribution.  It’s okay, though, because I finally got one.  So, let’s look at Silk!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Silk is an part of an Amazon-exclusive Marvel Legends two-pack, which was released under the “60 Amazing Years” banner that’s celebrating Spider-Man’s anniversary. The other half of the set was a Doc Ock, which is just a slight adjustment on his figure from back in 2018. This Silk marks her third time in Legends form, following two solo releases.  This one is based on Cindy’s most recent look, which sports shorter hair, and a slightly more vibrant color palette.  It’s honestly my favorite of her looks thus far, so that works for me.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and it has 29 points of articulation.  Silk’s largely built using the same patchwork body as Spinneret, which, apart from the ever evolving ports on the back of the torso, is honestly a pretty solid base body, and certainly a good match foe Silk’s usual depictions in the comics.  It’s also a good deal more posable than her last two figures, which feels more appropriate for a web-slinger.  Silk gets a brand-new head sculpt, and it’s honestly the nicest sculpt she’s gotten to date.  It’s certainly the first one to really capture her Korean heritage, which is definitely a plus, and I really like the more naturalistic approach to the detailing, as well as the ever so slight windswept look to her hair.  It’s enough to look somewhat dynamic, without looking too crazy.  Silk’s color work is based on the bolder palette of her newer design, so she’s definitely got some visual pop.  The application is generally pretty cleanly handled; there’s a little bit of slop on the edges of the white sections, but it’s pretty minor.  The head does quite well, with the printing for the eyes looking quite lifelike, and the subtle blue accenting on the hair really bringing out the sculpted details.  The figure is packed with an alternate unmasked head for Cindy, with a corresponding pulled down mask piece, as well as three pairs of hands (fists, gripping, and open gesture) and an extra right hand with a web effect.  It’s quite a nice selection of extras, and covers pretty much all of the bases.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Silk’s introduction was, admittedly, a little clumsy (something even her creator Dan Slott has admitted in recent years), but she got better pretty quickly, and she’s been a pivotal character to a couple of Spider-cross-overs since.  I missed out on her first figure because that wave showed up effectively nowhere, and her second because I just underestimated how quickly it would sell.  I was poised to miss this one, too, since I didn’t really need another Doc Ock, but I was fortunate to get just Silk on her own when one got traded into All Time.  She’s actually quite a lot of fun, and getting this version makes me kind of glad I missed the other two.

#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.

#3203: Amazing Fantasy Spider-Man

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

AMAZING FANTASY SPIDER-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

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

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

THE FIGURE ITSELF

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

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

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

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