Tag Archives: Spider-Man

#1733: Negative Zone Spider-Man & Jack O’lantern

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

Before their demise last month, Toys R Us played a tremendous role in getting the Minimates brand into the hands of many new fans, as well as helping to introduce new licenses and bolstering the ranks of existing ones.  As with all things Minimates, by far the most successful of these ventures was with the Marvel license.  In the decade that they supported the line (well, the second time around, anyway), they put out 47 series and 6 boxed sets, with over 200 unique Minimates released therein.  That’s pretty darn impressive.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Negative Zone Spider-Man and Jack O’Lantern, comes from Series 25 of the main comics line of Marvel Minimates, which would prove to be the final TRU-exclusive assortment.

NEGATIVE ZONE SPIDER-MAN

Amongst the many zany properties of the Negative Zone is apparently the ability to create killer costume variants.  In addition to doing it for Spider-Man, it’s also done it for the Fantastic Four.  It’s a wonder Marvel hasn’t stuck a few more popular heroes through there to get some additional variants!  Negative Zone Spider-Man’s a variant that’s cropped up in other lines, but not yet been seen in Minimates, which is honestly a little bit surprising given how many Spider-Men we’ve gotten over the years (this one marks the 83rd, for those keeping count). Negative Zone Spider-Man is another vanilla ‘mate, so no add-on pieces here.  I much prefer this method of handling Spider-Men, so I’m happy this was the way they went. The important costume details are done via paint, which is applied very cleanly and is sharply defined, capturing his negative look from the comics very well.  It all makes for a very striking looking design, that’s also quite sleek.  As an added bonus, the head is almost a dead match for Agent Venom’s mask, should you wish to swap out the slip mask from the TTA set or turn your animated version into a comics one. For accessories, Negative Zone Spidey includes a webline (done in smokey translucent grey instead of the usual solid color; guess Spidey’s web-fluid was affected too), a Negative Zone effects base (a clever re-use of Invisible Woman’s forcefield piece), and the usual clear display stand.

JACK O’LANTERN

Jack O’Lantern’s a name that’s been held by four Marvel Super Villains.  None of them have ever really risen beyond second-string villain, but he’s got an intriguing design, so he’s gotten a few toys.  This marks his first Minimate, though.  This particular figure’s design is one that could equally work as original Jack O’Lantern Jason Macendale, or his immediate replacement Steven Mark Levens, and it could even work as Daniel Berkhart from before he re-designed his costume to become Mad Jack.  Point is, you’ve got options. Jack O’Lantern makes use of a unique pumpkin-shaped head in place of the usual cylinder.  At first glance I thought it might be re-used, either from Samhain or Pumpkin King Jack, but it’s a new piece.  He also has add-ons for the flame effect, and his flared boots and gloves.  It makes for a nice summation of Jack’s classic design, and the flames in particular work a lot better here than they have on the various Ghost Riders we’ve gotten over the years. Like Negative Zone Spidey, Jack’s paintwork is sharply handled, cleanly applied, and very bold and striking.  Traditionally, Jack’s color scheme is variations of green, rather than the green and black combo seen here.  However, differences in shading mean this general look has shown up on occasion, and it certainly looks very eye-catching. Jack O’Lantern is packed with a spare pumpkin-bomb-wielding hand, as well as his flying disk, a corresponding flight stand, and a standard clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up this set during TRU’s lengthy liquidation sales.  It was nearer the beginning, so they were essentially full price, but given how scarce Series 25 proved, I’m glad I got them when I did.  Negative Zone Spider-Man is far from an essential design, but as far as one-off variants go, he’s a pretty strong one, and quite a bit of fun.  Jack O’Lantern’s a fun lesser villain, and his Minimate lives up to all that fun, and even elevates him, crafting one of the best Spider-Foe ‘mates available.

#1729: Iron-Spider & Hulk

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

IRON-SPIDER & HULK

MARVEL MINIMATES

I’m just gonna keep on rolling with this Avengers: Infinity War thing that I got started yesterday, taking a look at another of Diamond Select’s Minimate offerings from the film.  This time around, we’re back to the two-packs, and we’re also looking at two of the film’s heaviest hitters, Spider-Man and the Hulk!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Iron-Spider and Hulk are–or were, I suppose is the better term– the shared two-pack between Walgreens and Toys R Us.  Of course, thanks to TRU’s untimely demise, they’re instead available everywhere, just like the Iron Man and Thanos pack.  As far as pairing goes, they’re not really the most natural choice, but at least Peter and Banner interact with each other at *some* point, even if it’s not in these particular forms.

IRON-SPIDER

Peter’s new suit for Infinity War was technically introduced in Homecoming, but doesn’t see any action until Peter winds up in space with Tony and Dr. Strange.  It’s name and Stark-designed nature tie it to the red and gold suit that Peter was wearing for “Civil War” in the comics, but its actual design seems to have more in common with Peter’s more recent Parker Industries-designed armor.  This was more than likely due to them not really wanting two red and gold armored guys flying across the screen doing battle with Thanos.  The figure uses the standard ‘mate body, so he’s 2 1/4 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  He gets an additional harness piece, replicating his extra spider-limbs, which also grants him an extra four points of articulation, thanks to the balljoint at the base of each leg.  The piece is new to this figure (since they can’t re-use the comic ones; they only have three legs), and works decently enough.  Sure, it bulks up the neck and waist a bit, and a dedicated torso sculpt would have possibly looked a bit better, but then you’d lack the option of displaying him sans legs, which would be annoying.  Iron Spider’s paintwork is quite cleanly applied.  Not quite as shiny as I might have expected, but still decent looking.  The details are all crisp and well defined, and he replicates the film design rather nicely.  Iron Spider is packed with an extra unmasked head and hair for the Peter Parker look.  It’s sporting a pretty spot-on Tom Holland likeness.  More Spider-Men should include the unmasked head option.

HULK

Hulk plays a very, very minor role in Infinity War, being dispatched rather quickly in the film’s opening minutes, and then not really coming around.  So, the fact that he got such a prominent spot here is a little bit baffling, but the amount of Hulk merch out there for this movie suggests that licensees weren’t really told about his small part up front.  Hulk’s construction is pretty much the same construction as several prior Hulk’s.  The only notable change is that this one’s using the hair from Tomb Raider‘s Roth.  Not really sure why, can’t say it’s a favorite, and it ends up just looking kind of goofy, but I suppose worse things have happened.   Hulk’s paintwork is rather on the basic side; his skintone is entirely molded plastic, which is a change from the prior MCU Hulks.  Beyond that, there’s some paint for his pants, and touch of grey on the sides of his temples, because Hulk’s starting to get distinguished in his old age.  He’s also looking a lot more Ruffalo-like than prior Hulks.  Obviously, there’s a lot of Ruffalo in the CG model for Hulk, but this seems to veer far too close to the Bruce Banner side of things.  He doesn’t even look all that angry; he looks more like he’s trying to calculate how much to tip his waiter.  Hulk’s only extra is a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I grabbed these guys from Cosmic Comix when they got the TRU-reject assortment.  I mostly bought this set for Spider-Man, and for that, I’m pretty pleased.  He’s a solid addition to our MCU Spideys, and a solid figure all-around.  Hulk, on the other hand, is really just an odd offering.  Not only his he nonessential, he’s also one of the weakest versions of the Hulk that DST has put out.  I’m not sure what happened with this guy.

1719: Spider-Man Noir

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

SPIDER-MAN NOIR

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Reluctant hero Spider-Man Noir battles bad guys and mob bosses alike in 1930’s New York City.”

Remember earlier in the week when I was talking about the gift that was Spider-Verse?  Well, this isn’t quite that.  I mean, yeah, Spider-Man Noir was part of “Spider-Verse,” but he predates the event, and had a pretty loyal fanbase before it.  Like the 2099 venture, the Noir line of comics was an venture by Marvel that’s mostly just remembered for its take on Spider-Man.  Noir has had three action figures, and I’m looking at the most recent of those today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Man Noir is part of the Lizard Series of Marvel Legends.  Despite being kind of divergent from the usual design, he’s technically the headlining figure, being the resident Peter Parker Spider-Man.  There are a few different versions of Spider-Man Noir out there, but this one’s based on his original comics design, which I’d hazard is his best.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Despite his more unique design, Noir is actually largely made of re-used parts.  He’s built on the AIM/Ghost Rider body, with the trench coat from the Punisher/Red Skull body.  The torso has been tweaked to give him a new collar, and he’s also got a new belt add-on.  The overall body is a little bit of a frankenstein effort, but there’s no denying that it’s an improvement on the previous trenchcoat body.  At least this guy can put his arms all the way down.  Noir also gets a new head sculpt to top things off, which is a pretty impressive translation of the character’s distinctive mask and goggles.  As far as paint goes, Noir is understandably monochromatic.  He’s largely just a lot of black, with some minor changes in finish and the exact darkness here and there.  Noir is packed with a pair of pistols.  They’re the sci-fi looking guns from the AIM figure, which doesn’t seem quite right for a character like Noir, but I guess they work in a pinch.  I know Hasbro’s recently decided to move away from more realistic firearms, and Noir’s the first one to really be negatively impacted by it.  Noir also includes one of the Lizard’s arms.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After grabbing the last four from All Time, I was a little too late to get this guy from them, so I had to resort to my usual sleuthing to find him.  I ended up coming across him at the FYE at the mall where Super Awesome Girlfriend was working until recently.  Noir’s a cool character with a cool look, and I’m glad to finally have a figure of the guy.

#1715: Spider-Punk

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

SPIDER-PUNK

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Spider-Punk causes major rifts in an alternate universe ruled by a corrupt President Osborne.”

Spider-Verse was really just an amazing gift to the people at Hasbro, wasn’t it?  They’ve literally got years worth of completely legitimate Spider-Man variants to choose from, and each time they release another, the demand for the remaining ones just grows.  They’re also getting Spider-Verse writer Dan Slott to geek out pretty hardcore online, which I’m certain helps with the sales of the figures.  The Spider-Verse member I’m looking at today is certainly amongst the coolest; it’s Spider-Punk!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Punk is figure 3 from the Lizard Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s one of the two Spider-Men in this assortment, though he’s not actually a Peter Parker figure.  He stands 6 1/4 inches tall and has 34 points of articulation.  As a Spider-Man variant, it’s probably not a shock to find out that Spider-Punk is built on the Pizza Spidey body, what with him filling out that basic physique and all.  He gets a new head, feet, and even hands (with proper fingering for his guitar, and a pick!), as well as an add-on piece for his denim vest.  The new matches very well with the old, and the vest piece in particular is very sharply detailed and full of texture. The head is surprisingly more than just a basic spidey head with the mohawk added, giving this Spider a more narrow set of eyes than we tend to see. It helps to further separate him from that legion of Spider-Men we’ve got going on.  His paintwork is up to the usual snuff, with the colors matching the basic Spidey, as well as the source material.  Kudos to Hasbro for putting a fully detailed torso and arms under the vest, though I can hardly see myself displaying him without it.  Spider-Punk is packed with his guitar, of course, but also gets a second left hand.  At first glance, it’s just a basic thwipping hand, but if you look closer, it’s actually throwing up the horns.  A subtle, but very important, change, which adds so much to the figure.  Spider-Punk also includes one of the arms of the Lizard, who continues to look very, very cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been loving the whole Spider-Verse theme that’s been going on, and this guy’s been near the top of my wishlist for Spidey variants, so his announcement for the assortment was very exciting for me.  Along with Lasher, he was my biggest want from this assortment.  The final figure absolutely doesn’t disappoint.

As with yesterday’s Lasher figure, I purchased this guy from my friends over at All Time Toys.  They’re currently in the process of recovering from the recent Ellicott City flood, so please check out their website and eBay storefront and give them a little bit of support.  They don’t have Spider-Punk in stock, but they have a few of his series-mates, as well as plenty of other awesome offerings!

#1650: Iron Spider

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

IRON SPIDER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Advanced technology and high-tech gear are signature marks of the web-slinging hero, Iron Spider.”

After being introduced during another big crisis-cross-over in Civil War, Spider-Man follows suit for his third MCU-appearance in Infinity War.  As he says himself in the film, it’s hard to be “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” if there’s no “Friendly Neighborhood,” so saving the world is part of his game plan.  Also, selling toys, of course, because that’s what Spider-Man does.  There was some odd licensing stuff that kept Peter almost entirely out of the Civil War merch, but it seems that’s been sorted out for the go-round, if his Marvel Legend is anything to go by.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Iron Spider is figure 2 in the Thanos Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s the third of the directly Infinity War-based figures in this assortment.  As the name suggests, he’s wearing his second Stark-designed suit, which we got a preview of at the very end of Homecoming.  It gets brought out in full force for Infinity War, and barring a very brief sequence early on, it’s Peter’s primary look this time around.  It’s certainly less of a departure from his classic red-and-blues than the comics Iron Spidey was, which I’m okay with.  It actually seems to have gotten a fair bit of inspiration from Peter’s more recent Parker Industries-created armor.  The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  While his sculpt is certainly very similar aesthetically to the Homecoming release, it’s definitely a brand new piece.  The texturing and detail work on the costume is all quite impressive.  It takes a lot of the dentils from the last figure, and sort of amps them up.  Apart from the obvious cosmetic changes for the costume’s details, the main difference between the two figures is how the arms are handled.  The kind of stubby shoulders and arms of the last figure were really my only complaint on that one, so the improved design here is a definite plus.  The paint on Iron Spider is quite clean, with sharp detailing, and no noticeable missing details.  I do wish it were more metallic; his suit from the movie was really, really shiny, and this one is a bit dull by comparison.  Given the CGI nature of the suit, I’d guess the duller colors come from Hasbro working from pre-film designs and what we saw at the end of Homecoming.  The biggest failing of this figure is, hands down, the accessory complement.  He’s got the left leg of Thanos, and that’s it.  No spider-arms like we saw in the film.  No unmasked Peter Parker head.  Not even extra hands, which the Homecoming release had.  Absolutely nothing character specific.  I get that he’s an all-new sculpt, but the lack of anything at all is a real blow to the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Iron Spider is by far the most difficult to acquire figure in this set.  This surprised me, given the visual similarities between this figure and the one from Homecoming.  Of course, in retrospect, that figure was never super easy to find either, so I guess it makes sense.  After many times of finding the whole set sans just this guy, I finally did come across him at my closest Target, who had just put out their case.  This figure is frustrating, because he himself is quite a good figure, but his complete lack of accessories is really frustrating.

#1598: Spider-Man – Black Costume

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

SPIDER-MAN — BLACK COSTUME

MARVEL LEGENDS — 12-INCH (HASBRO)

Wasn’t I just talking about wanting to get more of this line?  Have I already run out and done that, just in the last day?  No, dear reader, not quite.  This is just as symptom of the somewhat anachronistic order to how I review my toys.  What does that mean for you guys?  Not a whole lot, really.  It means you get to read my review of a Spider-Man figure.  Woop woooop.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Black Costume Spider-Man is a summer 2017 release for the larger-scale Marvel Legends line.  He’s the second version of the webhead to grace the line, following the expected standard variant from the first series.  He’s actually the first 12-inch-scale Symbiote Spider-Man to be released under the Legends banner, although Toy Biz did do a pretty fantastic rotocast version back in ’06.  The figure stands 12 inches tall and has 36 points of articulation, matching pretty well with Black Panther in that respect.  For the most part, this figure is a pretty straight repaint on the standard Spidey, which is a rather sensible choice.  The body is effectively and up-scaling of the Pizza Spidey body, but with slightly more nuanced proportions and a bit more range on some of the articulation.  Compared to the last two figures I looked at from this line, he’s rather devoid of texturing and small detail work, but I kind of expect that on a Spider-Man, especially one using this costume.  They still do some nice work with placing a few key wrinkles in the costume here and there, showing that it’s not just painted on his skin.  One small nit I had, however, was the presence of web shooters on the undersides of his wrists.  It’s a remnant from when this sculpt was used for the standard Spidey, but it’s not technically accurate to this particular design.  Very small thing, though.  This version of Spidey gets a new head sculpt, which is quite impressive.  I like that you can clearly make out that there’s a whole face under that mask, not just some amorphous blob.  It’s the nose that really sells it for me.  When it comes to paint, Symbiote Spider-Men can have a tendency to go very simple, or far too detailed.  Very rare is any actual balanced approach.  The question that always arises with this design is “to highlight or not to highlight?”  This figure opts to highlight, a tricky endeavor to be sure.  I’m happy to say it actually paid off pretty well this time around.  The metallic blue they’ve chosen is only subtly different from the black plastic, and it’s thankfully not overused.  Spider-Man is packed with an alternate unmasked head (which is the same as the one included with the standard version, apart from some slight paint variations), as well as three pairs of hands.  It’s a decent selection, but given the standard Spidey came with another head in addition to all of this, it does feel a little light.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been eyeing this guy up since he was released, but kept having other things that took precedence over him.  Last month, Target had him marked down to $23.99, which was enough of a discount to get me on-board.  He’s another strong figure, and a definite improvement over the Toy Biz figure I looked at.  He’s not without some slight issues, but I’m overall very happy with him.

FIQ Friday Fab Five at 5 #0002: Top 5 Spider-Man Figures

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Friday Fab 5 and tagged with , , , ,

What’s up FiQ-fans!  It’s the last Friday of the month, so that means it’s time for another FiQ Friday Fab Five at 5!  For my inaugural FFFF@5, I looked at the top five figures of DC’s number one hero, Batman.  Today, I’m flipping over to Marvel and their top hero, Spider-Man, and taking a look at the top 5 Spider-Men.  Obviously, this list is just confined to Peter’s classic red and blue number; the symbiote really deserves a list all its own!

#5:      Battle-Ravaged Spider-Man — Spider-Man Classics (Toy Biz)

Okay, admittedly, this guy’s not *technically* a standard Spidey.  But, let’s be honest with ourselves, Peter takes damage often enough that this might as well be as standard look.  2002’s Marvel Legends-prototype Spider-Man Classics gave us a handful of awesome Spider-Men in its short two series run, but I always felt this Battle-Ravaged variant really stood out from the pack.  In fact, up until very recently, he was the only Classics Spider-Man in my collection.

#4:      Spider-Man — Marvel Minimates (Diamond Select Toys)

Sometimes you get things right on your first try.  The first Spider-Man Minimate is definitely one of those times.  While later Spider-Mates have offered more accessories and greater detailing, it’s hard to beat this guy and all his simplistic glory.

#3:      Super-Poseable Spider-Man — Spider-Man: The Animated Series (Toy Biz)

Spider-Man’s a character that needs to be super-poseable to fully do him justice.  Early offerings from Toy Biz were decidedly more restricted in their mobility, so this Series 3 addition to the line put them all to shame.  Even two decades later, he’s still a pretty solid contender.  And, bonus points: he was my first Spider-Man figure!

#2:      Pizza Spider-Man — Marvel Legends Infinite Series (Hasbro)

There’s no shortage of really great Spider-Men in this particular scale, but there’s just something about Hasbro’s most recent update, affectionately called Pizza Spidey based on his rather amusing accessory slice of pizza, that just seems to get the character down pat.  The poseablity, the bright colors, and a selection of expressive interchangeable hands all make for a really fun figure that feels very true to the character.

#1:      18-inch Spider-Man — Spider-Man 2 (Toy Biz)

At 18 inches tall, this is definitely a monster of a figure.  He had the misfortune of hitting at a time when there weren’t many other figures available in this scale, but even as a standalone figure, he’s downright amazing.  Toy Biz took advantage of the larger scale to make him the most detailed and by far the most articulated version of the character ever made in figure form.  He carries a hefty after-market price tag for a very good reason.

#1585: Spider-Man – Battle Ravaged

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

SPIDER-MAN – BATTLE RAVAGED

SPIDER-MAN CLASSICS (TOY BIZ)

“The amazing Spider-Man uses his sensational spider-powers to protect society from the world’s most dangerous super villains.  It takes all of his super-human strength, speed, and agility to fight the forces of evil.  He often faces insurmountable odds and is forced to combat numerous opponents at the same time.  Not even his amazing early warning “spider-sense” can always keep him from being hurt in battle.  However, Spidey’s incredible determination and will to win lets him triumph in battles against impossible odds.  In the process, his world famous red and blue costume is often torn to shreds.  It’s a good thing our hero created his own costume and knows how to sew up a replacement.  Where else can a superhero bring their costume to be mended?”

Man, Toy Biz’s bios sure were in-depth, weren’t they?  I dig that they got all of Spidey’s usual descriptors in there.  Someone was having a good time with that one.

Spider-Man Classics marked Toy Biz’s first move towards the style that would define the industry for the next decade or so.  The first series was a smash success, and happened to feature both the basic and black-costumed variations of Spider-Man.  When it came time for the follow-up, they had to get a little more inventive for the necessary Spider-variants.  Hence, the Battle Ravaged Spider-Man, a figure I’ll be looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Battle Ravaged was one of the two Spider-Man variants in Series 2 of Spider-Man Classics (the other was First Appearance Spider-Man).  This would mark Toy Biz’s second Battle-Ravaged Spider-Man, following the one from their 5-inch line years earlier.  This figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Rather than just going for a sort of generic battle-damaged look, this figure actually goes for a very specific look, namely Spidey’s damaged appearance from the Todd McFarlane-drawn “Torment” storyline.  It was a fairly pivotal storyline at the time of its release, and it helps the figure blend in well with the rest of the Classics figures, which had all followed a decidedly McFarlane Spider-Man aesthetic.  Obviously, this figure made use of a lot of pieces from the Series 1 standard Spidey.  That figure was very good for its time, and while some aspects of it haven’t aged the best, it’s still a solid offering.  He also gets a new head, right hand and forearm, left upper arm, thighs, and left shin.  These new pieces fit in seamlessly with the old parts, and the battle damaged parts look pretty impressive.  The head’s really the star part of the sculpt, being a pretty spot-on recreation of McFarlane’s battered Peter Parker.  The paintwork on this guy is pretty solid overall.  The colors are well chosen, and the black wash used all throughout the figure helps to really accentuate the detail in the sculpt.  There are some issues with some bleed over, especially on the parts showing the damage, but the overall look is good.  Spider-Man was packed with a wall-mountable display stand, depicting Lizard trapped under debris.  It’s actually really well-detailed, and he even has a jointed neck, jaw, and shoulder.  Very impressive.  Also included is a reprint of Spider-Man #5, which is part 5 of “Torment” and features a beaten down Spider-Man battling the Lizard.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Battle-Ravaged Spider-Man was actually my first Spider-Man Classics figure.  On a particularly rainy day, my Dad and Grandmother had taken me out.  We stopped by a nearby comic book store (which I, sadly, cannot remember the name of) which had this guy and no one else from the series, so he was kind of my only option.  Nevertheless, I thought he was really cool, so my Grandmother picked him up for me.  It’s a figure that shows its age, but I still really like this guy!

#1453: Spider Racer (w/ Spider-Man)

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

SPIDER-RACER (w/ SPIDER-MAN)

SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING (HASBRO)

Spider-Man: Homecoming hits physical media next week, and I’m definitely looking forward to giving it another watch.  It was an awesome film that felt a little bit crowded out this summer.  The actual film did great in theatres, but a lot of the tie-in stuff was scarce from day one.  I still haven’t seen the Legends figures in any substantial numbers, and while the more basic line’s coverage has been a little better, it still seemed a little small for a Spider-Man movie.  Back in May, I looked at one of the basic line’s takes on Spidey. I ended up picking up one more item from this line, though it’s admittedly not one directly aimed at my particular demographic.  So, without further ado, here’s Spider-Man driving a car!

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

The Spider-Racer was a mid-sized offering in Hasbro’s basic Spider-Man: Homecoming toyline.  It was released fairly early on, right around the same time as the first four basic figures.  The racer measures about 8 inches long by 5 1/2 inches wide, and it has working wheels and a pop-out Nerf feature.  The overall construction of the racer is new to this particular item, and it’s fairly well-rendered.  The racer is pretty solidly put together, so it’ll hold up to fair bit of play, which is good, since that’s kind of the whole point behind an item like this.  Design-wise, it’s totally concocted from the minds of Hasbro’s designers, of course, but they’ve at least managed to create a vehicle that’s plausible as a real thing.  It’s got consistency in its design as well, so it doesn’t just look like a bunch of random elements tacked together.  There’s a bit of an old-style Formula 1 race car look to it, mixed in with a little bit of the Tumbler from Batman Begins.  It’s hardly the most original thing ever, but I dig it. Throughout the body, there’s lots of little details that add a bit more character to the racer.  I appreciate that they didn’t just leave large chunks of this thing totally smooth and featureless.  The racer’s a single-seater, which is a little bit of a letdown if you’re like me and you want to put a couple of alternate reality Spideys in it for a cross-dimensional adventure, but seems reasonable enough within the confines of a movie-based-racing-centric-solo-hero-vehicle.  The latter’s probably a little more marketable than the former, so I can’t really blame Hasbro on this one.  Paint on the racer is pretty straightforward.  Lot of red and blue, which are the Spider-Man colors and all, so that makes sense.  It’s obviously on the toyetic side of things; it’s not like anyone will be mistaking this for a real scale model of a car or anything.  The application is all pretty clean, and the colors are fairly eye-catching.  One of the selling points of the Spider-Racer is its Nerf feature.  There’s a small Nerf gun built into the left side of the vehicle.  Press it in and it pops out, and then you can shoot a Nerf dart.  There are two Spidey-themed darts included, but only one can be loaded at a time.  It’s a mildly amusing feature, but not particularly powerful.  Since it’s Nerf, though, I did go ahead and get a few words from the FiQ’s resident Nerf-Expert Tim.  Here’s what he had to say about it:

“So, if there’s one defining thing Peter Parker does, besides the whole spider thing, it’s invent stuff.  And take photos.  And get bullied in school, but the inventing is the main thing. That’s why it’s a little disappointing to see that he chose to equip his car with one of the lamest Nerf mechanisms ever.  When you load the dart in the barrel, you press back on the collar piece around it which primes the blaster to fire.  It’s super compact, probably more so than even the Jolt and that means it can at least fold away neatly into the side panel of the car.  It’s the same setup we’ve seen on the Rogue One vehicles and that one Build-A-Saber lightsaber set and it wasn’t great then either.  Sure, it gets the job done, but it might have been nice to see a more  creative solution, especially given who’s driving.”

THE FIGURE ITSELF

A car’s no good without a driver, and by extension, a Spider-Car’s no good without a Spider-Driver.  Fortunately, this Spider-Car does have a Spider-Driver, in the form of an included Spider-Man Spider-Action Figure. Spider.  The figure is very much on the basic side.  He’s about 5 1/2 inches tall (the same scale as the other basic figures) and has 5 points of articulation.  The articulation is less than the other standard figures, but it’s enough to get him seated in the car and holding the controls, and that’s really all this figure needs to do.  Spidey uses the same head and torso as the standard Homecoming Spider-Man, with new arms and legs.  It’s a fairly decent sculpt. Nothing ground breaking, but the costume is translated pretty well here and the proportions look decent enough.  He’s even got all of the proper texture work!  The paint on Spider-Man, like the Racer, is fairly straightforward.  Basic color work with clean application.  At least he doesn’t have any of the weird flaking paint issues the he Homemade costume had.  This figure doesn’t have any accessories, but he’s really just an accessory himself, so it’s excusable here.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Okay, I know what you’re thinking: “why’d you buy this, Ethan?” To explain that, I need to give a little history lesson.  Back in the ’70s, Mego was producing their World’s Greatest Super Heroes line.  The Batmobile was a strong seller, so they decided to give all of the big heroes their own themed vehicle.  This included Spider-Man, whose Spider-Car was sort of worked into the comics, albeit in the rather tweaked form of the Spider-Mobile.  The Spider-Mobile’s picked a sort of a cult following over the years (in no part due to some rather brilliant uses by Spider-Man scribe Dan Slott), and I’ve always been a fan of it, as goofy as it is.  So, I saw this on the shelf this summer, in the midst of trying desperately to find Marvel Legends, and it just called to me.  It’s not some amazing piece of unskippable merchandise, but it’s pretty amusing, and will at the very least hold me over until Hasbro releases an official, comics-accurate, Marvel Legends-scaled Spider-Mobile with a Spider-Ham pack-in figure.  Please?

#1410: Spider-Man – Homemade Costume

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

SPIDER-MAN – HOMEMADE COSTUME

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“When Peter Parker discovers spider-like senses and wall-crawling abilities, he develops his own suit to become Spider-Man.”

Hey, it’s Force Friday II!  Of course, it’s not like I’m reviewing anything from today’s event, since I didn’t get anything early (though I certainly tried).  But I am writing this review from the line to get into a midnight opening, so it’s in the spirit of the day, I guess.  Anyway, let’s look at another Hasbro product, based on another Disney-owned property!  It’s Spider-Man!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

This Spider-Man is figure 2 in the Vulture Series of Marvel Legends.  It’s the third Spider-variant in the series, and the second based on Homecoming.  This figure is based on Peter’s homemade costume, which he ends up wearing during the film’s climax, following the more advanced suit’s confiscation by Tony.  As I’ve noted before, the design is loosely based on Ben Reilly’s Scarlet Spider costume, which is nifty.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Spidey’s sporting an all-new sculpt, which is a pretty solid piece of work.  He’s not sporting quite the same build as the Stark Tech Spidey, but he’s close enough that they’re believable as the same person.  This figure’s probably the closer of the two proportions wise, so that’s a plus.  The detail work is pretty solid as well, with some cool work on the folds and everything.  There could maybe be a little more texture work, but it’s acceptable for the line.  It mostly follows the movie design, though the goggles lack some of the technical details.  Still, not bad.  The paintwork on this guy is fairly decent, though not quite as impressive as some more recent releases.  However, the colors are decent and the application is mostly pretty clean.  The figure is packed with two sets of hands in both fists and web-shooting poses, as well as a hood piece (both pulled up and down).  He’s also got the flip side wing piece of the one included with the standard Spidey.  Yay for an almost complete Vulture!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this guy from Amazon, at the same time as Moon Knight, since I’d had no luck finding him at retail.  He’s a decent figure, but I do find him to be slightly less exciting in-hand than I’d expected.  I guess he’s somewhat less climactic after already getting the version from the basic line.  Still, I’m happy to have him, and the figure is a solid addition to the line.