SPIDER-PUNK

MOVIE MASTERPIECE SERIES (HOT TOYS)

There was a time when I used to reserve my Hot Toys reviews for monumental numbers in the review set-up.  But, after a while, those monumental numbers have gotten further and further apart, to the point where it really doesn’t feel like it’s worth it for anything less than 1000, and that’s actual years apart.  So, now I just mostly review them when I get a new one.  Which, admittedly, is still usually quite a gap.  My last one was way back in July of last year.  Here we are almost a year later, but, instead of adding to my Cap line-up, as is the usual reason for me buying a new Hot Toy these days, I’ve gone a bit off the reservation, and I’m looking at a Spider-Man of all things.  In my defense, it’s Spider-Punk, so, you know, there it is.  Let’s take a look!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Punk is figure MMS726 in Hot Toys’ Movie Masterpiece Series.  He’s wedged between two other Spider-Man figures, namely Miles G. Morales (also from Across the Spider-Verse) and Black Suit Spidey from Spider-Man 3.  He’s the fifth Across figure to join the line, and he started shipping domestically towards the end of May.  The figure stands about 13 inches tall and he’s got over 30 points of articulation.

As with a great many Hot Toys figures, Spider-Punk features multiple head sculpts.  Right out of the box, he’s sporting the unmasked head, which is sensible, given how much of his screen time he spends unmasked.  Much like the What If…? figures, the Spider-Verse offerings are mimicking the animated style of the movie, and that’s most clearly seen on this head.  It keeps with the generally more simplistic animated style, and matches up pretty closely with the model from the movie.  There’s still some areas for more intricate work, namely the hair, which gets some proper texturing to help it stand out a bit better.  Punk’s eyes are moveable on this head, something that HT’s doing a bit more frequently on the non-deluxes it seems.  They’re individually moving, rather than using the “PERS” system, which means you need to take a little extra care to make sure they both line-up.  On my figure, I did notice that the tool that moves the eyes was just as likely to pop them out of the sockets as it was to remove from the back of them, so that’s definitely something to be careful about, lest your Punk lose an eye.  Punk also gets a head sporting his distinctly punk-ified version of the Spidey mask.  Though perhaps not as technically impressive as the unmasked head, it’s a very clean and well-defined piece it its own right, and quite a striking recreation of his look in the movie.  I did notice while swapping the heads that the neck joints pop out of place the wrong way sometimes, so that’s yet another thing to be careful with.

Spider-Punk’s outfit is a rather involved assembly of pieces.  The belts, boots, bracelets, and other studded bits are all sculpted, while the rest of the outfit is tailored.  I was particularly impressed with the boots, which are soft enough to allow a decent range of motion on the ankle joints, while still looking quite sharply detailed.  The pants being a slightly rubbery material makes me a little worried about their longevity, but as long as the posing isn’t too crazy, they should be fine.  The one thing I was slightly let down by here is the buttons on the vest being purely printed elements; the Legends figure sculpted them, and as it stands they feel a little cheap and easy to miss this way.

Under the outfit, Spider-Punk gets a rather unique body, designed to replicate his tall and scrawny stature from the movie.  The posing is all pretty good; the hips are ratcheted to provide more support and his mid torso joint in particular adds a lot of character to his posing options.  There’s no real areas of restriction, either, and the body hangs pretty naturally in most poses.

Spider-Punk gets a decent, if focused selection of extras, which includes:

• 7 hands
• 2 alternate palms for the thwipping hands to attach weblines
• 4 different weblines
• His guitar with backdrop effect & pick
• A cardboard display backdrop
• Display stand with a posable arm

The hands come in a pair of gripping, a pair of thwipping, right open gesture, left relaxed, and a left fist.  The guitar is a central piece with a lot of cool detailing.  The strings are separate, which is neat, but also worrying when it comes to placing the neck of the instrument in his left hand.  The backdrop effect is a nifty idea, but it’s a little awkward and flimsy in practice.  The pick is bound to be this figure’s most lost accessory for sure; mine almost got lost when it stuck to the tray while I was opening him.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been a Spider-Punk fan since his original comics appearances, and was super happy with his move to the big screen.  I’ve thus far avoided all of the HT coverage for these movies, and honestly thought it would be a Peter B that broke me.  They’ve not announced any of those, though, and they *did* announce this guy, and he’s just got too cool a visual to pass up.  I do really like him, but at the same time, there are definitely some issues I haven’t encountered with a Hot Toy in a good long while.  The assembly stuff on the heads is a little worrying, and I dislike the cut corners on the buttons.  But, generally, I do really, really like him.

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