Tag Archives: Spot

#3372: The Spot

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

THE SPOT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“If The Spot can realize the power of his abilities, he could become a threat to the entire universe.”

The slightly quirkier tone of the Spider-Verse movies makes them great for deep dives into the Spider-Man mythos.  I largely comes in the form of lots of Spideys, but as the first film showcased, it’s also great for getting a focus on some slightly lower tier Spidey foes.  The first movie gave a particular focus to Prowler, and this one seems to be doing the same for the Spot, who looks to be the film’s main antagonist…maybe.  I’m writing this review pre-movie, so I can’t say for sure.  I’m just happy to be getting a Spot figure, honestly.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Spot is the second figure in the seven figure Across the Spider-Verse tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends.  He’s notably the only non-Spider in the set, and also the very first Marvel Legends Spot.  While some of the designs for the film are radical changes from the comics, the Spot actually sticks pretty close to his comics roots, albeit with the expected stylizing.  The figure stands just shy of 6 3/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  Spot’s articulation is a slightly different set-up than we saw on Miles, and it’s better for it.  There’s still some slight issues with sticky joints on the limbs, and you have to be careful with moving the shoulders, lest they pop out at the biceps.  That said, I was especially impressed by the range of motion they managed to get into that mid-torso joint; it seems minimal at first, but once you get it working, it really does a lot.  The Spot’s sculpt is another all-new one, and it’s kind of the antithesis of Miles.  There’s very little actual detailing, making him largely a blank canvas, with the sculpting focus being placed on getting down his unique set of proportions.  It’s quite an effective set-up, with a quite distinctive silhouette, even without any extra key elements beyond the base body.  Despite the lankiness, the articulation is also worked in pretty cleanly as well, which is a definite plus.  Spot’s paint work is, like the sculpt, on the basic side.  It’s certainly effective, though.  It’s admittedly less spots than I’m used to, but that looks to be true to the film, so I’m hardly going to complain about that.  The Spot is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and open gesture, as well as two “spots”, one with Miles’ head sticking out, and the other with his hand.  There’s also a stand for clipping the spots onto, making for a pretty fun little set-up.  I would have liked to see some non-Miles-attached spots, but given the set-up for the rest of the figures, he still feels like he’s got enough to make it worthwhile.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Spot’s one of my favorite Spidey foes, going back to the ’90s cartoon, so I was actually pretty pumped when his inclusion in Across was announced, especially because I was pretty sure that would mean more toys…which it did.  Yay!  This guy was one of the first that images leaked for, and he’s definitely the one I was looking forward to the most.  My initial response after opening him was honestly just a touch let-down, but after getting to mess with him a little bit more, he’s grown on me, to about the point that I was expecting.  As it stands, he’s one of my top two for this set-up of figures.  I’d still love a comics version too, but this one’s a lot of fun on his own.

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.

#3076: Iron Spider & Spot

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

IRON SPIDER & THE SPOT

MARVEL MINIMATES

I guess Mondays are for Minimates, huh?  Well, this month at least.  I guess we should just jump right into that, there.  Back in 2018, Toys R Us closing brought their exclusive Marvel Minimates assortments to an end…a little quicker than DST anticipated, in fact.  While TRU’s last official exclusive assortment was Series 25, there was one more assortment produced and ready to go when the chain went under.  Fortunately for us Minimate fans, Walgreens stepped up to the plate and took the assortment on.  It does, however leave us in the precarious position of just how to refer to the assortment.  Today, I’m taking a look at the series’ Spidey-themed set, Iron Spider & The Spot!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Sinister Six Iron Spider and The Spot are one of the three two-packs of Marvel Minimates originally intended for TRU, before becoming an online-exclusive for Walgreens after TRU’s closure.  Of note with this particular assortment’s packaging was an extra large Walgreens sticker, which was actually just covering the TRU sticker that was already in place.  The figures actually had to be taken back to have that sticker applied.

SINISTER SIX IRON SPIDER

“A mysterious figure has stolen Spider-Man’s Iron Spider armor and now wears it as the leader of the all-new Sinister Six.”

Well, maybe he’s not quite so mysterious, given he was rather quickly revealed to be *SPOILERS(?)* Miles Morales’ uncle Aaron.  Kudos to DST for not spoiling that, I guess, but now I’ve just done it for them.  The Iron Spider armor has been featured three times prior in Minimate form, but this time it’s got a new hat differently colored!  The figure is built on the standard ‘mate body, so its about 2 1/4 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  Structurally, this version of Iron Spider is the same as both the Walgreens Series 2 and the TRU Series 21 Iron Spider-Men, meaning he’s a vanilla ‘mate with a harness that has the three mechanical arms attached to it.  It helps keep things sleek, and it also keeps things consistent with the other figures.  On the paint front, Iron Spider is again quite similar to the TRU Iron Spider, effectively having the exact same paint apps (with a couple of minor changes on the eyes), but swapping out the red base of the prior figure for a black one here.  It looks pretty decent, and the contrast’s a little better, so I think it works.  Iron Spider is packed with a dynamic posing base and a standard clear display stand.  Not a bad combo for a Spidey-variant.

SINISTER SIX THE SPOT

“With his ability to create portals to anywhere, of varying sizes, the Spot is the ultimate getaway driver, as well as an unpredictable opponent.”

The Spot is one of those quirky lower tier Spidey foes that’s just absolutely fun every time he shows up.  He’s not been very lucky when it comes to toys, however, as his only prior figure was one of Toy Biz’s 10 inch figures.  Given how easily he can be assembled from re-used parts, that’s a little surprising.  Fortunately, “assembled from re-used parts” is Minimates’ jam, so he finally made his way in here.  Spot’s a vanilla ‘mate, but that’s okay, because that’s exactly what the character should be.  He’s a guy in a form-fitting spandex suit with no add-ons.  That’s just how he do.  The Spot’s paint isn’t super complex or anything, but it does a really sharp job of applying all of the dots all over him, as well as giving him a few lines to represent the man in the suit beneath.  It’s a stark-looking design, and its harsh black/white nature helps it pop out against more colorful characters on the shelf.  Of note, the face on the standard head is another black whole, in keeping with more modern appearances for the character.  The Spot’s accessory selection is a rather impressive selection of common place items repurposed for some fun times.  There’s an alternate head with Spot’s classic design on it, plus two repainted Tron Discs, two smaller display stands, and two larger display stands, all in black.  It’s great because they work perfectly as Spot’s “spots”, and the modular nature of Minimates means you can toy around with disassembling him to make it look like he’s popping out of various portals.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I snagged this whole assortment from Walgreens’ website, back when that was an easier thing to do.  I don’t have much attachment to this version of the Iron Spider design, but I can certainly support a new character being added to the line, and the design’s not a bad one.  He’s a decent way of putting a Spider-Man into the line, while still doing something new.  Spot’s the main reason I got the set, because he’s one of my favorite Spidey foes.  He’s a great example of how clever execution can make a second-string character made from re-used parts the real star of an assortment.  He’s absolutely fantastic, and I can’t imagine him being better if they’d tried.