So apparently this is what I’ve been wanting in a Spidey.
Like many, I was enamored with what has come to be known as the “Pizza Spidey.” I was willing to proclaim it the best Spider-man figure that Marvel Legends had made. Sure, I could recognize the cons, but the pros outweighed them. With painted webbing, functional butterfly shoulders and plenty of swappable extra hands, I could overlook the two glaring problems, which were the restricted leg articulation and the slightly stretched out abdomen.
But along comes the PS4 Spidey figure on a completely different body than the previous Spider-Men, and suddenly Pizza Spidey just doesn’t do it for me as much any more. After fiddling around with a Spider-man on this slightly beefier body, I find myself wanting a classic Spider-man on this body. And Symbiote. And all those other costume variations. Sure, the body is a little taller than the arguably-already-maybe-too-tall-depending-on-your-preferences Pizza Spidey body, but…I can live with it. 
All. Over. Again.
This is why one of the circles of hell is “toy collecting.”
Much like the recent Venom wave, the packaging for this figure is white as opposed to the standard black of most marvel Legends. The figure is referred to as a “Gamerverse” Spider-man. I don’t know if that is indicative of similarly-themed figures coming out in the future or if this is intended as a one-off. Most of the villain designs in the game seem like they’d require completely new sculpts as opposed to this figure’s repaint status, so who knows.
My opinion has also changed regarding the costume itself. When pictures initially appeared of the redesigned Spider-man costume for the Playstation 4 game, it didn’t really tweak my interest much. Mainly it was the big white Spider. I didn’t mind the size, but I felt it would have looked better if it were black, like the traditional Spider-man spider. The white seemed out of place, and the extra accents on his arms and hands didn’t seem like they belonged. I usually like Spider-Man’s eye to be the sole white spot in the costume.
I don’t know if it’s the lure of a fun toy or if I’m just a simple-minded fool that can be swayed by things, but the design has grown on me. It will never overtake the beautiful genius of the standard Spider-man costume, but as an alternate look, it’s not bad at all. I’ve even grown to like the bold white spider on his chest. And because of Spider-Verse, there’s no Spider-Man variation that has to be ostracized ever again for their “non-canon” status. This Spidey can gleefully play along with the Noirs and the Punks and Hams and all other spider-variations out there.
I fully intend on playing the game, but as I have a full body systemic aversion to paying full price for games I’ll pick it up when the price drops. I expect that will also ramp up my appreciation of this figure.
As I said, this Spidey utilizes a beefier body, which really brings to mind a bronze-age physique, similar to the standard Spidey build the Romitas (Sr. and Jr.) used to draw him having. Ditko’s Spidey was leaner, and the past couple of decades post-McFarlane have had lither, sometimes spindly Spideys, but I forgot how much I missed the thicker build he used to have. There’s room for both interpretations, of course, but this is the general physique I grew up with, so I would definitely dig a classic Spidey on this body.
The figure itself is very well done, with a mostly clean paint job. The webs are straight, and the white covers well.
His articulation is, for the most part, excellent. This is one of the better ML bodies in the current arsenal, with a subtle sculpt that implies superheroic without going to too much extremes.
They still haven’t quite figured out how to get a good lateral spread in those hips, so he’s still not able to do perfect splits, but he seems to get a better range than the Pizza Spidey body.
He comes with a set of fists and a set of thwipping hands. I do wish he came with a pair of splayed wall-crawling hands like the Pizza Spidey figure had—I did find that I missed that particular avenue of expression—but if you just want him webbing or punching, these do the job.
He also comes with two of those web effects that other Spider-people have come with. Not pictured because I can never figure out how to get the damn things to look good.
For a figure that I preordered “just because,” this figure has reshaped what I want out of Spider-man figures from now on.
It’s currently available at Gamestop.com
