Super-articulated Marvel action figures began with Spider-man shortly after the dawn of the new millenium. Since that time we’ve had dozens of them of all shapes and sizes and articulation schemes. But for many of us, that “perfect” Spider-man figure really didn’t exist outside of cobbled together, customized versions that took the best pieces from multiple figures. So with the recent second wave of Spider-man infinite Legends, did we get that idealized “perfect” version?
Well…not quite. But this is the closest yet, and for this reviewer it renders every other Spidey figure in the traditional red and blues completely irrelevant.
Perfect is a sliding scale dependent on the individual. For me, I want a smooth body with painted lines, bright reds and blues and great articulation. The often-lauded J. Scott Campbell-styled Spider-man from several years ago (often referred to erroneously as “McFarlane”) hit it right with the articulation, but got low marks in most of the visible attributes I need from a Spidey figure, and thus was a good figure but not my “ideal.” To me, it always felt like a placeholder. Turns out, it was holding the place for this figure.
Let’s look at the paint first. This is a nice and bright, primary colored Spider-man with brilliant blues and sparkling reds, and looks like he spun his way right out of the page of a comic. There’s no muddy wash, no muted blues or reds, no grim tones. My weblines are nice and even…and painted on! This was a huge deal for me, because I hate either indented or raised weblines on Spider-toys. I really do.
The body is a new one, and it’s well sculpted with no overly jutting neck or bulbousness that can plague many sculpts. Some have complained that the torso is a bit long but it looks great to me, and he has a deep range of motion in his ab crunch. This Spidey eschews redundant forearm or calf-cuts for well-articulated feet and wrists. While the shoulder hinge is an articulation point that Marvel figures have been moving away from, Spidey needs that extra play in his shoulder movement for web-swinging poses and it’s very welcome here.
His hips have been the main point of contention among many collectors. While Spidey can get a pretty nice foreward Rockette kick out of his hips, the lateral spread is severely hampered here. There is, in fact, no real reason for this, either from an aesthetic standpoint or a structural one. If you examine the hips, there is an extra allotment of plastic on both that hampers his ability to do the wide stretches. It actually looks like a separate piece of plastic deliberately attached to keep him from spreading his legs as far as would be necessary to make his articulation scheme “perfect.” This extra piece of plastic doesn’t exist on the hips of either the Bucky Cap mold, or the Hyperion mold. If it were removed (something I’m planning on attempting) his hips would get a fairly wide lateral spread that would add to his Spider-posing immensely.
Head-scratchingly curious.
Other than that one frustrating problem, the rest of his articulation is as ideal as you can get for Spider-man without further sacrificing his modern-toy aesthetics. He can squat, he can swing, he can get into plenty of action poses. This body is ideal for Spider-man, and, while he may seem a bit on the taller side, this is the most fun I’ve had fiddling around with a Spider-man toy in ages.
RoboKillah has provided a video where he gives us some kinetic visuals regarding Spider-man:
In the numerous Spideys we’ve received in the past, there have been hand limitations. Spideys with fists need the thwipp hands, and Spideys with thwipp hands need the fists. And Spidey can’t convincingly crawl with either thwipps or the fists—we collectors are greedy as hell and want to be able to do what we want to with our Spider-man. Finally this version of Spider-man solves that multi-layered problem by providing us with three different selections of hands. If we want our Spidey to punch, he can. If we want him to crawl (or hold a pizza) he can. And if we want him to thwipp, or do any variation of those three actions…he can!
This Spider-man also comes with an alternate head with his mask raised over his mouth. For me, this is Spider-man’s make-out head, useful for gettin’ it on with the Black Cat when nobody is looking, or any of the other super-hotties that Pete is currently courting. Of course, it can also be good for hungry Spidey, which is why the fact that he comes with a pizza is especially helpful. The pizza accessory is random yet hilarious, and fits perfectly into his crawling hand. If I could have been greedy I’d have liked a third head with smaller eyeholes, but maybe that will be released down the road in a later release of this Spidey.
Overall, this Spidey really delivered on several aspects that had, to me, been lacking in previous releases. While it’s perhaps not that elusive “perfect,” and that slight ding on the articulation is annoying, it is now my favorite Spider-man figure by a very wide margin.
He is currently in stock at Big bad Toys Store at a reduced price, so grab one or five
