I actually kind of surprised myself. Out of all the figures in the new Spider-Man Legends wave, I chose to get the two Spider-Mans. Not Electro, not Hobgoblin. Peter Parker and Mile Morales. I had to know how they compared to older Spider-Mans. It’s a sickness.
And I say all of that after passing on the Ben Reilly figures. There is just something about a good, old fashioned, classic red and blue Spidey figure. And then, of course, a new design that incorporates red and black in a striking minimalist manner. I have a thing for those type of design choices.
The boxes for both figures are the new standard Legends packaging. Nice graphics, colors, and layout. Most of all, I like the half faces for the rest of the wave. Hasbro, keep doing this. If they were mini-posters, I would be hanging them.
Oh, and my Parker does have the extra hands, they fell out of the inner tray and were in the bottom of the package.
Miles and Peter share the same body and hands. It’s an all-new body and, personally, I think it’s a really nice sculpt. I’ve heard people say that the feet are big and the legs are a bit undefined, but the way I look at it, it’s representing a teenager. Sure, a superpowered teen, but still a teen in that awkward body stage. So while it may be overemphasized, I think it works toward that “kid” look. Plus, it reminds me of that Bagley Ultimate Spidey appearance.
When it comes down to it, I think I like the look of the Miles figure slightly more. And that’s only talking about the deco — that whole black and red thing, y’know. That, and I really like the design.
Speaking of the deco, the paint on both figures is nice and clean. Not perfect, but web lines are a complicated lot. But I would be hard-pressed to not point out the elbow pegs on Peter. I know that it’s probably not feasible to cast those pegs half blue and half red. Painting would go a long way in hiding the red circles in the middle of a blue field, but the probability of it chipping off is high. So I have no answer or suggestion, just that it’s noticeable. Not a deal-breaker for me in the grand scheme of things, though.
Each figure comes with three sets of hands: “thwip,” fists, and splayed wall-crawling hands. I love the crawling hands; they are dynamic and just adds a lot to the figures. Don’t get me wrong, I love fists and the thwip hands too. Lots of options are good.
Last on the accessory list is individual heads for each character. Peter’s head is a dead-ringer for the Ultimate Spider-Man art. I’m less familiar with Miles in the comics, but it’s still a nice sculpt and does seem to match what I can find on Google. Paint on both heads is damn fine.
And then there is the articulation. You can get a better look at the range of motion in my video review:
First, to answer the big question everyone is asking, yes, this body can leg-split further than Pizza Spidey. But while that is improved, I really miss the butterfly joints in the shoulders. A regular on the YouTube channel pointed out that they may have been left out because of the smaller frame of the body and not having enough room. Logical assumption, and I can agree, but, damn it, I like the forward and back articulation! I want it! I guess I miss it more because It’s Spidey and he deserves as much movement as possible.
Another point of articulation I feel falls short is the ankles. They have great motion back but not a lot of forward range. After checking, it’s comparable to Pizza Spidey, but it still hinders the ability to crouch correctly. He can’t go flat-footed when the double knees are bent all the way. I hate to admit it, but I’d even go for toe articulation here. Figuarts has warmed me back up to that point.
When it comes to size this body is definitely a kid/teen. At first I thought it may be too small, but after comparing and staring, I like it. I’d like to see more younger heroes like Sam Alexander Nova on this body.
The unmasked heads do seem a little large on the bodies, but, like I droned on and on about above, it adds to the teen-like qualities.
But even with the faults I dig both of these figures as the characters they are meant to represent. I can justify the lack of crazy poses as Miles and Peter being young and inexperienced. I don’t regret choosing these first and they actually made me excited to get this series again after it nearly being eclipsed by my need for the X-Men and Cap waves.
You can pre-order The Spider-Man Legends Space Venom series on BigBadToyStore.
