“Well I’ll be an eight-ball’s uncle! That glob just — just spread out and became a costume — and dissolved away the tatters of my old one in the process! Not bad! Different — but not bad!” –Spider-Man, Secret Wars #8
Marvel Legends has been slowly cranking out the A-listers in its newish line of 12-inch figures, so it’s a little strange that we’re already getting a variant in the form of the black-suited Symbiote Spider-Man. At this rate, it’ll be 2097 before I get my coveted 12-inch classic Moon Knight! Does this figure have what it takes to call itself a premium action figure? Let’s find out!
Packaging
These are pretty generic-looking window boxes. As they are pretty expensive for mass-market toys, I would have liked something that popped a little more on the shelf, but they show the figure well and keep them safe and sound, so I really can’t complain.
Sculpt
Despite its simplicity, I really like this sculpt, mostly because I love the costume. He’s lean and wiry and the proportions seem spot-on. There really isn’t a whole lot to discuss, but I would like to point out that the eyes are sculpted.That was a nice touch that I wasn’t expecting. The alternate head doesn’t fare as well, but we’ll get to that later on.
Paint
Black-clad figures often tend to rely on painted highlights in order to break up the monotony and give the figure a bit more depth. Far too often, it seems that some companies (Hasbro included) go a little overboard with the highlights and the figure has as much blue as it does black. I don’t find that to be the case here. The highlights have a blue/silver metallic look to them and they blend so well with the black that they almost look like natural highlights. It’s quite a stunning job. The remaining paint apps of note are the spider emblem, eyes, and hand markings — all crisp and clean.
Articulation
The articulation is really the major selling point with this figure, and it is fantastic. It’s pretty standard in terms of Marvel Legends, but you do get both the ab crunch and thoracic joint as well as toe joints. I’m also very impressed with the amount of movement in the hips. You can really hit some of those wacky “McFarlane” poses with this guy. One problem is that a few key joints are a touch loose. Not totally floppy, mind you, but just weak enough to cause balance problems and be annoying. The toe joints and ab crunch are the biggest offenders on my figure.
Accessories
As these are billed (and priced) as premium figures, I really feel that Hasbro should be a bit more generous with the accessories — especially with costume designs as simple as this one. What we get are two additional sets of hands and an unmasked Peter Parker head. The hands are sculpted and painted fine (as expected), but the alternate head is just weak. I don’t much like the smirk, but that’s just my personal opinion. The biggest problems are the wonky eyes and the painted Symbiote goo on his face. Rather than part of the sculpt, it’s just paint. And that’s exactly what it looks like.
I paid 60 bucks for this guy at Target, and given the basic sculpt, loose joints, and lackluster accessories, I’d say he’s about $20 too expensive. It’s not enough to make me unhappy as it still is an incredibly fun figure to play with, but I don’t feel the value is there — unlike my feelings after the 12-inch scale Hulk. So unless you’re a die hard Symbiote Spidey fan or a completist, I’d say wait it out and hope you can get him on clearance.
Thanks for reading!
