The Golden Age of toy collecting continued in 2019. Thanks to an unbelievable year from Hasbro’s Marvel Legends line, 2019 surpassed 2017 as my favorite toy year to date. I briefly considered the line’s Beast, 80th Anniversary Hulk, and 80th Anniversary Thor as the figure of the year, but two figures stood out from the rest.
While the best Hellboy figure ever made (and my very first 1000toys product to boot) nearly secured the 2019 crown, I knew way back in February that nothing would top the MAFEX comic Spider-Man.
Every toy collector has at least one holy grail character. It can be a D-list character who may never see the light of day or a popular character who has never received their just deserts. For me, like so many, it’s Spider-Man. The X-Men are my pride and joy, but a sleek, acrobatic Spider-Man has eluded me since childhood.
The Toy Biz Campbell/McFarlane Spider-Man was a reasonable stopgap solution for a decade, but the gangly limbs and excessive paint detailing made it a poor fit for a modern 1/12 scale Marvel collection. Hasbro’s Pizza Spider-Man covered me for another five years, but the elongated torso and substandard lateral hip articulation made for an imperfect solution. Enter MAFEX.
The look, likely inspired by early ’90s art from Mark Bagley (coincidentally my favorite Spider-Man artist), is pulled directly from the page. The spindly, muscular features, huge, wing-tipped eyes, and fat, tick-like spider logo are all signature Bagley.
It’s that artist-specific comic book goodness that MAFEX has mastered in just a handful of Marvel releases. Deadpool, Spider-Gwen, and Miles Morales all capture the work of their respective artists. The company’s upcoming Batman and Superman are much of the same, although that’s another story. (Next year’s figure of the year articles, no doubt.)
On top of aesthetics, import brands like MAFEX know articulation. No exception here, as this Spider-Man is poseable. Butterfly joints, ball-jointed wrists and ankles, and a double-jointed torso allow enough range to pull off those classic Spider-Man web-slinging poses.
Spider-Man includes a pair of web-slinging hands, fists, splayed out/wall-crawling hands, web-holding hands, and magnetic hands (and feet) for climbing metal surfaces. A versatile set of webs and three unique heads assure that MAFEX’s first comic book-based Spider-Man can do whatever a spider can.
Amazing Yamaguchi offered a super-articulated Spider-Man. Toy Biz offered an intricately detailed Spider-Man. Hasbro offered a Spider-Man fit for modern Marvel Legends. MAFEX combined those qualities for the best overall Spider-Man figure we’ve ever seen.
