First came Future Foundation and the “Big Time” Spider-Man, and now Scarlet Spider makes his debut on what Hasbro is apparently going to be utilizing as their stock Spidey body. The difference this time around is that it’s not Peter Parker under the mask, but Kaine.
Remember Kaine? Remember the Clones? Yeah, the ’90s have been gone just long enough for a lot of familiar things from that era to make a comeback. Rob Liefeld was drawing comics for a major publisher, Cable and Bishop were important again for a while, and now there’s a Parker clone wearing a Spidey costume.
Kaine resurfaced in Dan Slott’s “Spider-Island” story and promptly jumped into his own title. I haven’t read any of the issues yet, but I’ve heard good things, so it’s only a matter of time.
There’s nothing really new that can be said about the figure that hasn’t been covered before. He uses Hasbro’s variation of a variation of what may have once been referred to as the Bullseye body, but it’s been retweaked and retweaked so many times that who knows what it really is now. There are new forearms and new shins to accommodate the newer ankles and hands, so that much is a vast improvement, though his thwipp hand remains noticeably larger than average.
The head, as has been mentioned in many places, is finally the right size, which means that the newer parts that have been retrofitted onto the older body are all substantially better than the old. If they can just go ahead and get rid of the parts that are blocky and substandard, they may have a good, thin, lithe body for Spidey and people of his build.
That’s not to say it’s a horrible toy. Stripped down to essentials, it’s fun and plays well, just like the previous Spider-figures on this body. It could use a little bit more oomph in its capacity for spider-poses, mainly in the hip area. It still has those horrible old 45-degree hips that need to be replaced with Hasbro’s new hips as soon as possible, preferably with some plastic taken out to accommodate the deep bends for acrobatic contortions and such.
Scarlet Spider features a very simple costume design, and the figure, as a result, is very simplistic. To some, this may translate as boring or lacking that visual pop people seem to need for a figure, but being a fan of red and black, it’s a very striking design in its simplicity to me. The red eyes on the black mask really pop, and the black spider on the red chest is also very natty. The black seems unevenly painted on his shoulder balls; the lines don’t match up well, leaving a red break where the black should carry over. It’s not noticeable in all poses, but it is there, and it disrupts the uniformity of the paint. And with such a simple paintjob anything wrong, even subtly, is glaring.
So that’s all there is to him. Not being yet another Peter Parker, this serves as a different character completely and not simply a costume change, so for those of you worried about having two of the same character on your shelf, you don’t have to worry about that. It looks like this is the Spidey body going forward, so best to get used to it. Maybe they’ll pump out a Superior Spider-Man at some point.