Spider-man's first solo outing in the MCU is just a few short weeks away and Hasbro's Marvel Legends figures have started hitting retail in full force. Their latest series is Spider-man focused, but only has 3 figures based on actual designs from the movie. There's a standard Spider-man, a Homemade Suit Spider-man, and the villainous Vulture. I was going to review all three figures at once, but I think there's plenty to talk about each one so I'm going to start with standard Spidey tonight.
The man of the hour is PACKAGED in the same box design Hasbro has been using since about the time of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, with minor updates of course. The front window does a great job showing off the figure, and the numerous accessories he's packaged with including the BAF piece. The back of the box has a great diagram of the rest of the wave, and what figure comes with what piece of the BAF. I will say though, none of the figures come with proper instructions on how to build Vulture's wings and I found the picture on the back of the box a little too small for reference.
At first glance, the figures SCULPT and PAINT look great. However, after further investigation some cracks begin to show. First and foremost, Spider-man's limbs are too short and stocky, especially his arms. His torso looks too long and his head looks a hair too small. This is especially evident when compared to the Homemade Suit Spidey figure, even though he's only a fraction of an inch taller than this figure. I believe this figure shares a number of parts with the Civil War 3-Pack Spider-man, hopefully we get a full update with the next film release.
The other big thing that bothered me was that neither of the included heads really captured the look of the Homecoming mask. I've only seen the large eyes in concept art and I assume it has to feature in the movie at some point, and the other head has small and squinty eyes. I really want something in between; a more neutral look. Also, the shape of the eyes feels off, the top of the eyes is too straight when there should have a stronger curve and flare up more at the end. The classic Ditko look.
Just like the sculpt, the paint looks great right off the bat. Nice solid colors, clean lines, and the spider symbols look great. There's some really nice intricate line work in the blue of the costume, especially on the legs that looks great too. The one thing I really don't like is the wash they used for the webbing. They used a dull blue, as opposed to the black like the Civil War Spidey, and it just makes the red of the costume look dull and muted. This Spider-man should be bright, bold, and youthful looking, but the wash just flattens everything out. This is where I actually really prefer the look of the 3 .75" figure, or the 6" kid's version. No wash to be found (The 3.75" version might be the best representation of the Homecoming suit released). Sure you lose the webbing a bit from a distance, but the Homecoming suit's webbing isn't as prominent as it has been in the past. It's an inlay rather than being a 3D web on top of the fabric.
When it comes to mass market ARTICULATION Marvel Legends rein supreme. Spider-man has a great range of movement in all of his joints, with the double-pin knees and elbows being a must for all Spidey figures.The ball jointed neck works great, and the heads are really easy to swap. He also has the same shoulder crunch joints as The Amazing Spider-man 2 figure, allowing for some really dynamic posing. The paint wash did gum up some of the articulation on his arms but once you work them free you should have no problems. I also really like the ab crunch on this Spidey, it works great and is nice and tight without looking to obstructive.
Spider-man comes packaged with some great ACCESSORIES as well, most notable being the web wings. They clip into to the underside of his arms and actually hold in place really well. Like I mentioned earlier, he comes with an extra head with an alternate expression so you have a couple different looks depending on your display needs. The alternate hands are also a really nice addition. For years it was really difficult to get a Spider-man figure who had two closed fist hands. Now you can pick between web swinging and villain punching.
OVERALL I think this is a fine Spider-man figure with some spectacular accessories, but it's doesn't really capture the essence of the Homecoming costume. This figure is a vast improvement over the Civil War 3-pack figure, and it may sound like I'm being a little hard on it. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing majorly wrong with this figure, just a number of small issues that all add up in the wrong way. With some minor tweaks to the sculpt, and no paint wash, this could truly be an amazing representation of ever one's favorite wall crawler. Hopefully Hasbro can really nail if for their next release, which would presumably be for Infinity War.
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