It was in this space last year that I shared my fondness for the Scarlet Spider costume when I reviewed the Medicom MAFEX Scarlet Spider action figure. I don’t buy much from Medicom because their figures are really expensive for what they are, but I sometimes break my own rule when I think they’ve made something I might not get elsewhere. Silly me, because Scarlet Spider would be featured in the Across the Spider-Verse movie that summer which meant, of course, that the character was on Hasbro’s radar. And it made further sense we’d see him once again in the Marvel Legends line since Hasbro seems to be updating all of their Spider-Men with pin-less limbs and toe hinges. When this particular Scarlet Spider went up for preorder, I put in an order because, what the hell? – I can use another one. Now that I have it, what do I think and how does it compare to its much more expensive counterpart?
If only they could literally fight it out.
Since I do have that MAFEX edition, I figured we could do this review a little differently. It’s going to be more like a comparison because that sounds fun to me. Besides, this Scarlet Spider from Hasbro is pretty much par for the course when it comes to a Marvel Legends Spider-Man. And from just a quick glance, it doesn’t look like a piece of crap next to the figure that’s roughly 4x more expensive. I mean, we are comparing a $100+ action figure to a $25 one in the same scale so, really, the more expensive one should be the better figure without question. Rather, we’re asking the question of does the gap in price correlate 1:1 with a gap in quality between the two? And do the more subjective elements of the figures play much of a role as well?
This Scarlet Spider is new, but not.
Before we can dive into it, we should at least do a quick rundown on this new version of Scarlet Spider from Hasbro. It’s on the newer Spider-Man body which most refer to as the Renew Your Vows body since that’s the two-pack it first debuted in. It’s not that different from the previous retro card body as demonstrated by my symbiote Spider-Man in the image above (left). The articulation is essentially the same, but the figure has new arms which are pin-less and the knees have been made pin-less as well. And it has the added toe hinge. It’s the same body as the animated symbiote Spider-Man (above, right) which I reviewed awhile back, only this one has the overlay for the sweatshirt. It’s fine, though not without flaws. This Spider-Man still sucks at doing splits and Hasbro is so bad at implementing double-ball pegs in the neck that they had to hollow out a cavity on the back of the neck to give the figure more range. It gives the head a floaty quality, at times, and for some reason the head is rather hollow. From most angles, it will be fine, but there are others where it looks downright goofy. And Scarlet Spider is a character that can get into some odd positions so it may be more of a problem here than it would be on another character.
I really hate this dumb neck cut-out.
All that aside, I like the look of this one. The red is rather saturated and pretty close to an actual scarlet. The hoodie has a nice look to it as it’s a dark blue with the big spider logo. The hood isn’t functional, but are you really going to display him with it on even if it were? I like the texture to the hoodie and and Hasbro at least painted the drawstrings white. The rest of the figure is mostly bare plastic. The eyes are painted on, but not all that well. There’s some paint on the ankle pouches and belt and it’s fine, nothing worthy of praise, but also not worthy of scorn. The web shooters are floating pieces and can come off if you so desire while the ankle pouches appear to be glued into place. I very much enjoy that he has the classic hoodie, but I wish the eye shape was more in-line with the character’s earliest appearances.
It’s a thwip-off!
The figure looks fine and I think the hoodie helps hide the small shoulders that plague a lot of Marvel Legends. It also helps to make the head look more appropriately sized. And it’s in the visual component where this figure will compare as well as it can to the MAFEX version. If we bring in that figure, it’s easy to see that the Legends figure is a bit bulkier. The hoodie is darker and has the bigger logo and the belt is more of a first appearance Scarlet Spider than the one Medicom went with. Both figures don’t “wow” in the paint department. While Medicom did apply some red shading to their figure, it’s barely noticeable. Their Scarlet Spider is also a brighter red and the soft goods hoodie is a lighter blue that even has a bit of a pearl finish. The smaller logo is not my preferred look as well, though Medicom did include my preferred eyes. The other heads included with that figure feature a more generic Spider-Man eye shape with one looking a little angry. They’re kind of worthless.
Thinking about how cool of a figure we’d have if I could combine the elements of both figures into one.
Am I giving Hasbro the nod in the looks department? Yes and no. I much prefer the art direction of the Hasbro figure. The bigger body, classic shirt and belt, but it does still have that not-so-great head. And I’m not just talking about the style of the portrait, but the lollipop effect it has going on. And while it has less articulation, the cuts present are more of an eyesore. The thigh twist looks awful if you use it and the same can be said of the waist twist and boot cuts. Meanwhile, the Medicom figure does a good job of hiding the joints even if there are a bunch of them. I guess that level of engineering is what we’re paying for?
MAFEX Scarlet Spider likes to show off all of his stuff.
That and the accessories! This aspect isn’t even a contest, because the Legends release blows. The only items included in the box are a set of fists, wall-crawling hands, and thwip hands. That’s it. No unmasked head, no webbing, no nothing. The Medicom release also lacks an unmasked portrait, but that’s pretty much the only thing it’s missing. You get all of the hands you could want: fists, thwip, grip, open, and even magnetic hands and feet to adhere the figure to a metal surface. There’s also a ton of web lines to mess around with and a stand. In fact, I’d say a hidden piece of value to these Medicom Spider-Man figures is that buying one can outfit about a half dozen so your Legends figures can partake in the webs. The only hindrance there is Hasbro almost never includes gripping hands with their Spider-Man action figures so you’re limited to the thwip effects or the ones that fit over a forearm.
My attempt at the card art pose with both figures. Hasbro left, Medicom right.
Articulation is an area where the Medicom figure should be better, but also one where the Hasbro release should at least be able to compete. And for the most part, it’s true. Basically, anything the Legends figure can do the Medicom figure can as well and probably better. The joints are just smoother, possess more range, and are just all around engineered better. However, there’s not much the Medicom can do that the Hasbro one can’t as well. About the only thing I feel like the Medicom figure clearly does better is crouch and get into a low crawl. Both figures feature some annoying drop-down hips that really don’t enhance the range of the legs all that much. Both can’t do forward splits either, though the MAFEX can do the splits out to the side where as the Legends figure needs to rotate its legs forward a bit on the ball joint. The butterfly on the MAFEX figure also works better and it’s aided by the soft goods hoodie. I will say, I was surprised at how little the plastic hoodie of the Legends figure got in the way. You can still engage the diaphragm joint pretty easily and there’s enough room to take advantage of the butterfly joint. It’s just a butterfly joint that doesn’t offer a whole lot to begin with.
And this just seemed like a fun swinging pose. With effort, the Legends figure can do some cool things, but it’s definitely way easier with the MAFEX release.
All right, so I think it’s pretty clear that the MAFEX Scarlet Spider does a lot more than the Legends one. We knew that though. What is less clear is if it’s superior by 75 bucks or so. And I think the answer there is “probably not.” Sort of like comparing a conventional sedan to a luxury model, yeah you’ll like the luxury model more, but you might prefer to keep the money it costs to upgrade over the standard model and spend it elsewhere. That’s just on a much bigger scale, but even here 75 bucks is nothing to sneeze at. That’s about what it costs to take my family of four out to eat at a decent restaurant, maybe before tip. It also can get someone three more Legends figures or maybe some third party web effects, stands, and some more stuff. I got the Medicom one first and I’m happy with it. I like the Legends release too, and I might even prefer the aesthetics of it over the Medicom one, but not enough to toss the MAFEX one on eBay or something. If I had neither and was thinking of getting just one, I’d probably be okay with the cheaper Marvel Legends release. There would be some temptation to go with the Cadillac, but pragmatism would probably win out.
If you only have the Legends figure, you’ll probably be all right. Though you may want to hunt down some webs.
That’s just me though. You may place more of a premium on articulation and “stuff” to the point where it’s much easier to just get the Medicom figure and be all set. I definitely didn’t need to get the Legends Scarlet Spider, but I justified it to myself because I’ll probably never buy another Scarlet Spider. Unless a really bad ass cel-shaded one surfaces from either company. Then we’ll be talking about this 90s relic for a third time.
“Why can’t we be friends…?”
We have more spider men to talk about if that’s your thing:
When I was a kid, one of my favorite past times was drawing. Like most, I started really young with a box of crayons and coloring books. I’d eventually start keeping markers, colored pencils, and other instruments in a plastic McDonald’s case that came from a Happy Meal. It was blue and had a map…
Last year, Hasbro celebrated the 30th anniversary of X-Men, the animated series that premiered on Halloween 1992 and would become a ratings hit shortly thereafter for the Fox Kids Network. It was responsible for getting a lot of kids into the X-Men and Marvel comics in general and the first, prime, benefactor of that rise…
It was in 2021 that Hasbro released a PulseCon exclusive Venom figure on a Spider-Man retro card. The retro card series is meant to stir-up nostalgia for all of the adults who were buying toys and watching cartoons in the 90s as the retro card is a facsimile of the old cards Toy Biz used…
I don’t usually do year-end wrap-up posts. My collecting is usually too narrow to really warrant it, but this year I felt a little different. I probably spent way too much on my hobby in 2023 as there were a lot of releases that came in bunches. It’s probably going to have a somewhat negative impact on my collecting in 2024 as I try to narrow things down and stick to what I really want as opposed to what just looks cool. I’ve already made the decision to not collect NECA’s The Last Ronin line as I just have too much TMNT as it is and I don’t love the designs from those books enough to warrant figure purchases. Plus, where would I put them? I’ll probably be scaling back on Turtles in general since most of what I want has already been produced. Am I going to stop? No, not entirely, but I’m finally at a point where I can see something new on the shelf and not feel like I have to buy it.
That’s 2024’s business, let’s talk 2023 one last time. Rather than just rank the figures I reviewed in a top 10 or something, I figured I’d do it more like an awards show only my awards are both celebratory and dubious. You can’t have good without the bad, so if you’re one of those types that just hates anything that could be perceived as negative then maybe skip those. I’m also limiting this to figures I purchased in 2023 that were also current. Getting a figure that was new to me didn’t qualify if it was released prior to 2023. On the other hand, release dates are pretty loose so it’s possible you personally got something on my list in 2022 that I received in 2023. That’s just the action figure business at work. Let’s get to it though as so that we’re not here forever.
This figure took so long to come out that I was starting to think it was never going to come out. Mezco isn’t known for its communication so folks who had preordered this thing, and paid in full, in 2020 were left completely in the dark. Maybe it would come, maybe it wouldn’t? 2023 ended up being the year where that wait finally came to an end. Was it worth it? Probably not. If I had a category for most interesting release of the year this figure would win that as well. It’s certainly an experience. Mezco did nail the Keaton likeness though which was the most important factor for me. I just question how well this silicon body is going to hold up over the years. Runner-Up: Super7’s The Simpsons Wave One
I mostly collect 1:12 and 1:10 scale action figures, but every now and then a company gets me to dip my toes in something else. Usually that something else is 1:18, but Mondo has absolutely been killing it with its 1:6 scale line of figures from X-Men the animated series. There have been 3 releases in 2023: Magneto, Jubilee, and Sabretooth, and it’s Sabretooth that takes the crown for me by just a smidge. He looks awesome, poses well enough, and came loaded with accessories. These figures half shelf-presence for days. The only negative is the cost and space and that Mondo solicited 5 figures in 2023 which really did some damage to the old toy fund. Gambit should be arriving any day now too with Logan and Omega Red coming in 2024. I better make room! Runner-Up: Mondo Magneto and Jubilee
Worst Company – Hasbro
Sorry to kick you while you’re down Hasbro as the company just announced a layoffs to take effect next year, though maybe look at the top of the company instead? Either way, Hasbro keeps getting worse with its action figure offerings. The Power Rangers brand is stale, the Dungeons & Dragons stuff based on the old cartoon were riddled with quality control issues, and prices keep climbing on Marvel Legends and Star Wars while accessories and paint apps get cut. They’re putting out their most bare bones releases ever in those lines, but at a price greater than we’ve ever seen for those lines. More expensive plus poorer quality is not a recipe for success. I currently have two Hasbro action figures on pre-order and I’m not looking to add anymore. Runner-Up: Super7
Best Company – NECA
A more conventional round-up of the best figures of 2023 would have included these boys.
Basically, see what Hasbro did in 2023? NECA did the opposite. For the most part. Yes, their prices have gone up as well, but we haven’t seen a reduction in the product to go along with that price hike. NECA still keeps putting out tons of unique sculpts that are fully-painted with a generous assortment of accessories. They also managed to deliver their long-awaited Turtle Van and the product turned out pretty damn awesome. Now, lets just not talk about the pricing debacle that is the TMNT Sewer Lair. This is supposed to be a positive entry. Runner-Up: Jada Toys(even though I didn’t review any of their stuff here)
Super7’s The Worst is their own collection of takes on popular, villainous, tropes, I suppose. Their first wave in their Ultimates! collection didn’t thrill me, but I could not keep myself away from wave two’s Robot Reaper. This thing is just a fun, clever, design and it’s also a fun action figure to mess around with. Some of the accessories I could do with out, and part of me feels like a sucker for paying full MSRP knowing full well it’s sure to be discounted, but when a company puts out something good I don’t mind paying full price. Runner-Up: Boss Fight Studio Saurozoic Warriors
Medicom’s MAFEX brand is basically known for being super-articulated and super expensive. Figures routinely cost over 100 bucks for those of us who dwell in the west and it’s hard to figure out why. Sure, some of the licenses they grab don’t come cheap, but Bandai puts out similar or better products for considerably less. And sometimes even for the same license. This Scarlet Spider figure is one I enjoy quite a bit despite feeling like it’s not worth the tasking price. It’s a better figure than what Hasbro is set to release very soon (one of two I have preordered), but I could very easily make the argument that the Hasbro one is a far better value which trumps any advantage the MAFEX figure brings to the table. Runner-Up: Super7 TMNT Ultimates! Robotic Rocksteady
I’m not sure if Super7 has ever made a prettier action figure than Goldar from its line of MMPR figures. I mean, he is a sort of dog-faced monster, but the gold armor they sculpted and painted looks terrific and the character looks like it stepped right out of a television set in 1993. I can’t say the same for basically anything else in Super7’s MMPR line. It’s also the figure that I’ve seen break on camera in figure reviews more than any other. Whether it be the neck, wrists, or those damn wings, this is a finicky, fragile, mess of a figure. I don’t even like handling it as a result. I basically selected the head I wanted and the wing options and I don’t intend to change anything or move much. In some respects, it’s a terrible action figure, but also a great one. It’s a conundrum. Runner-Up: None
Go ahead Venom, squeeze the life out of this twerp and his weird-shaped head.
This is one of those figures you may have received in 2022 that I got in 2023. Walmart put it up for preorder in the fall and didn’t ship them for awhile, if at all, while some were able to find it in-store in December. No matter, it’s my pick for worst figure of the year that I personally reviewed. And it’s kind of getting it on a technicality, as the worst figure I bought in 2023 was a reissue of an old figure in the McFarlane Batman – The Animated Series Mr. Freeze (what’s with figures based on 90s animated shows getting the shaft?). This Spider-Man is the infamous cel-shaded one, but I’ll defend the cel-shading to a point. It’s not awful like most of the X-Men figures were in 2022, though it’s nothing special. It’s fine. Everything else sucks though. The head is a bizarre shape and looks stupid, the body is way too undersized for the character this figure is based upon, and while it articulates better than some Hasbro Spider-Men, it still does some weird things. The accessories, which include two extra sets of hands and some web splats, are also terrible and since it was a Walmart exclusive it was really annoying to have to track down. Hasbro did a whole line of figures based on the ’94 cartoon series and yet they didn’t make the central character, Spider-Man himself, available in his red and blue threads to a mass audience. What a stupid decision and another deserving reason for Hasbro’s status as worst action figure company of 2023. Runner-Up: Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Magneto
I’m just sorry I don’t have an actual award to give him.
When Mezco first unveiled its take on the Green Ranger from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers I had a feeling it had a chance to be THE Green Ranger for me. I’d have no need for any other. It was another long wait, and the figure was released annoyingly enough as a convention exclusive, but it lived up to the hype. This figure is not perfect, but it’s the best representation of the Green Ranger in 1:12 form. The details look great, the proportions suitable for the source material, and the soft goods actually enhance the figure and not detract from it. It has all of the accessories you could want plus a flight stand. There are effect parts and even an extra holster for the Blade Blaster, if you want it. I was skeptical, and I almost put this guy in the runner-up category for the too expensive, but Mezco delivered a great product. It’s so good that I’m almost tempted to get the rest of the MMPR team, but then I look at the price tag and I feel pretty satisfied to just stick with Greeny here. Runner-Up: None, this figure was in a class by itself
Those are my thoughts on 2023. To my surprise, I didn’t pick anything from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but then again, that brand had a lot of good releases in 2023, just nothing exceptional. I considered doing a “Best Toy Line” and that probably would have gone to NECA’s cartoon TMNT line, but I didn’t feel that strongly about it, nor could I come up with a corresponding worst toy line. As for 2024, I’m looking forward to it. I have a ton of stuff preordered with Bandai and its Dragon Ball line including some figures that I’m already eyeing as potential Figure of the Year when 2024 is nearing an end. And then there’s Mondo X-Men that I have preordered and we’ve seen artwork for Rogue and Cyclops so that line figures to expand. As for Mezco, I may have given them top prize for 2023, but I’m not planning on picking up anything from that company in 2024. Their brand is pretty specific and it often doesn’t appeal to me. It will take a perfect marriage of enthusiasm for a brand on my part and their unique talents to get me to buy another one. And while I may scale back my toy buying in 2024, don’t expect to see my reviews vanish anytime soon. There will still be plenty to talk about.
Looking for toy-related posts that are more broad than a single review?
It’s been probably 13 or 14 years since I’ve purchased a Marvel-branded action figure. This is somewhat shocking to me because from the age of 7 to around 25 I spent who knows how much money on Marvel action figures. I was there for the inaugural Toy Biz line of Marvel Superheroes and X-Men…
It’s the first Turtle Tuesday in a little while that I don’t have some new TMNT review to post. Given that, I think it’s time to revisit the rankings I did last year for NECA’s toon line of action figures. This has become NECA’s most popular line, and while it has cooled a bit since…
Wednesday, August 18th, ended up being quite an eventful little day in the world of toy collecting. There were some reveals from major toy companies, leaks, and even those long neglected Street Sharks fans got something to get excited about late in the day. Personally, it was a good day for me too as I…
Wait! Why is Spider-Man wearing a hoodie? Answer: it was the 90s, baby!
When I was a kid, one of my favorite past times was drawing. Like most, I started really young with a box of crayons and coloring books. I’d eventually start keeping markers, colored pencils, and other instruments in a plastic McDonald’s case that came from a Happy Meal. It was blue and had a map of the United States on it, if you’re the curious type. As I got older I got into comic books and those characters became my inspiration for my drawing. I’d draw Marvel characters as well as my own, which usually looked an awful lot like an existing character because, hey, I was a kid!
One of my favorite subjects was Spider-Man. He’s a pretty popular guy and he certainly was with me. The problem with drawing Spider-Man is he has all of those web lines on his costume. Now, I’m not criticizing the man’s threads. That costume is iconic and one of, if not the, best superhero costumes of all-time. I just didn’t like to draw it because it was time consuming and definitely a little tedious. Enter the Scarlet Spider! Scarlet Spider debuted during the infamous Clone Saga in issue 52 of Spider-Man. I still remember seeing the cover to Web of Spider-Man #118 with Scarlet Spider on the cover. I took one look at that costume and said “Yeah, now that I can handle!” It was basically the same general idea as Spider-Man, only all red and no web lines. Easy! The clone of Peter Parker, Ben Reilly, had created his own persona and it had a bit of a D.I.Y. vibe to it with the exposed web shooters and blue hoodie, and it worked for me. The Clone Saga itself was a bit of a mess and probably ran too long. It also ended with the reveal that it was Reilly, and not Peter Parker, who was the REAL Peter Parker leading to Ben Reilly’s turn as Spider-Man that brought back the web lines and I personally didn’t know how to feel about it. Like Wolverine losing his adamantium, I wasn’t crazy about the guy I knew as Peter Parker being revealed to not be Peter Parker.
The figure comes with three different portraits, two of which I will never use.
Like most things in comics, eventually the status quo was restored. Ben Reilly was a clone after all, and then he died. Then he came back, because no one ever dies in comics. I honestly haven’t read much Spider-Man since the 90s so you’re better off heading to a wiki at this point if you want to know more, I’m just here for that costume. Scarlet Spider became a favorite of mine to draw and as a result I have a nostalgic attachment to the costume. The character was never done justice by Toy Biz back in day as his figures were always lame repaints. I had a 12″ version of the character with the hoodie painted on and some rubber overlays added to the wrists and ankles of what had previously been a Spider-Man figure. The inaugural line of Spider-Man Classics, the precursor line to Marvel Legends, also featured a Scarlet Spider repaint that I believe was exclusive to a retailer, possibly KB Toys. I never got it, or any other Scarlet Spider that followed. When I started getting Spider-Man figures here and there again starting with the Pulsecon exclusive Venom, my appetite for a Scarlet Spider came with it. Unfortunately, the Marvel Legends version (which actually looks pretty good from what I’ve seen) is a little old at this point and prohibitively expensive on the aftermarket. I’m not paying an inflated price for a Hasbro figure, but a Medicom one? Now that was intriguing.
I think the figure in the middle is unquestionably superior to the other two, but is it $70 better?
When Medicom unveiled their version of Scarlet Spider under their MAFEX branding, I decided to give it a go. The price is awful, as it was for the only other MAFEX figure I own, the Hush Batman, but I’d rather overpay for a boutique figure than something previously sold at Target. I had some nits to pick with that Batman figure and my overall attitude towards MAFEX is that it’s too expensive. The Marvel license probably doesn’t come cheap, but in general, I think Bandai makes better figures than Medicom and they’re usually at least in the $65 range. This figure will basically set you back about 100 bucks if you reside in the US, and I’ll tell you upfront it’s not a figure that justifies its price tag. That doesn’t mean it can’t be good as one could pay 50 bucks for a perfectly cooked steak and find it delicious, but overpriced compared with a chain restaurant’s $25 prime rib. It’s more a question of “Do you want to pay $75-$90 for a loose Marvel Legends figure, or $100 for a brand new MAFEX version of the character?”
Yeah, I wish the spider logo was bigger, but damn does he look cool or what?
Obviously, you know which option I chose and now I’m going to tell you how happy (or not) I am with that decision. Scarlet Spider comes in the MAFEX window box with artwork from the comic on the front and product shots of the figure on the sides and rear. This one is branded with The Amazing Spider-Man in the traditional font with the actual name of the character off to the side in a rather unglamorous and understated fashion. This isn’t the type of figure mothers at Toys R Us are going to be confused by, but it was somewhat amusing to me. Right off the bat though, Medicom is doing Medicom things which is namely using character art that doesn’t match the figure inside. The picture of Scarlet Spider on the top left looks to be from his early days. The red, or scarlet, of his costume is dark with lots of black shading and the hoodie has the big, spider, logo across the chest. The figure inside is a bright red, no shading, and has a small spider logo over the heart. It’s my understanding that this version is a later version of the character as he’s come and gone over the years. Why the person designing the packaging wouldn’t choose a better representation of the figure inside is beyond my understanding. And if Marvel dictated that this version of the character be featured on the box, why not make the figure match? It’s puzzling.
The hoodie is fine, certainly fine enough to not want to spend more money on a different one.
Right off the bat, we’re kind of off to a bad start. Not because the picture is wrong, but because the figure seems to be based on a version of Scarlet Spider that isn’t my favorite. And I don’t get the sense that I’m alone in that regard. Is it a deal breaker? Obviously not since I bought it anyway, but I wish he had the character’s original hoodie. The belt is also different with this one having a more traditional buckle instead of the red-buttoned belt. I’m honestly less irritated by that change, but felt it was worth pointing out. The shape of the eyes on the mask are also more of a traditional Spider-Man eye shape, but this is rendered moot by the inclusion of a head with more of a 1995 look to the eyes so I won’t count that as a knock. Still, I have encountered multiple collectors in the market for custom hoodies for their $100 figure to get the right logo on it. I can’t bring myself to drop another $30 on an already expensive figure in an attempt to improve it, but if it really bothers you there do appear to be some nice customs out there.
Is Scarlet Spider a little big or Venom a little small? Both things can be true. This looks okay to me though.
With that out of the way, let’s talk about the actual figure. Scarlet Spider stands at approximately 6.25″ tall making him a little oversized. The MAFEX line is a 1:12 scale line so that would make the character about 6’3″ which is on the tall side for a Spider-Man clone. At the same time, if you’re looking to fudge him into a Marvel Legends display this should work pretty well as most of those Spider-Man figures are around the same height, with a few exceptions. The figure is basically cast in all red plastic with very little paint. The paint is limited to the eyes, belt, and little pouches on his ankles. And at the ankles, it’s not as fine as it could be as the top of the straps wasn’t painted over leaving them red. A nitpick, perhaps, but this is a $100 figure, after all. I can’t tell if the web shooters are painted or not, but they’re a nice, lustrous, silver. They’re definitely separate pieces from the arms, but they may be painted over for added effect. On the body itself I’m not detecting any shading which is a bummer. I think some dark red over the bare plastic would have helped spruce this one up. Personally, I would have loved an ambitious paint job with a lot of black shading, but I’m not surprised we didn’t get that. Medicom did do a comic paint Spider-Man years ago so maybe we’ll get such a variant in the future (do I really want to be tempted by such), but for this release Medicom is definitely playing it safe. I also would have liked some outlining around the eyes, be it dark red or even black to add a little pop to the presentation. They are at least raised as part of the sculpt, which is better than nothing.
He’s got you now, Ben!
The overall sculpt is definitely going for a lean, but muscular, build suitable of Scarlet Spider. The soft goods hoodie is done well and I rather enjoy the almost metallic sheen it posseses. The logo is printed on, and despite being too small at least looks fine. There’s no logo on the back. The drawstrings are connected to the hood and don’t actually function, but respond a bit to posing despite lacking a wire. The hood itself is wired and the figure looks good with it on or off. I will say, the hoodie helps add a little extra bulk to the torso which is a good thing as without it I think he’d look too lean and shapeless. The torso doesn’t taper much from the chest to the abdomen so he would probably look stupid without the hoodie. Maybe that’s by design as we wouldn’t want him to look frumpy either, but if you’re someone with a lot of money looking to utilize this body for custom action figures you may be letdown. I do like that the hoodie fits tight enough that we can see some of the muscle definition showing through. If you did want to get a custom hoodie I’m not sure how difficult it would be to get this one off given its tightness, but the head is easily removed and he can raise his arms up to the heavens to it’s probably more than manageable.
The paint may be basic, but at least the figure makes up for it with a whole bunch of stuff.
The costume is a rather simple one, which is basically what drew me to it. Simple can be nice, and Medicom did a fine enough job capturing this particular version. I think his chest could be bulked out more and maybe even the abs to a degree. He looks fine from the front or back, but viewing the figure from the side makes him look rather thin. Aside from that, the proportioning looks good and while the paint doesn’t impress, what’s there at least isn’t sloppy. How much you enjoy the look of this figure will be determined by how much you like this particular version vs the original Scarlet Spider costume. Even if you’re someone who doesn’t like the over-articulated aesthetic of a MAFEX release, the hoodie, web shooters, and belt hide some of the seams on this guy and the only minor eyesore resulting from the articulation is that the knees and elbow pieces are an ever so slightly different shade of red from the rest of the figure. Under a white light, you’ll notice it more, but in natural lighting it blends fine.
This figure comes with too many web effects to make use of at once, which means your Hasbro offerings can finally get some decent webs!
For accessories, Medicom did what Hasbro don’t and loaded this guy up with plenty of hands and web effects. We do get three heads: standard eyes, wide eyes, and what I’ll call “classic” eyes. The classic eyes look more like the box art (even the image of the figure on the front of the box is using these ones) and those early first appearances of the character. The default eyes look like standard Spider-Man eyes to me and the third set are even larger and a bit more expressive without getting as stylized as some Spider-Man eyes tend to get. For hands, we get a set of fists, thwip, gripping, open, and relaxed hands. There’s also another set of open hands with magnets in the palms and a set of feet with magnets in the soles so he can scale a metal wall or refrigerator. All of the extra hands and feet come on little acrylic stands to I guess make sure the openings on them don’t warp in the package. The fists are what come on by default, and as such they slide off and on the easiest and actually won’t really fit on any of the little acrylic pieces when not in use. The extra hands, for their part, go on easily enough and at no point was I afraid of breaking anything. The heads require a bit more effort, but aren’t too bad either. I was a little apprehensive about the feet, but they too go on and off with little effort. Overall, a much better experience than the one I had with Batman.
He has magnetic hands and feet if you want him in a wall-crawling kind of pose provided you have some metal on your wall. It stayed in place for me, but I personally wouldn’t trust it longterm.
To go along with the extra bits are a whole bunch of web effects. We get two short “thwip” effects and two longer ones. These have a little loop on them and are meant to be slotted over the wrist peg and then the hand can be placed over them. It’s a simple, and effective effect made easier by the exposed web shooters this costume features. We also get two “L” shaped webs which basically feature handles for the gripping hands. I wish there was a little nuance to the handled part, but it works fine. We also get two additional “L” shaped webs where the handle portion is actually a spiral of web. There’s a loop where the long portion ends and the spiral begins that a hand can go through with the rest of the spiral portion riding up the forearm.
I really like these web lines that coil around the forearms, but I wish he could grip this figure 8 one better.
Lastly, we get another swinging web that basically ends in a figure eight. It has a lovely look, but the issue with this figure is that the gripping hands are lumps of plastic with a hole through them. The fingers are connected to the palms, so the only way for the figure to grip the webs is to start at one end and slide them through. I would like to have the figure grab an inner portion of the figure eight, but it’s essentially impossible without some modification to the figure or the accessory. You can try to use the relaxed hand instead like he’s in the process of letting go, but making the fingers flex on the gripping hands would have been the way to go. As for the effects themself, the web lines look the part. They’re just white plastic with some knots and such sculpted into them. I’m happy to have so many, as Hasbro is terrible about giving us web effects with its figures so the extra will be put to good use. Of course, Hasbro also doesn’t give us gripping hands so they’ll only go so far. Medicom also packs in a display stand so you can actually display your figure in mid-swing. It’s just a plain, acrylic, stand, but it gets the job done. It articulates at the base, the midway point, and at the “claw” where the figure slots in. There’s also a straight peg included and a second, narrower, claw that I believe is more for grabbing a thigh instead of a waist. There’s also yet another piece that’s basically a “J” shape with a peg above it. I don’t see how that peg plays a role in posing this figure, but the J piece acts like a seat if you want to try and balance the figure on it as opposed to having a claw piece grab it.
Some of these leg poses were tricky out of the box. I had to hit this one with some silicon spray to get them moving well enough that I wasn’t afraid of snapping anything.
Medicom’s major boast with its MAFEX line concerns articulation. This is a “super” articulated line that should blow away anything you’re likely to find at a brick and mortar retailer. With this guy, we get a double-ball peg setup at the head. Medicom likes to use this angled peg that I don’t think adds much, but combined with the ball-peg at the base of the neck means you get a figure that can look up, down, and packs some nuance as well. The shoulders are ball-hinges which peg into a socket inside the chest. You get some up and down play, and the arms raise out past a horizontal position. There’s a butterfly joint here as well which allows for some back and some forward range, but not a ton. At least with this figure, we’re not dealing with any aesthetic trade-off with the joint as the soft goods hide it. There’s a biceps swivel, double-jointed elbows that bend well past 90 degrees, and ball-hinged wrists. Either the hinges at the wrist are really tight, or the web shooter interfere with their range as I can’t get much out of them which is unfortunate.
Do I want to put this figure on a shelf or on the fridge? Shelf? Or fridge?
In the torso, we get ball joints in the diaphragm and the waist. This allows the figure to bend back rather far as well as crunch forward. There’s tilt and rotation at both joints and overall I would say this is a very well done torso. It also helps that we once again have the soft goods to hide any ugliness these joints might create. I’ve never been a big soft goods guy, but maybe this figure is winning me over? The hips are where I lose a little bit of my enthusiasm as Medicom loves the drop-down hinged joint with ball and sockets. They’re finicky, and they’re the only joints that scare me as sometimes I feel like they’re fighting me, especially the left hip which might actually be stuck. Kicking forward is a chore and he gets to about horizontal when you get everything in proper alignment. Drop the hip and you get just a little bit more range which is why I don’t really like the design. He can at least do splits and the thigh swivel at the socket works great. The double-jointed knees are fine and at the ankles we get more hinged ball pegs. They can bend forward and back plenty fine while the ankle rocker is a little more cumbersome, but functional. They’re also tight enough that the figure has no issues standing on its own.
Shelf, it is!
Aside from the hips, I mostly like what this figure does as far as articulation goes. I can’t quite get him into some of the deep crouches Spider-Man is known for, but part of that is the stuck left hip. I may try to hit it with oil to see if lubrication helps alleviate the issue. If it didn’t have the more delicate drop-down setup, I’d just pop the leg off and try to diagnose the issue that way. Or if it was 70 dollars cheaper, I’d be more aggressive with it. I can still basically get the figure into the poses I want, especially since I’m mostly interested in using the stand, but it’s never much fun to fear moving a part of an action figure like I do with the hips on this guy.
Is the MAFEX version of Scarlet Spider worth the $105 asking price some retailers have it listed for? Probably not, but what 1:12 figure could be? None really, this is an expensive commodity, but given the lack of alternatives I can’t say I blame anyone for just going for it. That’s what I did as I’m not a regular MAFEX buyer nor am I amassing a giant collection of Spider-Man stuff. I just get things here and there so for me I was able to rationalize the occasional splurge with this one. I certainly don’t blame those who can’t, and given the frequency of higher budget releases this year, one could easily argue that I should have passed on this one all-together since I don’t make any money off of this blog, so I’m collecting just for fun as opposed to content. At the same time, if you do grab this figure and can look past the price and the fact that it’s not based on first appearance Scarlet Spider, I think you’ll be plenty happy. There are things that could be better, but at the end of the day it has enough stuff to make sure it looks good on your shelf and it probably will get the attention of anyone who comes looking. And that’s definitely what you want from an expensive collectible.
Interested in more Spider-Man figures or maybe you’re curious about another MAFEX release?
When I was a kid, my dad took me to some local convention or trade show. I have no idea why because my dad wasn’t the type who would go to such an event. He liked car shows, but from what I can remember this was more of a hobby show. It was early in…
It was in 2021 that Hasbro released a PulseCon exclusive Venom figure on a Spider-Man retro card. The retro card series is meant to stir-up nostalgia for all of the adults who were buying toys and watching cartoons in the 90s as the retro card is a facsimile of the old cards Toy Biz used…
You may have been wondering why I decided to devote an entry earlier this week to a nearly twenty year old action figure of mediocre quality, and if so, now you know why. I wanted to take a look at the DC Direct Batman based on his appearance in the Jeph Loeb written, Jim Lee…
It’s not Spider-Man vs Venom, but I guess it’s the next best thing?
Last year, Hasbro celebrated the 30th anniversary of X-Men, the animated series that premiered on Halloween 1992 and would become a ratings hit shortly thereafter for the Fox Kids Network. It was responsible for getting a lot of kids into the X-Men and Marvel comics in general and the first, prime, benefactor of that rise in popularity was Spider-Man. Spidey had taken a couple of swings at television and found modest success, but certainly nothing on the level that some of the other prime kids’ shows that were contemporaries. I personally recognized Spider-Man more from his public service announcements or the Marvel Productions animatic that would follow a show like Muppet Babies. With X-Men being a hit though, it opened the door for more Marvel cartoons and Spider-Man was next in line arriving in sneak peak fashion, just like the X-Men, in the fall of 1994.
You guys still into the VHS inspired packaging? I think I still am, but this would have been way cooler if it was actually two boxes and a slipcover instead of just one, big, box.
The Marvel Legends VHS series for X-Men must have been received well for the company to do the same with Spider-Man. That is easy to understand. What is not is why now? The X-Men wave has almost sold out on Hasbro’s website and it’s expected the remaining figures will eventually get there (Cyclops was just added to shopDisney in April) which suggests that a second wave is certainly in order. The 8 figures Hasbro did release hit on some members of the team and some notable villains, but more remain. Why not come back around with another 8 in 2023, 30 years after the show really took off since only 3 episodes premiered in ’92, and then come back with Spider-Man in 2024 to, you know, coincide with that show’s 30th anniversary? It seemed like it was setup perfectly for just that, but apparently Hasbro and the Legends team got impatient or they feel like they need to space the X-Men releases out more or that line is dead and they’re not ready to admit it. I personally don’t get it and I will be a little ticked off if they don’t come back to X-Men to finish off the team, at least, even though that product line was rather poor. I’m a sucker for that cartoon though so I was committed to filling out the roster, as imperfect as it was, and not having the likes of Gambit, Rogue, or Magneto leaves my shelf feeling incomplete.
It’s Spider-Man once again, who is the same, but different, as the last black-costumed Spider-Man we saw.
That aside, Hasbro’s approach to Spider-Man could be described as the same, but different. We’re still getting VHS styled boxes with TV show inspired artwork, only now they’re apparently coming in two-packs. I guess that’s great if you didn’t like the gap in releases between the figures in the X-Men line, but it stinks if you only want one of the two figures (and I think that will be true for many with the upcoming Doc Ock and Aunt May two-pack). Hasbro doesn’t think it’s worth their effort to credit the artist on the box, but good thing we have social media as I was able to find out that it’s Harry Moore once again who did the art on the retro card release too. The box is designed to look like a slip cover with two VHS tapes in it, but it’s just one box with the two figures inside. Like the X-Men line, this one is likely to be a collection of repaints with minimal investment made in the tooling of new parts. These figures aren’t direct adaptations of the characters you saw onscreen. It would have been great if that was what Hasbro committed to, but at this point no one should be surprised. A big feature of the X-Men line was also the cel-shading approach to the paint. It was something that was not applied consistently from release to release. Some figures looked okay, some looked terrible, but it mostly came down to the application being cheap and unfocused. With this line, we’re going to have two figures where one is shaded, and the other is not. It looks like cel-shading isn’t going to be as big of a focus here, but it’s hard to know why with anything Hasbro does.
Yeah, it’s pin-less and has some toe joints, but the only reason to get this figure is if you like the shading.
We’ll start with Spider-Man first. This is the symbiote, or black suit, Spider-Man from the show since we already received a standard, animated, Spider-Man via the retro card release late last year. Thematically, it makes some sense to pair symbiote Spidey with Carnage, a fellow symbiote, though anyone who watched the show can point out that Spider-Man never fought Carnage while wearing the black costume. Interestingly, this Spider-Man is a repaint of the figure that came in the Renew Your Vows two-pack last year. The animated Spider-Man from last year was on the noticeably smaller Amazing Fantasy figure mold making this figure basically not scale with the other Spidey. Cool. The sculpt is also much more cut than that one so this is a Spider-Man that looks almost absurdly ripped and lumpy for this source. The head appears to be the exact same as the retro card black costume Spider-Man and so are the hands, and for that matter, the torso. Whatever your preferred body is, none are particularly great for the animated Spider-Man as he was very broad shouldered and full in the chest which neither figure is. This one is pin-less in the arms and legs, so it has that going for it.
I don’t consider myself a Legends collector, and yet I now have 5 Spider-Men (Web-Man and Cyborg version not pictured).
“We’re the same guy, just in a different costume.” “If you say so.”
What is going to be most divisive with this release is probably the paint. The figure is cast in black plastic so the only paint present is the white and the blue. Yes, blue, as this figure is shaded like the show. Or rather, like basically every version of black-costumed Spider-Man. Just doing him in all black won’t show up on print or on TV, so he (and Venom) have always been shaded blue. In the show, Spider-Man was outlined in blue and the muscles were also done in blue. For the figure, Hasbro appears to have tried to outline the abdomen with blue while also hitting both clavicles. For the limbs, it’s just a few lines down the meat of the arms and the front of the legs. There are a couple of lines in between the eyes, and almost nothing on the back of the figure. There’s also none on the hands. It looks okay, but there doesn’t appear to be a ton of thought put into the blue on the arms. And, as usual, I think the figure would have benefitted from a little more. Something on the crown of the head would have looked nice, and maybe some under the pecs. And maybe just more curves to the lines would have helped with the biceps looking the worst out of all of the spots, but it’s probably as good as we could have expected out of this line. The rest of the paint is reserved for the eyes, hands, and the spider logo which has some gray shading. That is not consistent with the show, but it looks okay on the front, though I don’t know what they were going for on the back. The spider itself is pretty clean, though the white on the hands is too thinly applied. The eyes, which have a little luster to them, look okay.
“What am I supposed to do with these?”
“Nice split, spider dweeb!”
There’s no point in devoting a full paragraph to accessories for this guy as he just comes with the standard array of hands: fists, wall-crawling, and thwip. The thwip hands are useless since this version of Spider-Man shoots webs out of the back of his hands so why not drop them for a set of gripping hands? Or web accessories? It’s like the people who design these figures have little or no attachment to these characters, but any average fan would say “This doesn’t make sense.” Anyway, this guy should be pretty familiar when it comes to articulation too since he’s like most of the other Spider-Man releases. We get a double ball peg at the head that feels rough. It has some gapping issues and they did that thing where they cut out a chunk of the rear of the neck which shouldn’t be necessary for a figure that has no hair. Even with that, he doesn’t look up all that far and the head just wants to fight me for some reason. The shoulders are ball-hinges on butterfly joints. He can raise his arms out to the side fine while the butterfly joint provides okay range going back and forward, but nothing crazy. They also didn’t continue the paint on the spider logo on the rear so when the arms are all the way forward you get a gap. There’s a biceps swivel and the elbows are double-jointed. I cannot get the top hinge on the right arm of my figure to budge, but I was able to get the left one to move. He gets a little better than 90, so nothing impressive, but it doesn’t look ugly. The wrists swivel and hinge.
Go web! (Web not included)
Yeah, it doesn’t make sense, but they look good when they’re matchy-matchy.
In the abdomen we get a ball joint that lets the figure bend back and forward a little bit. It creates gaps in both directions so it’s better used for rotating and pivot and the range going to the side is pretty good. Below that we have an ab crunch that does what it’s supposed to and at the hips we get the utterly useless drop-down hinged hips. With the hinge up, he can kick forward about 90 degrees and he doesn’t really kick back due to the sculpted butt cheeks. With the hinge down, he kicks forward…about 90 degrees. Maybe a little better and more straight, but you’re gaining practically nothing. With the hips up or down, he can’t achieve a full split. It’s pretty crazy the amount of figures I have that can do a split, and yet none are Spider-Man. There is a thigh cut, but not only does it break up the anatomy it breaks up the blue shading as well. The double-jointed knees work better than the elbows and they go well past 90. There is a boot cut if you want it, but again, it breaks up the sculpt and the shading. At the ankle, we get a hinge that lets the feet go forward and back an acceptable amount, though it’s kind of ratcheted so finding those in-between positions is a challenge. The ankle rocker works well and we also get a toe hinge which is fine. Aside from the addition of the toe hinge, this figure moves as well as the previous symbiote Spider-Man which I would categorize as good, but not good enough for a Spider-Man figure. There’s plenty of things to nitpick, but mostly it’s just scrap those garbage hips. Ball and socket hips would work better and cost less than the silly hinge. The whole thing also has a gummy feel and ultimately posing this guy isn’t really a fun experience.
This entry won’t have the maximum amount of Carnage, but it will have enough.
He wanted a picture with his daddy.
Okay, that’s enough about Spider-Man, let’s talk about Carnage. This figure is a partial reissue of the Monster Venom wave Carnage from about four years ago. Some stuff is the same, while some stuff is different. The head, hands, and probably the arms are the same while the torso and legs are actually different. That older figure lacked butterfly joints while this one has them. It appears to be the same torso we saw with Web-Man, who shared a torso with Spider-Man 2099, if I’m not mistaken, and probably several others. He is a very bright red, which isn’t really what I’d call show accurate, and the black paint for the various swirls and lines on Carnage is understated compared with a comic version of the character to attempt to match the show. The head is clearly the comic inspired head so it doesn’t really match the show aside from the amount of black on it. The Carnage in the show had a much stubbier head as opposed to the elongated one from the comics. There was one shot of the symbiote right after it attached to Cletus Kasady that looked like the comic book character, but that was pretty much it. I think there should actually be a bit more black on the torso to really match the look of the show, but that’s not Hasbro’s goal apparently so I don’t why I feel the need to point out the inaccuracies. This figure also has some tendrils plugged into the arms and a removable one that slots into the back. That aspect of the character wasn’t seen much in the show where animation and the ability to do it well is a concern, but I prefer Carnage with them so they don’t bother me. I think he looks okay, he just doesn’t really look like the character from the show. He’s much too lean and suffers from that Marvel Legends “tiny shoulders” syndrome that so many figures in this line possess. The figure also struggles with trying to be somewhat inspired by the animated series without looking cheap. It seems to me if they just committed to a more toon-accurate paint job that would have solved that issue to a point, but I’m just some guy with a blog so what do I know?
Why use the regular hands when you can use these?
I basically feel the same way about this head as I do the hands. Plus it’s a pain to get on anyway.
When it comes to accessories, Carnage fares better than Spider-Man. Again, these are all reused from past releases, but you get a second head that’s of Kasady and he looks pretty creepy. There’s no paint on the hair, so that’s a bummer, but at least the face appears to be done with face printing making it much better looking than the original release. It’s a comic inspired look, but you probably could have guessed that. If you have the older figure, it might be fun to have this head on that, but I’ll probably never use it. For hands, Carnage has two open hands by default where his fingers look long and bladed. They’re basically style posed, though the right hand is more curled like it’s trying to grip something. The fingers on that hand also don’t end in points and are rather stubby so they look stupid. You’ll never use it though because the optional hands are way better. For the left, we get a more exagerrated, clawing, hand that also has some added tendrils on it. I think it looks great save for the added blob on the index figure which is just a bizarre design choice as it makes it look like he has six fingers. For the right hand, we get a fisted hand that’s affixed to a big, symbiote, axe head. I like how it’s sculpted to have slime separating the fist from the axe and then the axe head itself has a neat design with a little hook in it. It’s painted too so we get some black lines that look nice and help sell it. They also gave the figure a vertical hinge on this hand which is appreciated. The only downside is it is pretty heavy, and the hinge fairly loose, so posing it can be a tad frustrating.
Spider jump!
For articulation, we have a pretty standard Marvel Legends figure. The old ball hinge is in place for the head and the figure can look up and down without issue as well as rotate. He even gets a touch of tilt on the ball, so that’s okay. The shoulders hinge out to the side less than 90 degrees so that’s disappointing. Web-Man can get his arms out to the side without issue which has me thinking these two share a torso, but the arms are actually different. The butterfly joint provides for solid range going back, but not much across the chest. There’s a biceps swivel and the double-jointed elbows will let the figure bend past 90 degrees there. The wrists swivel and hinge and all except the axe hand hinge horizontally. In the torso, we get an ab crunch that works well going forward and back with no gapping issues present. Hasbro also continued the black paint so that looks good. The waist has a twist which looks pretty ugly because there’s nothing to hide it, but it does work. At the hips we get the standard ball and socket setup and, what do you know, he can do a split. It’s a miracle! There’s a thigh cut below that which works fine, but breaks up the black paint. The double-jointed knees also work fine and you get a boot cut if you want it. The ankles hinge forward and back all the way and rock side-to-side just fine. I think the legs are basically the same as the old release, they just don’t have the plug holes for more tentacles. In other words, more old Spidey parts shared with Web-Man and other Spider-Man figures. Aside from the shoulders, he moves well enough. There’s still gummy-ness to the joints with Carnage, but it isn’t as pervasive as it is with Spider-Man.
Spider kick!
Overall, this release is basically what I expected it to be. It’s a bunch of parts reuse, with a different paint job. As a kid, it always bothered me that every Venom figure I bought was just black plastic when in the comics he was clearly blue. Obviously, that’s because an all black look wouldn’t work, so he had to be shaded blue and even some artists made blue his dominant color (he was very much black in his first appearances though). Because of that, I always wanted a Venom or a Spider-Man in the symbiote costume that took a similar approach so that’s what drew me to this set. Plus, I did like the cartoon series and it’s where most of my Spidey knowledge came as prior to that it was all from Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends and the occasional stray comic book. This figure from Hasbro has its problems, but it comes close to satisfying that urge for me and I think it looks better than the more plain release from the retro card line. It’s pretty absurd that he’s so much bigger than the red and blue Spider-Man when they’re supposed to be the same character from the same show and the accessories blow, but at least the base figure looks fine.
Worth it? Eh, I guess if you like what you see, it’s okay given the apparent new going rate for Marvel Legends.
With Carnage, this is a character all new to me in figure form. Well, new in the sense that I had not purchased a Carnage since the Toy Biz Carnage II figure from the Spider-Man line way back in the 90s. I was never a huge fan of the character, he was just Venom without a conscience, but he did look cool and I certainly spent many hours playing Maximum Carnage back in the day. As a figure, he’s fine. He looks good, moves well enough for the character, and I like the optional parts. I like them so much that I consider the main hands rather useless, but it’s fine. And when I got that animated Venom in 2021 I knew I wanted to add a Spider-Man and a Carnage to my little display so I at least achieved that. As for this series going forward, I might have been interested in that Doc Ock, but the Aunt May he’s bundled with looks bad and I’m not paying for her. This set retails for $53 on Hasbro’s Pulse website. If you’re a member, you get free shipping, but if you’re not then tack on the price of shipping as well. This was the last order I made with my subscription and I don’t intend to get more. At this price, it’s something a fan of the show can possibly talk themselves into. The box is nice, if that interests you at all, and the figures are I guess the usual level of quality for Marvel Legends. Had they just given Spider-Man some worthwhile accessories it would have been much easier to recommend, but since they didn’t it puts this one squarely in the niche category. Few Marvel Legends are worth their asking price these days, and these are no exception. If you’re primarily a comic book collector and already have these figures, then don’t bother. If it looks like something you like and you know what to expect, give it a shot. Or wait awhile for the next warehouse sale when you can probably get it for 40-something where it would be a much easier recommend. That’s probably not going to happen for awhile though. There’s also shopDisney which is supposed to carry this and may be more aggressive with its sale prices if it hangs around a few months. You can also get free shipping there, though you have to spend $75 I think. If you time it right, and have a wife or kids that love Disney, it’s not a tough threshold to meet. At least it’s easier to get than the stupid Walmart exclusive.
Need to know more about what Marvel Legends has done for Spider-Man? Check these out:
When I was a kid, my dad took me to some local convention or trade show. I have no idea why because my dad wasn’t the type who would go to such an event. He liked car shows, but from what I can remember this was more of a hobby show. It was early in…
It was in 2021 that Hasbro released a PulseCon exclusive Venom figure on a Spider-Man retro card. The retro card series is meant to stir-up nostalgia for all of the adults who were buying toys and watching cartoons in the 90s as the retro card is a facsimile of the old cards Toy Biz used…
One of the most iconic costumes in the world of superheroes is definitely that of Spider-Man. I put that classic red and blue with webbed detailing right up there with Superman and Batman. I would argue that there’s no more iconic costume in the world of Marvel than Spidey’s, and the crazy thing with Spider-Man…
Well, this is a figure that I never planned on reviewing. It’s a bit old at this point, but we’re looking at yet another Spider-Man retro card release from Hasbro and this time it’s Cyborg Spider-Man. Now, I remember seeing this quite some time ago at Target and thinking it looked fine, but I’m not a Marvel Legends collector so I never paid it any real mind. I say that, and yet 2022 is the year I bought more Legends than I have since 2006 mostly due to the X-Men animated line, but it also got started with the animated Venom. That Venom lead me down a rabbit hole where I wound up with Web-Man, Symbiote Spider-Man, and more recently the animated Spider-Man. It was getting that most recent one that basically resulted in me grabbing this guy because what I really wanted was a webline part. That figure didn’t come with one, but when I went to Target recently I spotted a figure that did. Spoiler alert – it’s this one!
Even with the new hardware, he still does spider shit.
Cyborg Spider-Man is a 2021 release, if I’m not mistaken. Possibly late 2020. Things blend together a bit in my head when it comes to release dates, especially for lines I don’t typically collect. The foot of this one is stamped 2016, but I’m guessing that’s because most of the parts are that old. It’s not recent though and not one I’ve seen in Target in quite some time. I don’t know why my nearest Target had one, random, figure on the pegs, but it did. It initially didn’t even ring up because the barcode was no longer in their system, and when it finally did, it rang up as some Spider-Man bow and arrow toy. Unfortunately, that toy carried the same MSRP as this one so I didn’t get a deal or anything, but it suggests to me that maybe Target recently unearthed some extra stock because the figure is also online again as of this writing. Regardless, I thought the sculpt was interesting and a pretty fun variant on Spider-Man, and since it came with a web line accessory, I said “Why not?” And since I have a blog that heavily leans into toy reviews, we might as well take a look.
I think of him as more of a punchy Spider-Man.
Cyborg Spider-Man stands a tick over the 6 inch mark. He comes packaged on a retro card and is a nice throwback to the Toy Biz figure of the same design. I actually never had that one, I really didn’t get many Spider-Man variants, but I can recall thinking it looked fine. I just prioritized getting villains over yet another Spider-Man. He was also a late entry in the line, if I’m not mistaken, and it’s possible I was already shifting priorities. The design hasn’t changed though. This is basically Spider-Man, but with a robot arm. He does have a belt and some accessories on the head, but it’s the big, cybernetic, left arm that stands out the most. Since I’m not a regular buyer of this line, I couldn’t tell you where all of these parts are from. The main body is the same one we saw with Web-Man which I think originated with a Spider-Man 2099 figure. The arm could be from someone like Cable or Deathlok, or it could be all new. Since it’s an older release, it’s not a pinless body so we get the ugly red dot on the inner right arm resulting from the red peg that goes through it. The blue pegs around the knees don’t cause the same sort of eyesore. It’s a very muscular sculpt and one that feels appropriate for this specific version of Spider-Man. I like how the cybernetic arm turned out and it looks as it should. The head has these giant eye lenses which are also fun and very McFarlane-esque. The belt is glued in place, but the white wraps on his right thigh are a floating part which could be removed if desired. It’s a little annoying that it doesn’t stay in place and it’s a reminder why newer figures like Morph and Cyclops have them keyed in. The only details I don’t like about the sculpt are the tiny shoulders, which is a consistent criticism I have for Marvel Legends. They just look silly and sit too low.
I wish they had painted the stitching on the mask.
As far as paint goes, we have our usual Marvel Legends mixed bag. The figure is a mix of blue and red plastic with a light gray used for the robot arm. The weblines are done well enough and I like the black outline on the red portions of the costume, something the animated Spidey didn’t roll with. The painted and colored reds look close enough and the painted portions of the head are fine. What I don’t like is how the spider logo on the rear turned out. It really needs a black outline or something to help it pop and it looks almost washed out. It also has a big hole which I guess is for an old flight stand. There’s also a severe lack of paint in most places. On the head, there’s stitches holding a portion of the mask together which were left unpainted. It’s a shame, because they’re sculpted well enough, but are barely noticeable due to the lack of paint. There’s also no paint on either the belt or the left arm save for the plate on the shoulder and bracelet area. The belt just looks boring and cheap as a result while the arm has too much of a plastic look. There’s no attempt to make it look like it’s made of metal and, again, it’s a shame because the sculpt is there. It just needs a little dry-brushing to bring it out. In a perfect world it would be painted-up like NECA’s Fugitoid, but I know Hasbro isn’t going to sink that kind of money into this line. At least this one is $23 instead of $28 or $35 so it’s easier to overlook these shortcomings, but still unfortunate to see Hasbro not do right by their sculptors and designers.
This spider on the back could have been handled better.
The articulation for this Spider-Man is not really it’s strong suit. I suppose we shouldn’t expect a cyborg version of the character to move as well as a traditional one, but I thought it would be a little better than this. The head is on the usual ball hinge which provides good enough range up and down, but not much nuance posing. The shoulders are ball-hinged and pretty limited out to the side. The left arm is hindered by the big plate on the shoulder, but even the right arm can’t quite hit a horizontal pose. There is a butterfly joint which provides more range going back than forward. It’s okay, but a bit ugly because the paint isn’t continued as far as the joint goes so you end up with gaps in the weblines on the front and the spider legs on the rear. The elbows are double-jointed on both arms and both can bend past 90 degrees. The cybernetic arm can even go further than the right arm as more plastic was cut away to make it work. The wrists rotate and hinge horizontally while the abdomen features a ratcheted ab crunch. It only allows one click back and one click forward so the range isn’t impressive. The waist twist is a waist twist and it is at least hidden by the belt because otherwise it would look pretty hideous. The legs can just about hit a split with a little effort, why newer figures can’t is a real mystery, while the legs kick forward to about horizontal with no range going back. We get the usual thigh cut and the double-jointed knees work just fine. There’s a boot swivel and the ankles hinge forward and back pretty far and feature a steep, but usable, ankle rocker. It’s nothing particularly impressive, but I don’t know what kind of posing most want to do with this guy. I tend to think he should be posed more like a brawler than the nimble Spider-Man of norm, but that could be just me. By Legends standards, it’s basically average.
Your webline is looking a bit limp there, Spider-Man.
And that’s kind of it for selling points with this guy because the accessories are not impressive. Cyborg Spider-Man comes with fist hands in the box and he has one thwip right hand he can switch to. He also has that all important webline I wanted which is just a piece of malleable, off-white, plastic with a little curl at one end and a triangular shape at the other. It’s kind of odd that they don’t have a clip on the end designed for the hand/wrist area. And since he can’t grip it with any hand it makes it hard to do much with. I found I can kind of get the triangle to work with the thwip hand, but it’s rather precarious and frustrating. It’s a bit amusing that I basically bought this figure for this piece and I’m not finding it very useful. If it was just a bendy wire that could wrap around him that would be better than this. That’s it though. One extra hand and one mediocre web effect.
All right, you can stay.
Given the articulation woes and the lack of accessories, this figure is basically one to judge based on the overall aesthetic. And if you like this interpretation of Spider-Man, then you’ll probably be fine with this one. I do like the look, and while I wish it was painted better, I think it looks okay on a shelf. The fact that it’s at the older price point definitely helps because if it was up any higher I’d have not bought it. And if you are into customizing your action figures, this one probably won’t take much effort to really bring out some of the details. There are elements of the figure that are a bit dated, but the sculpt helps make it worthwhile. In short, I’m content to have this figure I never planned on getting.
When I was a kid, my dad took me to some local convention or trade show. I have no idea why because my dad wasn’t the type who would go to such an event. He liked car shows, but from what I can remember this was more of a hobby show. It was early in…
I wasn’t sure he would make it in time, but Hasbro managed to ship Cyclops before the end of the year. Cyclops marks the final figure (for now) in Hasbro’s X-Men animated series subline of Marvel Legends. It has been…a ride. What was once a dream line of mine to see brought to fruition, turned…
No, this is not bootleg Spider-Man, this is Web-Man! Who is Web-Man? I actually had no idea until I just looked it up. It would seem Web-Man is a copy of Spider-Man created by Dr. Doom. Not only are his colors inverted from the real thing, but so is most everything else. And since Spidey…
It was in 2021 that Hasbro released a PulseCon exclusive Venom figure on a Spider-Man retro card. The retro card series is meant to stir-up nostalgia for all of the adults who were buying toys and watching cartoons in the 90s as the retro card is a facsimile of the old cards Toy Biz used to utilize. The cards were for the Spider-Man tie-in series of toys that went along with the cartoon series of the same name. Airing on Fox Kids, Spider-Man was a natural follow-up to X-Men as it featured arguably Marvel’s most popular and recognizable hero in a starring role. The X-Men animated series did wonders to help boost the profile of Marvel’s mutants, and the Spider-Man cartoon essentially did the same. The retro card series that Hasbro launched just a few years ago often had some overlap with that cartoon, but they weren’t necessarily cartoon-specific sculpts. The exclusive Venom was different in that it contained two, new, headsculpts clearly modeled after Venom from the show. Plus, it featured his unusual shading from the show of light blue on one side and red on the other.
Go web!
2022 saw Hasbro double-down on the retro releases as it launched the X-Men Animated Series subline of Marvel Legends. While we can certainly debate how hard the company actually went in to trying to recreate the characters as they appeared in the show, the line did try to showcase those characters with some animation specific shading and (in some cases) sculpts. The line must have been successful because Hasbro is doing the same in 2023 only with Spider-Man as the featured series. Why now? I don’t know. The X-Men line coincided with the show’s 30th anniversary and it would have made sense to do the same for Spider-Man in 2024, but Hasbro is apparently far too eager to wait another year. The show is getting the same treatment in that it’s likely to be reused sculpts with some shading added and it’s all packaged in a box designed to mimic a VHS release. The first set, as they’re apparently going with two-packs for now, won’t be out for a few more months, but we essentially got a preview to close-out 2022 in the form of an exclusive Spider-Man sent to Walmart. This Spider-Man is sold on a retro card designed to resemble the old Web Racer Spider-Man toy from the 90s. The image is essentially the same, but since there wasn’t much in the way of preservation for those old cards it had to be redone and has been lovingly recreated by artist Harry Moore. This time, Spidey is fully posable and doesn’t have a string running through him. It’s a new sculpt, though not a unique sculpt, and most importantly it features a cel-shaded paint job to fit-in with the previously released Venom.
The sculpt is mostly fine, save for how pointed his face is (unless it’s just mine).
Let’s get it out of the way upfront: Walmart sucks. This guy went up for preorder in July, but before a single figure was shipped it started showing up in stores in early December or late November. It showed up in tiny quantities though, apparently just 2 per store, and it was a bastard of a release to track down as a result. It also never showed up in Walmart’s app or website as in-stock, so it was a total shot in the dark to go looking for one during the busy, holiday, rush. As for those preorders, that’s how I got mine, but several are still waiting and with the listing being dropped from Walmart’s website it sure looks like a lot of folks are heading for a cancellation. It’s great that they made sure to send product to stores first, rather than take care of the orders they already took-in months ago. And if you are lucky and like me and manage to get one shipped from Walmart, expect it to come packed in a foil envelope likely beat to hell once it arrives. The cardback on mine is dinged-up pretty well, plus the plastic bubble was cracked and broken. I’m not a mint-on-card collector, but I know a lot of people are with these retro cards and plenty more like to double-dip to keep one carded and one opened. To those folks, best of luck. You’re going to need it.
The rear spider looks nice and clean.
Once opened Spidey stands at a tick over 6″. This sculpt is apparently the same as the first appearance Spider-Man also released in 2022 in the new style of packaging. It’s a pinless body and it’s notable because it’s a smaller Spider-Man. He’s well-defined, but not as bulky as the other new Spider-Man body from this year released in the Renew Your Vows two-pack. This is probably Hasbro’s best Spider-Man body to date. I’m certainly not an expert as I only dabble in Marvel Legends, but it’s much better than the Web-Man and Symbiote figures I do have. It still has its problems, which we’ll go over, but just overall has a nice shape. The smallish Legends shoulders aren’t laughably small here and most of all I just like this shade of blue that’s in use. It’s a light blue, shaded with a darker blue, and it just captures the look of the character from the era. I get more of an 80s vibe if anything from the color combo, but it’s fine as an animated version too, though I’d argue his blue was actually darker in the show. The only thing about the sculpt I don’t like is the head. It’s a little big, plus it feels pinched in the front. I don’t know why it’s not more round as it doesn’t even look like a human face could make this shape. It’s a shame, because the eye shape is nice and it’s pretty well-painted. Many have complained that web lines on their figure are off-center. Mine is, but it’s small. You can see it by looking at the hexagonal shape in the middle as one side touches the tip of the eye lens while the other does not.
The range isn’t perfect, but it’s good enough to get some Spidey poses out of it.
The overall paint job strikes me as pretty much par for the course with Hasbro. There’s a lot of colored plastic in use which leads to issues of color-matching. The red on the chest is noticeably darker than the red on the arms and feet. That’s because one is painted, and one is red plastic. The edges are also not crisp and clean as my figure has a blemish on its right pectoral which is a rather lousy place for such an imperfection to exist. There are little instances of that throughout the figure, though not in a large number at least. The web lines mostly look good though with a defined curve to them rather than a boxy look which tends to happen. Both spider logos are nice and clean, and the pinless body is a welcomed addition as there’s no unsightly red dot on the inner arm any longer. There is one eyesore on the back of the figure where Hasbro didn’t continue the red paint of his belt area far enough so when he crunches forward you end up with a section of blue instead. Normally, not a big deal, but Spider-Man is a character who is known for deep crunches so here it’s not acceptable. The cel-shading is what it is. For Hasbro, this is one of their better applications of it. There’s some linework on the torso in black to highlight the musculature and the shading goes under the pecs. The rest of the shading is reserved for the inner arms, as they apparently wanted to avoid shading red areas as much as possible, and inner right thigh and outer left. There’s also a hit on both boots and the inner arm shading continues onto the gloves a tiny bit. Does it make a ton of sense? No, they’re clearly going in a haphazard manner. I think it looks fine on the torso while the inner arms are kind of “meh.” The thighs and boots don’t bother me. It is what it is and you know if you like it or not at this point. And if you want to remove it, good luck. It’s paint on top of paint where the arms are concerned so it won’t be easy to just wipe away. And where it goes over the web-lines you’re basically screwed. You would be better off just repainting the whole thing. At least for Hasbro, this one is probably better than all of the X-Men releases with only Sinister perhaps being better. Venom was pretty good too for what he is so maybe these Spider-Man releases will just plain be better than what we saw with the X-Men?
“Take that!”
Articulation for a Spider-Man figure is rather important, and I was a little let down by the other Spideys I have. This one is better. Is it perfect? Of course not, but it’s a step in the right direction. The head is still on a ball and hinge so it looks up and down rather well and can rotate, but lacks much in the way of nuance posing. The shoulders are ball-hinged and they raise out to the side just fine, though it does expose the red hinge underneath which is set against the blue of the armpit which is one eyesore not solved by pinless tech. The butterfly joint provides more range back than it does forward, but it’s not a tremendous eyesore so I consider that a win for a Hasbro butterfly joint (and if you want more range, there’s a popular mod for doing so that may apply to this figure as well, just search for it on YouTube). There’s a biceps swivel which does what it needs to do and double-jointed elbows. I cannot get the top hinge on either arm to budge though so I am presently only getting a 90 degree bend (after the review, I did resort to the hot water trick and got it going, though it’s still pretty tight). Hopefully this isn’t a widespread issue. The wrists rotate and hinge horizontally on all hands. In the torso, we have a diaphragm joint which allows for some forward and back, but is mostly good for rotation and tilt which it does rather well. There’s a lot of painted stuff here though, so do be careful. At the waist is the ab crunch which goes forward and back plenty far. Missing is a waist twist which makes me wonder if a ball-peg would have worked better in place of the ab crunch. At the hips, we have ball and socket joints which still can’t quite hit a split. This is Spider-Man, Hasbro! Why can’t he do splits? He can at least kick forward a reasonable amount, but not back. There’s a thigh cut there, double-jointed knees which work better than the elbows, a boot cut, and a hinge and ankle rocker combo at the ankle. All of that stuff works well with no gummy-ness to the joints. I know some would like a toe-hinge, but I don’t really care if it’s here or not. He can hit some good Spidey poses though with the only real disappointment being those hips and my stuck elbows.
“Now it’s our turn, Spider-dweeb!”
That’s where the good stuff ends as when it comes to accessories Hasbro loves to disappoint. Spider-Man comes with three sets of hands: fists, wall-crawling, and thwip hands. That’s basically the standard, Spidey, assortment, but some gripping hands would be nice. I suppose they’re not needed though since he doesn’t come with a web-line to grip. Instead, he has two web splat effects, one bigger than the other. They’re all white and made of a pliable plastic, but they don’t really do anything. I guess you can toss one onto a villain’s face? They’re more like window-dressing parts and what I would prefer to have is an actual webline or something from the show like his web backpack. These things are just useless.
Spider-Men! Assemble!
If you want to get your hands on this guy, I guess all you can do for now is monitor Walmart to see if the listing returns. Their exclusive Black Series Holiday Scout Trooper recently showed up at Big Bad Toy Store so maybe this Spider-Man will too? Otherwise, it’s the secondary market at this point where this thing will cost a lot more than the $27 Walmart was charging. As is the case with virtually all Marvel Legends these days, this one isn’t exactly worth it, but if you have that Venom or really loved watching this show as a kid then you may feel a strong pull towards this guy. And in that case, it’s a price that can be accepted. At 50 or 60 bucks? Ehh, I wouldn’t do it. With Hasbro launching a dedicated Spider-Man line in 2023 it seems highly unlikely that this will remain a Walmart exclusive forever. After all, how can you do a Spider-Man line that doesn’t feature Spider-Man in red and blue? Hasbro does some stupid things, like not finishing the 92 X-Men team, but I don’t think they’re dumb enough to let this figure remain a Walmart exclusive. My assumption is there will be a VHS re-release with different accessories. It’s possible it will be on a different mold, but I don’t think they’ll go through that trouble. It’s a good Spidey though, probably Hasbro’s best, so when that re-release does happen (or this mold gets a comic release in this shade of blue) I would suggest jumping on it unless you absolutely hate the cel-shading. And if that’s the case, there’s the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends three-pack that has a Spidey from that show on this body with no cel-shading. It’s probably every bit as good as this one, perhaps better if you prefer your Spidey with a darker blue, but it costs $75 and comes with a decent Firestar and an absolute dumpster fire of an Iceman. That set would have been right in my nostalgia wheelhouse if they didn’t blow it so hard on Iceman, my favorite member of the X-Men when I was a kid. Hasbro just can’t make things easy for Spider-Man fans.
“So am I a member of the X-Men now? Because the Avengers keep coming after me and I don’t want to overcommit. Especially since I have class tomorrow.”
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When I was a kid, my dad took me to some local convention or trade show. I have no idea why because my dad wasn’t the type who would go to such an event. He liked car shows, but from what I can remember this was more of a hobby show. It was early in…
One of the most iconic costumes in the world of superheroes is definitely that of Spider-Man. I put that classic red and blue with webbed detailing right up there with Superman and Batman. I would argue that there’s no more iconic costume in the world of Marvel than Spidey’s, and the crazy thing with Spider-Man…
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When it comes to doing these write-ups, I naturally trend towards older Christmas specials. The name of the blog is The Nostalgia Spot, after all, so it would only make sense for me to favor stuff that’s at least a decade old, if not more. The fact of the matter is, there’s really not enough content out there to only focus on the old, and besides, sometimes it’s fun to be a bit topical. In 2022, Marvel unleashed Moon Knight on the masses via Disney+. Since I am a subscriber to Disney+ and a casual Marvel fan, I watched it because it was there and I like feeling like I’m getting the most bang for my buck. It was a fine show and I especially enjoyed the performance of Oscar Isaac in the lead role. I believe it was mostly well-received, though I know there were some out there disappointed at the lack of Moon Knight in a show called Moon Knight which is understandable. I’m sure we’ll see more of him though because this is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, after all, and it’s always building towards something.
Prior to watching the show, my only knowledge of Moon Knight was that he was some superhero with a cool looking costume. I have an old ToyBiz Marvel Legends figure of the same, but I’ve honestly never picked up a Moon Knight comic. He always had the reputation of being a Batman knock-off, and to some extent I guess that’s true. In the hands of an unskilled writer, I could easily see his books turning into a Batman-like story. In the show, he was far more interesting though so I don’t think such criticism is warranted in that case, but what about in other media?
I guess the show had a different title in its final season? It’s just listed as Ultimate Spider-Man every where.
In 2012, Disney began airing a show called Ultimate Spider-Man. Despite the name, this show was not an adaptation of the comic book series of the same name. Like many post 2000 Spider-Man shows, it borrows from that comic, but also basically every other form of Spider-Man to create one big hodgepodge of what are hopefully the best traits of the various Spider-Men over the years. I never paid any attention to the show while it was airing, but it hung around to total over 100 episodes with the series ending in 2017. One of the last episodes of the show happens to be a Christmas one, and it also features Moon Knight, and it’s also presently the “knight” before Christmas, so now feels like the right time to take a look at this one.
Ultimate Spider-Man is a Film Roman production that was overseen by Alex Soto. It’s a 2D animated cartoon series with a pretty straight-forward approach to the character designs and scenery, unlike a more stylized series and prior Christmas spot entrant Spectacular Spider-Man. The show stars Drake Bell as Spider-Man/Peter Parker and when it begins he has already been Spider-Man for about a year, until attracting the attention of Nick Fury. This is a young Spider-Man still feeling his way around things and it seems an emphasis of the show was to feature lots of team-ups with other familiar faces from the Marvel Universe. The show was able to assemble a rather impressive writing team which included Brian Michael Bendis, the creative behind the comic of the same name, and Paul Dini, perhaps the most celebrated writer in superhero animation (this particular episode is by Elliot Casey). It would seem there’s a lot to like about this one on paper and it also looks like some money was spent making the show look good so it’s a bit of a surprise on my behalf that I’ve basically ignored the series for as long as I have.
This show loves playing with the size of Spider-Man’s eye lenses.
The show begins without any sort of opening title sequence, I’m guessing that’s to come. We find Spider-Man (Bell) decorating a…tree of some kind and talking to himself. He seems to be trying to psyche himself up to have a terrific Christmas because he needs to. He’s actually house-sitting this Christmas for Dr. Strange (Liam O’Brien) in his Sanctum Sanctorum while the good doctor is off saving reality, or something. It would seem this is Spidey’s first Christmas away from his Aunt May and he’s just trying to make the best of it. Unfortunately, this bizarre, monster, tree that Dr. Strange keeps in his home is sentient and not up for being decorated like a Christmas tree. It also doesn’t seem to appreciate Spider-Man’s sass and takes a swipe at him forcing the web-slinger to retreat into another room. Oh, and this is a show that seems to break the fourth wall via its protagonist. A lot.
It also seems to like this story device as we’ll see it again.
After running from the grinchy monster plant, Spider-Man finds himself in a fancy looking armory. It’s apparently a room he’s not supposed to enter and as he tries to recall what Dr. Strange told him about the room an apparition of the doctor appears above him. A very young looking Doctor Strange is recalled just telling him to stay out of the room because of all of the dangerous weapons and artifacts present. Spidey then sheepishly scratches the back of his head as an “Oops, my bad,” kind of thing since he’s already broken his promise to Strange. I’m getting the impression this Spider-Man is a bit of a goof.
That’s a pretty bad ass way to introduce Moon Knight.
A scream from outside gets Spider-Man’s attention. He’s supposed to look after Strange’s home, but he can’t ignore what sounds like a girl in distress! Spidey races outside to find a young girl being harassed by a strangely dressed man. That man is Moon Knight (Diedrich Bader), and it would seem that Spider-Man has never encountered this soldier of the moon before. His entrance is pretty cool though as Spidey looks up at the moon and we see the alleged hero reflected in the lens of his mask. Spidey deftly avoids him and grabs the young girl in the process before staring down his new foe. Moon Knight introduces himself, and Spider-Man makes a lame crack about him not being Santa Claus as we smash cut to the opening title. Apparently this era of the show is called Ultimate Spider-Man vs The Sinister Six as that’s what the title card says. I guess it would have helped if I had watched some of this show before jumping into one of the final 3 episodes.
This rescue isn’t going very well so far.
After the very brief title card is “webbed away,” we get to see Spider-Man vs The Moon Knight! Moon Knight is impeccably voiced by Diedrich Bader in what feels like a preview of the somewhat aloof Batman (in contrast with the straight-forward Batman he has played elsewhere) he will play in the future on Harley Quinn. He’s an unintentionally humorous character (as-in, the character isn’t trying to be funny in-universe, but he’s definitely written to be comical to the viewer) as he constantly keeps referring to the moon, talking about the moon, and even converses with the moon. I’m having flashbacks to the Mooninites from Aqua Teen Hunger Force here because this guy loves the moon as much as they do. Spider-Man seems annoyed with him, and Moon Knight doesn’t really seem to have a high opinion of Spider-Man for that matter and even calls him a demon. It never dawns on Spider-Man though that maybe this guy is attacking this young girl for a reason, so he decides to retreat into the safety of Strange’s townhouse, but not before whipping Moon Knight by his cape into some snow (“And that is why I don’t wear a cape!”). Unfortunately, the building has a protective spell placed on it that requires a magical command to allow additional people through and Spidey is drawing a blank on what those words are. While he stands safely behind the magical shield, the girl he’s trying to save is in harm’s way. Worry not though, for Spider-Man is able to recall those words just before Moon Knight nails her.
And now we have some wholesome, Christmas, entertainment!
As Spidey bids Moon Knight a good night, the vigilante tries pounding on the forcefield and cries out that Spider-Man is giving this girl exactly what she wants, but he’s not listening. Inside, Spider-Man and the girl get acquainted. Her name is Francine (Mary Kate Wiles) and she tells Spider-Man she’s an orphan. A recently made orphan as she lost her father not too long ago. Spidey acts like he’s going to cry hearing her sad story and welcomes her to spend Christmas with him in this lonely old house. We then go into a montage hosted by Spidey Claus! The two make gingerbread cookies that literally get up and walk away, which they have a laugh at. We then see a sequence of polaroid photos of the two making silly faces and eating candy canes. Spidey is laying in front of the fire looking at said pictures when the brief montage ends, while Francine seems interested in looking around. She soon finds the door to the forbidden room, and like most kids, immediately wants to go in once she hears it’s forbidden. Spidey tells her he’s not going to break his promise to Doctor Strange and let her in, but as he lectures her he doesn’t really pay attention and she just slips right past him.
I’m guessing this thing is important.
Francine enters the room and is immediately drawn to a crystal ball. Spidey comes over and realizes he’s seen that ball before. It belonged to the villain Mysterio, and we see a flashback of him doing crimes and battling Spider-Man. Apparently, he fell off the Brooklyn Bridge at the end of one of their encounters and Spider-Man was unable to save him. The ball is his helmet and it was magically enhanced so that it could make Mysterio’s many illusions turn real. Pretty sweet! After Mysterio fell into the river below, Spider-Man recovered the helmet, but no body. He gave it to Strange and is surprised the sorcerer didn’t simply destroy it.
It’s a lot harder to hurt someone when you can’t touch them.
A crashing sound from upstairs gets Spider-Man’s attention and ends his little story time. He hands the helmet to Francine and tells her to stay put while he investigates. He heads upstairs into what looks like a library only to find Moon Knight inside! He’s pretty surprised to see him since Strange put that spell up to keep out the unwanted, but he’ll have to figure that out later. Spider-Man attempts to web Moon Knight, but he turns intangible and the web line goes right through him. Spidey then tries to attack in a more conventional manner, but continues to encounter difficulties. Moon Knight explains that he is but a reflection in the moonlight, which is poetic, but still confusing. Spider-Man then hears a sound coming from outside and looks up to see Moon Knight on the other side of a skylight. Two Moon Knights?!
It turns out she’s the bad guy. Try to act surprised.
Spider-Man noticing another Moon Knight outside seemed to be enough for this Moon Knight to call it quits. It disappears in a blue light and Spider-Man realizes he was just an illusion. Saying the word “illusion” out loud is enough for him to figure out what’s going on. He heads back to the forbidden room and somewhat nervously pops his head in to check on Francine. He finds the girl holding the orb and she too is surrounded by a cold, blue, light. When it fades we see she’s a grown woman, and wearing Mysterio’s old costume too. She then thanks Spider-Man, and introduces herself as Frances Beck, daughter of Mysterio! It would seem she holds a grudge against Spider-Man for her father’s apparent death and retrieving his magical helmet is exactly what she needs to exact sweet, festive, revenge. This is going to be the best Christmas ever!
Just the first of Mysterio’s holiday themed not-illusions. You have to appreciate a villain that gets in on the theme of the episode.
Lucky for Spider-Man, the New Mysterio is quite new to this whole villain thing and Spidey just takes the helmet away from her via a simple web-line. He tells her she can’t handle this thing and suggests she’s not the real deal, but she assures him she is. She lifts her arms up and opens a portal in the ceiling and a horde of vicious looking elves drop in! Spidey is able to escape to the ceiling though as they’re rather short, and he and New Mysterio do the whole “You killed my father!” “No, I didn’t!” routine before Spidey bails into another room.
Dr. Strange is here to save the day! Though Spider-Man is fighting a master illusionist that has already tricked him once…
Spidey’s webs can only hold off the elves for so long as they are vicious little bastards, so he retreats back up to the library. There he finds Moon Knight, still just chilling out on the roof outside the window, before he’s visited by an unexpected guest. Or should I say homeowner? Because Dr. Strange can’t be a guest in his own home! He appears before Spider-Man and seems quite ticked off with old web-head. He let people into his home, entered the forbidden room, and has removed a powerful item from said room! Spidey tries to apologize, while Moon Knight bangs on the window shouting “Not strange!” This confuses Spider-Man more as he very much disagrees with Moon Knight and reminds him that this night has actually been very strange! He then finally realizes what Moon Knight is saying, and it’s probably helped by Dr. Strange lunging for the helmet and failing this whole thing, that he means Strange, not strange. Which, I mean, come on Spider-Man! I know you’re not a detective like Batman, but you’re facing an illusionist here and she’s already fooled you once!
More holiday monsters – I love this stuff!
The illusion of Strange then vanishes and is replaced by Mysterio. She makes a crack at Spider-Man referring to him as a joke to which he responds with “To be fair, I think everything’s a joke.” She also does some magic finger snap that just makes the helmet appear in her hands. She finally puts it on and uses the power of the helmet to summon a giant gingerbread man! Spidey points out that this is very much a joke as he dodges the massive candy cane the beast swings in his direction. I must say, I do admire Mysterio’s commitment to the season with her various summonings. Come to think of it, how did she summon the non-illusion elves without the helmet? Maybe it was the magic of the season? I guess it’s best not to think about these things.
Here comes Moony!
Spider-Man does what he seemingly does best: flees to higher ground. Up on the ceiling, he’s able to watch the Christmas abominations lay waste to what are likely some very old and likely priceless objects in Doctor Strange’s library and also regroup. He tries to recall the advice Dr. Strange gave him in the past, but all he can do is recall generic advice like wearing a hat when it’s cold outside. He then remembers something about Strange advising him to make allies out of the enemies of his enemies. Naturally, this means Moon Knight who is still banging away outside because he is one persistent fellow. Spider-Man shouts out the magic words to release the barrier and Moon Knight is finally able to smash in that very expensive looking window and join the battle!
Seems there’s a downside to all of this power, who could have foreseen that?
Moon Knight comes in wielding his baton and smashes some ginger foes! He’s ready to rumble, and it allows Spidey to attempt to appeal to Francine. She corrects him when he addresses her by that name and refers to herself as Frances Beck! She is not going to be swayed, but before she can really get into her villain speech she collapses to her knees in pain. Reaching for the fishbowl on her head, it would seem the orb is a bit more than she can handle. Spidey tries to help her, rather lamely though by putting an arm around her when he could have just yanked the thing off. She recoils from his touch and uses her power to open a portal that she and her gingerbread minions are able to escape through.
Look out world, Moon Knight has a wand!
With Frances gone, Moon Knight and Spider-Man are able to have a little heart-to-heart. Only, Moon Knight doesn’t seem interested in sharing any of his knowledge with Spider-Man, probably because he’s pretty much responsible for this mess they’re in. Their conversation is interrupted though by the moon. Yes, Moon Knight takes his orders from the moon and it’s played rather comically since Moon Knight can hear the moon, but no one else can including the viewer. It would seem the moon has decided that Spider-Man’s help is needed and Moon Knight is commanded to reveal all. He basically just relays that the moon warned him about Beck and that she intended to wake a dormant evil that lurked in this place, which must be the fish bowl. It also told him how to stop it: a magic wand! Yes, some wand has the power to make the helmet collapse in on itself, and it just so happens to be in this house too! Spidey is forced to break his promise, again, to Strange and admit Moon Knight into the forbidden room. There he finds the wand they need and the two set out to stop Beck.
I’ve seen this guy before.
As the two walk out the front door, Spidey asks Moon Knight (he calls him Moony – adorable!) if this wand will destroy the wearer of the helmet. He only responds with “The moon shall have its vengeance,” which is interesting because I never thought of the moon as the vengeful type. Spider-Man points out that isn’t really an answer and tells Moon Knight if his aim is to kill Francine then he doesn’t want his help. He doesn’t offer a reply as the two head outside and find Mysterio floating high above the city doing super villain stuff. She uses her new powers to summon a giant snowman monster than looks curiously like Marshmallow from Frozen.
Now Santa is getting in on this – is nothing sacred?!
Upon coming face to face with this monster, Spidey is suddenly more interested in Moon Knight’s help and willing to accept any conditions. Of course, when he looks over to the vigilante for help, he’s busy chatting it up with the moon. This guy! It would seem he’s also trying to convince his…boss…that Spider-Man is a liability, which Spidey takes offense to. The two then turn their attention to the task at hand and Spider-Man observes the Moon Knight method of dodging. Which is to say, he does no such thing. He takes a punch from the beast and explains to Spider-Man that he’d rather take the hit than waste time avoiding it, which Spidey is forced to admit is pretty badass (my words, not his). While Moon Knight tangles with Marshmallow, Spidey tries reasoning with Frances, but she just responds by turning an inflatable Santa sentient which goes on the attack. Lucky for him, Moon Knight’s aversion to dodging gets him knocked into Santa and solves that problem for him!
Hey! Quit laying around! There’s a city to save!
Spidey takes to the sky to try to get away from the monster, but ends up getting swatted instead. He crashes through a building and finds himself in a department store. A giant, novelty, present broke his fall. Moon Knight soon follows and lands on top of another novelty present and Spidey is forced to make a crack about the bad holiday décor. Moon Knight ignores Spider-Man’s joke and informs him of the dire situation they find themselves in. He also adds that the moon demands this situation be rectified by any means necessary. The duo are soon set upon by an army of nutcrackers and toy airplanes. The two leap into the scaffolding smashing toys along the way until the big snowman comes bashing in with Mysterio right behind.
I’m very surprised Spider-Man didn’t make a crack about a splitting headache here.
As Spider-Man dodges their attacks, he sees Moon Knight go for Mysterio. He calls out for him to wait, but Moon Knight leaps through the air and plunges the wand through the glass dome. Frances collapses to her knees and appears to be in a trance of some kind. Moon Knight suggests the spell is taking over and will soon end all of this, but Spidey isn’t willing to give up on Frances. He realizes that the only way to get Moon Knight to help him is to trick him. Sounds deceitful, but if this plan works then Moon Knight only has himself to blame for Spidey pretends to hear the moon. Moon Knight is perplexed, but also a bit impressed, as Spider-Man acts as if the moon is commanding him to save Frances. Moon Knight may be a badass, but he’s definitely not the sharpest knife in the drawer as he falls for it. He agrees to hold off the monstrous snowman, while Spider-Man attempts a rescue.
We all talk to the moon all the time. You’re not special, Moon Knight!
Spidey doesn’t really know what to do, so he instinctively grabs the wand. That seemed like the logical place to start, only the unexpected happens and Spider-Man gets sucked inside the helmet! He finds himself in a dreary setting, but a farm house comes into view and Spider-Man figures it must be the farm house that Frances told him about. He approaches a window and spies Francine inside seated at a dinner table with her father, Quentin Beck (Paul Scheer). They appear to be having Christmas dinner, and the decorations in the background would indicate as much. As Spidey gets closer, he finds himself transported into the house and seated at the table. There, he tries reasoning with Frances by telling her this is all an illusion and they need to get out. She insists it’s real though, that her father is real, but Spidey tells her if it was real then he’d tell her what happened that night between them. So he does!
Well, since you’re here, you might as well stick around for Christmas dinner, Spidey.
It turns out, Frances was right and this is the real Quentin Beck. He describes how he made a deal with the demon Dormammu for the power to make his illusions real, and this is the price he paid. He tells his daughter that Spider-Man did try to save him, but he refused the hero’s aid. When he fell off of the bridge, he was pulled into the helmet where he’s to remain. This also explains why Doctor Strange didn’t destroy it since doing so would have destroyed Beck. Unfortunately for the Becks, this world starts to collapse upon itself. A vortex opens above them and it’s pretty clear they need to get out. Frances pleads for her dad to come with them, but he knows he’s trapped in this prison. Or is he? Spider-Man doesn’t think so, but soon the ground opens up below them and Frances is sent falling into the void!
No daughter, I think I would prefer to remain here in Armageddon than join you for Christmas.
She stops though, bathed in a green light, lifted up by her father. He’s holding all three of them with his magic, I guess, suspended in the air. Beck then uses his powers and a green light envelops all three of them. Outside the helmet, Moon Knight is having a rough go of things. He’s being attacked by the snow monster, nutcrackers, and some nasty looking teddy bears. As he sees the helmet pulsate, he assumes that he has failed and apologizes to the moon. Then, his enemies drop dead and Spider-Man appears with the Becks and Moon Knight is forced to correct himself.
Oh look, it all turned out well in the end. That tends to happen at Christmas in TV shows.
While father and daughter have a reunion, Spider-Man remarks how Moon Knight really trashed the place. He reminds Spider-Man this isn’t the only place that’s been damaged this evening and Spidey lets out an “Oh no!” We cut to Dr. Strange finding his home in shambles. As a book crumbles to dust in his hands, he curses Spider-Man to the heavens! We then are taken to F.E.A.S.T. where Aunt May volunteers to help the less fortunate. Spider-Man, Moon Knight, and the Becks are shown enjoying a meal together and there’s laughter and happy, holiday, cheer. We then head to the roof, where Spider-Man is attempting to wrap things up for us, only he’s distracted by Moon Knight’s persistent conversation with the moon. He makes fun of him for it, but Moon Knight turns the tables since Spider-Man can’t even explain who he’s addressing. Moon Knight calls him a weirdo, and Spidey is apparently content to leave things there as he wishes us all a “Happy Holidays,” and we exit with an iris shot.
I suppose it didn’t turn out all that well for Strange. Don’t worry about him though, he can magic that glass back together or something.
That was how Spider-Man spent a Christmas. And it was a rather eventful one. I have to confess, I wasn’t much at all interested in the story of the Becks. We barely got to know Francine so it wasn’t as if I felt hurt by her betrayal of Spider-Man like he seemed to be. I also wasn’t attached to her, but I guess it’s good that Spidey wasn’t willing to take the easy way out and let the magic wand kill her. I also never saw the episodes with Mysterio so I didn’t have that to fall back on. What hurt things further though was the performance of Paul Scheer as Quentin Beck. He is so wooden in the role and the scenes with him are terrible. Was he just mailing this one in? I’m surprised they would stick with this casting because it did not work at all. Perhaps the direction for him was poor as when the vortex is swallowing them he sounds bored, like maybe he didn’t really know what was happening to his character? I also don’t understand how his powers work. I thought he just did illusions and the helmet contained the magic? Did he learn how to utilize the helmet’s magic from within it? Could he have “magicked” himself out of that thing this whole time? It’s messy.
Even Moon Knight joined them for Christmas dinner.
What did work though was Diedrich Bader as Moon Knight. He steals the show and when he’s not on the screen I was definitely looking for him. He gets to be a badass with a personality as he comes across as aloof due to his constant conversing with the moon and Spider-Man is a natural foil for such a character. He takes himself very seriously, and Spider-Man could certainly be described as the opposite. As for old web-head, he manages to be charming and charismatic, but also annoying. It’s a unique quality that Spider-Man sometimes possesses. This particular iteration pushes things at times and he’s definitely upstaged in the funny remarks category by Moon Knight and his deadpan delivery, but I’m guessing that doesn’t happen in most episodes. As for Christmas, it’s here in spirit and Mysterio does her part to make sure of that. We don’t really see much of the reunion at the end so we never get a big dose of those Christmas feels, but given my distaste for the performance of Scheer, it’s probably a good thing that we ended things where we did.
After watching this episode I just have one question: where’s my Spider-Man and Moon Knight spin-off?!
If you like Spider-Man and want to see him at Christmas, this is fine. There’s some lore here to work around, but nothing that should feel too difficult for a casual Spidey fan. The animation is solid and I like how this thing looks. It did take me a bit to warm up to Spidey’s constant eye posing, but I could definitely watch more of this. I don’t know that I will, but maybe. This episode and the rest of the show is streaming on Disney+ and I would not expect to see it shown on television, especially this late in the game. This is also the show’s second Christmas episode, but the blurb on the first one made it sound like an It’s a Wonderful Life parody and I didn’t want to bark up that tree. If I’m mistaken and you think I should check it out, let me know. For now, I feel fine leaving it at this. Plus, that one doesn’t have Moon Knight!
Can’t wait until tomorrow for more Christmas? Check out what we had to say on this day last year and beyond:
2021 marked an important anniversary in animation: Shrek turned 20. The animated film from DreamWorks is credited as really helping to launch the company as a viable competitor to Disney’s Pixar. Prior to Shrek, DreamWorks had found success at the box office with Antz and Chicken Run, but Shrek was the first to really explode…
When I listed out the best Christmas specials over a week ago, I included the stop-motion A SpongeBob Christmas. And I stand by that as that special is pretty great. Before there was A SpongeBob Christmas, there was The SpongeBob Christmas Special. Confused? Well, there are only so many ways to title a Christmas special.…
We have reached a day of great, holiday, release – Christmas Eve. And what better way to mark the occasion than with a holiday short titled The Night Before Christmas. A lot of cartoons have made use of this title, but today’s subject is the Silly Symphony short that falls under that heading. It felt…
One of the most iconic costumes in the world of superheroes is definitely that of Spider-Man. I put that classic red and blue with webbed detailing right up there with Superman and Batman. I would argue that there’s no more iconic costume in the world of Marvel than Spidey’s, and the crazy thing with Spider-Man is he really has two now iconic costumes. The Black Costume, the Symbiote Costume, the Alien Costume – whatever you call it, is pretty popular on its own. I know I’ve encountered several fans who even prefer the black look to the classic one. I can’t go that far with it, but I do enjoy it, even if Venom has largely taken ownership of the look over the years.
A small sampling of black costumed Spidey’s of the last 20 years or so: Kaiyodo Ultimate Spider-Man, Hasbro, Toy Biz Spider-Man Classics. The new one is an improvement in almost every way save for the “web holes” on the back of the Toy Biz Spider-Man’s hands.
The Symbiote costume has been popular. I can still remember when it first showed up in the ’94 Toy Biz line alongside the Venom II action figure. I wanted it, but because it was so popular, I had trouble tracking it down at the usual spots. I did have a local, dedicated, comic book store that had it along with Venom II. Unfortunately, they wanted 10 bucks for it which was double what Toys ‘R Us would charge me. I could only get one, so I got Venom. When I had replenished my funds, I could have gone back for it, but it was one of those figures saddled with a bad gimmick that made for an unattractive presentation. That was a thing we had to deal with back then. I didn’t mind a gimmick if it didn’t harm the sculpt, but ones that did were the bane of my existence as an action figure enthusiast in the mid-90s. I never ended up getting that figure, but I did get the 2022 edition so I feel like I’m making it up to my younger self.
This mold is an update over the prior one with the biggest addition being the diaphragm joint.
The retro card series from Hasbro is essentially just a subline of Marvel Legends. The packaging reflects the old Toy Biz line, right down to the artwork used for repeat characters. It does cause some confusion as collectors aren’t quite sure if this is an homage line or a line that’s supposed to reflect the animated series itself. I see this most with the recent Hobgoblin release, even though it looks nothing like the old cartoon. Homage line seems to be the right call. That Toy Biz line wasn’t a direct animated line either, though it was much closer to its source material than the X-Men line. What this line certainly isn’t though is a dedicated toon line like the upcoming X-Men one Hasbro is launching this year. These strike me as designs based on the comic with nostalgic packaging.
Together at last.
The exception, of course, is the animated Venom released last year. I have a lot of nostalgic attachment to Venom and the show, so I wanted to grab that release. When I did, I knew I wanted to at least pair him with a Spider-Man. As a bit of a fill-in, I grabbed Web-Man because I really liked the color palette. I also put in an order for this Symbiote Spider-Man when solicitations went up so the long goal was always to get this guy for my display and now he’s here.
The best I can do to visually illustrate my shoulder critique.
This Spider-Man is actually on a different body than Web-Man. I think Web-Man is on the “pizza body” and this version is on the updated body. They’re not vastly different, but there are some. This Spider-Man stands a tick shy of six and a half inches, which seems tall to me, but I’m not a regular collector of this line and can’t speak for how others feel. I don’t believe it’s a true 1/12 scale line. The overall look is pretty much what I envision Spider-Man to be. He’s well-muscled, but lean compared with the more bulky heroes out there. I really like the head shape which has a more pointed chin than Web-Man, and Hasbro did a solid job of minimizing the look of the articulation. It helps that this is a character in an all black suit so you don’t get unsightly issues like the color of the pins not matching the surrounding area. My one real critique of this body is a common one I have for Marvel Legends and it’s the shoulders. They just sit so low on the body. It’s not as noticeable as it is with Web-Man, but it’s something that needs to get better. They just really like this look of large traps sloping down into the shoulders when superheroes tend to have really big shoulders! These ones even sit entirely below the sculpted clavicle. It’s not super noticeable if you pose him well, but this design isn’t really helping out articulation (which we’ll get to) so I don’t understand why it persists.
At least the paint slop is on the rear of the figure.
Being an all black figure means there’s little need for paint. Had this been a true toon line, or one aiming to even replicate comic shading, there would be a need for blue highlights, but that’s not Hasbro’s style. He’s all black save for the white portions. And when it comes to that, we have almost two figures. From the front, he looks pretty great. The eyes are well-defined and well-painted. I love the shape of them. The logo on the chest is quite clean as well, though the opacity of the paint is subpar. There’s too much black showing through giving it a grimy appearance. That’s true of the white panels on the hands as well. Here, we have a possible error too as there’s no “web hole” even though the packaging claims this is the symbiote suit. Longtime fans know that when Spider-Man ditched the alien, he still kept the black look as a traditional costume so in that sense the absence is not an error. It’s a nitpick, I know, but how hard would it have been to get that right? On the rear of the figure, the spider logo is more messy. There’s a scratch on mine in the lower torso and some excess white paint just behind the right shoulder. It’s on the rear of the figure so it’s not a huge deal, but it’s an error and one of those that you can’t even see when inspecting a figure in the card which is always frustrating.
Spider pose!
Spider-Man is known for being rather nimble, so of course a Spider-Man action figure is packed with articulation. This dude has a lot, but it’s not all as functional as it probably could be. His head is on a ball-peg and that has plenty of range. The shoulders are ball-hinged and this is the area I alluded to earlier. He can’t raise his arms out to the side all of the way and getting him into a swinging pose is more challenging than expected, but do-able. He does have butterfly joints and they’re okay. Hasbro painted the spider logo all throughout the joint so you don’t get an ugly gap on the rear of the figure. The legs won’t be aligned, but there’s no real helping that. There’s a biceps swivel, double-jointed elbows, and the hands swivel and hinge. All of the hinges are horizontal. There’s a ball-joint in the diaphragm which lets the figure tilt n’ twist. The spider will obviously become miss-aligned when you do so, but again, there’s no helping that. There is a solid amount of clearance between the upper and lower torso so paint rub is minimal, but still something to watch out for. The joint also lets Spidey bend back a bit and crunch forward and when used in tandem with the ab crunch below you get quite a bit of range. There’s no waist twist, and the hips use a ball and hinge so you can drop the legs down. The drop-down function doesn’t really add anything as he can kick forward just as far either way. His butt cheeks prevent him from kicking back, but he can go out to the side almost to a full split. There are thigh cuts, double-jointed knees, a boot cut, and ankle hinges and rockers and all have plenty of range.
If you’re persistent, you can even get a one-handed pose. Note: the figure did fall over shortly after this picture was taken.
This figure articulates well enough. If I were allowed to design it, the only thing I’d change is those shoulders and the hips. Normal ball and socket hips would allow a thigh twist there so we could ditch the kind of ugly thigh cut. I just find that style of cut useless because it miss-aligns the muscle groups and just looks stupid. This guy though can get into most Spidey poses. The one that’s still out of reach is the classic three-pointed stance. To aid in his posing are some extra hands, which are the only accessories he comes with. He comes with fists hands and he can swap to open, “wall-crawling,” hands and web shooting “thwip” hands. The thwip hands don’t make any sense if this is the symbiote suit, but I think they’re still good to have. No gripping hands is kind of a letdown, but he also has nothing to grip. I would love web effects, and they’ve done them in the past, and that’s something sorely missing. This is also a $22 figure and accessories and paint are where Hasbro skimps with them. I’m not surprised, but I can still want more. And what really could some already tooled web effects actually add to the cost here? It’s probably less than a dollar, probably far less, but that’s what you get with Hasbro.
It would look better with some web effects…
And cost, or rather price, is really the main goal with this line. Hasbro wants to get you a good enough action figure at a low cost. This isn’t an import figure or a boutique thing, it’s a mass market retail release. As such, it’s pretty good! The figure does have that cheap feel when compared with a lot of other figures I own. The plastic can feel “gummy” at times and little in the articulation is smooth, but it’s also not loose or stuck so that’s a positive. And this is also a style of character that really fits what Hasbro wants to do: simple sculpt, simple paint, lots of articulation points. There’s a reason Hasbro keeps reusing this body, because it works. And for me, it gets the job done as now I have a Spider-Man to pair with my Venom. It would have been cool to get an animated deco, but this is fine. There are rumors that Hasbro intends to do an animated Spidey in his classic red and blue, and if so, I’ll probably take a look. Should they do that, I hope they at least update the arms to a pin-less system as I really hate how those look on the already released Spider-Man figures which end up with unsightly red dots on their underarm. I don’t know if it will be a deal breaker, but I guess I’ll know when I see it.
In this house, Venom always gets the upper hand.
Symbiote Spider-Man is currently being stocked by both Target and Walmart with other smaller shops still awaiting product. It’s a popular release, so it doesn’t hang around on pegs for very long. I actually got mine via Hasbro’s eBay page which doesn’t charge for shipping. If you’re still looking, maybe keep an eye on that and see if they do a restock. It’s popular for a reason so I would expect the figure to remain in production for at least a little while, but with all of the delays around the world, it could be awhile. Stay vigilant and good luck and if you have to go to the secondary market at least the prices don’t appear to be outrageous.
No, this is not bootleg Spider-Man, this is Web-Man! Who is Web-Man? I actually had no idea until I just looked it up. It would seem Web-Man is a copy of Spider-Man created by Dr. Doom. Not only are his colors inverted from the real thing, but so is most everything else. And since Spidey is basically a genius, Web-Man is quite stupid. As far as I know, he appeared in just one issue in 1977 and has never been heard from again. Though this being a comic book character, it’s entirely possible I’m wrong about that last part as comics have been known to recycle characters here and there. Even obscure ones.
I’ve mentioned in posts before that I used to collect Marvel Legends. And alongside Legends, I also collected the offshoot Spider-Man and X-Men lines produced by Toy Biz and later Hasbro. I stopped though around 2007 and really haven’t looked back aside from a lone Deadpool acquisition last year. So why on Earth am I doing a Web-Man review? It’s kind of a funny thing. I’ve been aware of Hasbro’s retro card releases of the past year or so which seek to emulate the 1994 Toy Biz Spider-Man line. I loved that line as a kid and I had a bunch of those cards (and probably still do) and the figures that were once stuck to them. It definitely tickles my nostalgia bone to see these things in stores, though so far not enough to get me to bite. When it came to Web-Man though, I just loved the colors. He’s this light shade of blue juxtaposed with a very bright red. It’s not the true inverse of Spider-Man, who trends darker typically, but there is something so aesthetically pleasing to me about this color combo. I loved it the moment I saw it in product shots online, but not enough to buy it. That is, until, Amazon just happened to have the thing in stock and I grabbed one. I did want to add at least one Spider-Man to my collection because I snagged a Pulse exclusive Venom over the weekend (he has yet to ship), and now I have one. Sort of.
These cards are indeed glorious.
Being that I haven’t purchased a Spider-Man figure in quite some time, this figure is probably a bit more exciting for me than it is for longtime Legends collectors. I think the last Spider-Man I bought was Iron Spider-Man, which I think was released by Hasbro, but was one of the last figures Toy Biz was working on when it was dissolved. I’d dig it out if it was easily accessible (I might have even sold it) to compare, but other than that my last Spidey might have been the Marvel Legends Series 6 First Appearance Spider-Man. Either way, this is quite different. Now, my understanding is this Web-Man uses the same body as Hasbro’s Spider-Man 2099. I was actually a little surprised when I got him because I had just assumed this was a repaint of the classic Spider-Man released on the retro card. That one was pretty well-received, from what I understand, and ended up being hard to track down because everyone and their mother apparently wanted at least two: one to play and one to keep mint-on-card. The main difference between this body and that one is a diaphragm joint which takes the place of the waist twist on this one. There are pros and cons to each, one major pro of the other Spidey is that he can crouch down into a 3-point stance, but it’s more of an interesting observation for me than anything. I just assumed that all Spider-Men would be produced on that body going forward.
I love this blue, it’s just beautiful.
As mentioned before, this guy comes on a retro card back which looks lovely. He has a one sentence bio on the back with no cross-sell below. The card itself is thicker than the old ones and the blister is attached in a different way. It would have been awesome to see Hasbro invest in resealable blisters, but they also appear to be trying to phase plastic out of their packaging as much as possible (and that’s a good thing). Once extracted, Web-Man stands at about 6 1/4″ when placed on a flat surface. Immediately, my eyes are drawn to this guy. That blue is just beautiful and it contrasts so well against the bright red. The black web-lining is bold and striking and just serves as a reminder that this is one of the best designs of all-time. Superman, Batman, Captain America – all take a backseat to the classic Spider-Man design. I love the shape of the eyes which remind me of Ditko’s Spider-Man, but bigger. The webs on the mask form a little pentagon in-between the eyes and it’s so clean looking. The reference art I found on the guy doesn’t feature that detail, but I don’t care. I like the look of it. His head is a bit more square than most Spider-Man sculpts I’ve seen, but it’s not something I mind. The color matching between the blue, plastic, head and the blue paint on the torso is pretty well done. If anything, the head is just ever so slightly darker, but I don’t think most will notice it unless they’re putting this figure under intense scrutiny, which I am.
There’s a bit of ugly here, like that red line above the shoulder and a little missing blue near the front elbow pin.
The torso is a little more of a mixed-bag, but certainly not a disaster. Web lines are hard, and with this figure I would say it passes the eye test when on a shelf. When right in front there are a few blemishes. The outer, black, line on the right hip is a little off on mine and there’s a little bit of blue paint over the center line right around the belly button. The right pectoral also has some blue slop and it’s probably the ugliest error on the front of the figure as the black webbing doesn’t extend to the outer line as a result. Up by his left trap is some missing paint resulting in a red line that’s distracting. It’s right on a seem where the plastic was fused together and if I was confident in my ability to match this paint I’d probably cover it. The back of the figure also features some messy spots along the edge, and he has an awful hole in his back. I don’t think Hasbro still uses those old peg stands, but I could be wrong. I’m guessing this hole was needed for Spider-Man 2099’s cape or something. It is an unfortunate eye sore though, as are the pins in his arms. If ever a character cried out for pin-less engineering in the arms, it’s Spider-Man, because you’re always going to run into this with his classic (and inverted) costume where you can only match the outer or inner color of the arm. Hasbro always opts to match the outer arm, which is the right move, but it means the inner arm has a circle of color that shouldn’t be there. In this case, it’s blue above and below the elbows. At least with the knees it’s not an issue. It would be nice if they just put a dab of paint there, but this is Hasbro and they’re quite focused on making low cost figures which is why their figures often are priced lower than everyone else.
I do wish he didn’t have a giant hole in his back.
Aside from the blemishes here and there, I do really like the look of this figure. This is a solid sculpt for a Spider-Man adjacent character. The only sculpting issue I have is that his shoulders are really small. Hasbro likes to almost recess them in the torso which just gives them an odd look. It’s really only noticeable in vanilla poses, but given this is a Spider-Man, you’re not likely to pose him in such a manner on your shelf. The musculature looks good otherwise as this is a lean dude and I like that he seems to have a unique spider logo on his chest. He’s just a very pleasing figure to look at, all in all.
I wish I could get that left hand on the ground, otherwise the articulation is pretty good.
Now when it comes a Spider-Man figure articulation is going to be super important. This figure may lack the updated configuration of the new Spider-Man body, but he’s no slouch in the articulation department. For starters, his head sits on a ball-hinge. This gives him very good up and down range, but little tilt. At the shoulders we have a butterfly joint that works very nicely. The inner pieces are painted though, so hopefully paint rub doesn’t become a major issue over time. For now, it seems okay. The shoulders are on standard ball-hinges and you do get that mismatch color issue here too as the hinge is blue plastic so he has a stripe of color in his armpit that shouldn’t be. Like the pins, this is just a trade-off on where to put the offending color and Hasbro did the best it could. And in this case, if they had tried painting over it the paint would likely just flake off rather quickly. The weird way they sculpt the shoulders does make it difficult to get his arms horizontal, but you can get close. There’s a biceps swivel past that and double-jointed elbows which bend past 90, but not much past. I was a little surprised with that part. At the wrists are swivels and hinges which might be a little gummy out of the box. At least mine were. In the torso we have an ab crunch and Web-Man can crunch forward pretty far and back a little bit, but without any ugly gapping issues. There’s a waist twist below that and the legs are on ball-pegs. He can kick forward rather well and almost do a split. There’s a thigh cut past there and double-jointed knees. We also get a boot cut and hinges at the ankles to go along with excellent pivot action.
Thwip!
Really, the only complaint I have with the articulation is the inability to get the figure into a classic, Spider-Man, three-point stance. Aside from that, he moves well and I didn’t have any stuck joints on my figure. Almost better, there are no loose joints either as everything is nice and tight. He’s a lot of fun to mess around with and probably would be even more fun with an action stand or some web effects. Sadly, he’s rather light on the accessory front, a common thing with Marvel Legends. He comes with fisted hands in the package that can be swapped with web-slinging hands or wall-crawling ones. They’re pretty standard Spider-Man hands, though he lacks gripping ones so even if you make your own web he won’t be able to grab them. It’s certainly decent, but does beg the question would collectors be happy to spend another buck or two to get more stuff? I’m used to buying NECA and Super7 figures which retail for a lot more than Legends so it’s probably no surprise where I come in on that question, but Hasbro exclusive collectors are definitely more price sensitive from what I’ve seen.
“I don’t think this is the New York I’m used to.”
Web-Man is what I wanted him to be. I saw a design that looked really pleasing to me and the finished product didn’t disappoint. Yes, I can pick over this thing and find little blemishes and imperfections here and there, but that’s true of pretty much any mass market retail action figure. Especially one with as demanding a paint job as Web-Man. It definitely would be preferable to find a vast assortment of these guys at retail rather purchase online sight unseen. That way you can hopefully find the one with the least amount of imperfections. This is admittedly an odd figure to have as the lone Spider-Man representation so to kind of make up for that I’ve pre-ordered the upcoming black costume Spidey. Even so, I love how this guy looks and it doesn’t bother me at all that I don’t have a traditional Spider-Man figure right now. Maybe when Hasbro eventually does a pinless one I’ll bite, but for now this is great. If you’re like me and you find yourself just drawn to this color scheme then this one’s for you.
“Easy there, big fella! You’re a little out of your league here.”
Forgive me if I’ve said something similar before; but younger people are shocked by the norms of the past! Yeah, it’s a very “old man” thing to say, but it’s also an easy way to impress someone younger. And in this case, the shocking thing to say is that Marvel Comics often found itself in a great deal of financial turmoil in decades past. The company that now is owned by Disney and is able to churn out hit film after hit film about even its most obscure characters once had to file for bankruptcy protection. Go through the history of the company and you’ll find other moments in time where things weren’t so rosy, though Marvel often can be credited with being forward-thinking in looking for other ways to make money.
That’s how Marvel ended up in the TV business in the 1980s. Unable to find the same level of success on both the small and big screen as rival Detective Comics, Marvel started self-producing television programs which included the company’s popular stars as well as properties unrelated to the comic business. The most successful Marvel TV program is probably Muppet Babies, as the company seemed to struggle to really break-through with one of its superheroes even famously failing to find a broadcast partner for its mega-hot X-Men franchise as the pilot for a cartoon series failed to be picked up. This ended up being a good thing since not too long after Fox would start airing a different X-Men series in 92 which ended up being far better than anything Marvel would have done on its own.
Sega landing the Spider-Man license seems like a pretty big deal.
When video games started to take off once again in the 80s, it’s possible some in the industry would have expected Marvel to self-publish. It was already doing so with TV, so why not games? It’s possible Marvel just didn’t trust the industry which had only recently emerged from a crash itself. And whenever Marvel wanted to make money easily, it would turn to licensing deals. With comics rapidly gaining steam in the 80s and building towards what would be a massive boom into the 90s, Marvel probably saw no real benefit in exploring the world of games and was more than willing to see what other companies would do with its characters.
Enter Sega. Sega was fighting an uphill battle to dethrone Nintendo as the kind of the living room. Sega’s strategy was to go after the kids who may have first experienced games via Super Mario Bros. and were looking for something a bit more their speed as they grew older. This made a character like Spider-Man appealing to Sega, and in a world where exclusive licensing agreements were still far off, Sega was able to convince Marvel to let it develop its own games featuring Spider-Man. Details of the agreement are scarce these days, so it’s unknown just what kind of restrictions Sega was under. The deal was apparently tenuous, but success of the Genesis/Mega Drive game Spider-Man vs The Kingpin apparently settled things down as the title once had an attach rate of over 60% with Genesis owners.
One of the first games I’d go looking for as a kid in an arcade.
Back in the 1980s, Sega was as much known for its home console business as it was for the arcade. The arcade boom was coming down, but Sega had success with a variety of genres and many of its games were ported to the Genesis. With the Spider-Man license in-hand, Sega sought to craft an arcade beat-em-up experience with the character that would differentiate itself from similar titles. It would be a game developed for Sega’s System 32 board which was the company’s first attempt at 32-bit development. This also meant hopes for a home port would essentially be dead-on-arrival, but that’s why Sega had the separate Spider-Man vs The Kingpin slated to arrive the same year, 1991.
The normally solo Spider-Man would need some help to take down Kingpin, and entertain more than one player.
When crafting a brawler for the arcade, one of the main issues to solve initially is just what characters to make playable? The brawler had started as a one or two-player affair, but by the 90s arcade-goers expected four-player co-op play. The challenge with Spider-Man is he’s mostly a solo act, so Sega likely had to work with Marvel on finding three allies to join him. They ended up settling on the sometimes ally sometimes foe Black Cat, Sub-Mariner, and the Avenger Hawkeye. The selection of Hawkeye was somewhat interesting as he was a playable character in the Captain America brawler also released in ’91. This naturally lent to comparisons between the two titles with at least my group of friends viewing the Spider-Man Hawkeye as the far superior affair since the graphics were far more attractive.
Not much to see here, just four heroes kicking some butt.
Sega’s approach to the tried and true beat-em-up genre is both conventional and unconventional. Sega often found gimmicks to keep things fresh, such as the transformations of Altered Beast or the mounts in Golden Axe. For Spider-Man, the game begins like any other. You select one of four characters and begin the game with a wave of enemies crashing down upon you. Players have to contend with enemies coming in from both sides of the screen and as they’re dispatched a “Go!” prompt will display imploring the player to continue right. Each character has just two action buttons: jump and attack. Pressing the two simultaneously provides for a ranged super attack unique to each character. Utilizing this move also sacrifices some health. Players can attack while in the air and also use a super move from that position as well which basically results in a diving attack. Interestingly, the amount of credits deposited into the machine increases the amount of health the character possesses as opposed to the amount of lives. As long as you keep pumping in quarters, you’ll never die!
Okay, now this is different.
Where things get interesting in Spider-Man is after the first boss encounter: Venom. The storyline for the game is the Kingpin as acquired some magical artifact and Spider-Man needs to get it back. When Venom gets exposed to that artifact, he grows to a tremendous size. In order to convey that to the player, the player characters and the environment around them shrinks via a zoom-out effect. This also alters the gameplay from a brawler to a basic platformer. Characters now have a ranged attack and all can cling to surfaces in order to scale buildings. Other elements often featured in that style of game show up as well such as falling surfaces, obstacles that need to be dodged, and so on.
Electro is one of the bosses who only appears during a zoomed-out sequence.
Every act in the game features a zoom-out sequence, even though only the initial one features a giant enemy. If the entire game were crafted around this style, it would be okay, but when the two are mixed it works quite well as a change of pace. Some boss fights are exclusive to the zoomed out mode too, which is actually kind of a shame since we’re denied seeing a proper, large, model of certain villains. Nevertheless, it’s Spider-Man’s defining characteristic and it works really well. It’s a real surprise this tactic wasn’t utilized more, but then again, fighting games mostly took over the arcade space shortly there-after and the arcade brawler largely faded away.
Battling a foe like the Green Goblin is a lot different from taking on someone like Venom.
The game is divided into four acts, but each one is quite long and will have the players going back and forth between the two gameplay styles. And even though there are only four acts, there are still numerous boss encounters with Spider-Man’s most popular foes. Expect to face-off against the likes of Venom, Green Goblin, Scorpion, Electro, Hobgoblin, and more. Many will have to be fought more than once, with Venom being the most frequent (this was probably when the character was at the height of its popularity). Some of the fights aren’t much to speak of as the enemy functions like a regular enemy, just with a unique sprite and health bar, but others are multi-stage battles and can get pretty challenging. Kingpin himself is also a bit of a red-herring as the real villain of the game is revealed after the third act, which keeps gamers on their toes, I suppose.
Character sprites are big and detailed when not zoomed out.
The presentation is where things are at though. The characters look great on the System 32 board, especially in the non-zoomed out portions. The models are big and detailed making Spider-Man one of the best looking beat-em-ups produced. The villains are tremendous as well, and in between acts there’s some story-line material with some limited voice over. About the only thing I dislike about the visuals rests with Spider-Man himself, as he has this odd, slightly stooped, posture. The music is also catchy, and some was even recycled from older Sega games. Most of the boss characters also get a line or two of spoken dialogue which helps add a little pizzazz to those encounters.
The charging attack, demonstrated here by Kingpin, gets a bit annoying.
Like any brawler, the gameplay does get repetitive eventually. Spider-Man is able to help itself not just with the gameplay switches during acts, but also with the boss variety. A character like Green Goblin attacks in a manner far different from the Kingpin, for example, though by the end of the game there is definitely some boss fatigue. The hardest foes all seem to attack in a similar pattern in that they get knocked down and then pop back up into a charging attack. The penultimate fight of the game can get a bit annoying as the boss has a very small window of time in which he can be harmed before going into a charging animation that renders him invincible, or a blasting position that grants the same. Even so, Spider-Man is a surprisingly fair game. Most arcade brawlers exist just to extract quarters, but it’s possible to gang up on a boss and practically neuter them. Especially with two players, as most boss characters will pop-up after being knocked down to immediately vault across the screen, rather than be momentarily invincible when first getting up. This means two well-positioned characters can effectively “ping pong” a boss until it’s been defeated. Preventing this from becoming a true exploit though is the fact that most bosses are accompanied by standard grunt enemies. I never counted, but Spider-Man can handle a lot of enemies on screen all at once so things can get a bit hectic. It makes those crowd-clearing special maneuvers more and more useful as the game progresses. The trade-off though is that enemy sprites are recycled throughout as you will largely battle the same three enemies all game long, just with different weapon and color variations.
The game keeps track of how many enemies each player defeated and which took down a boss adding a competitive element to the experience.
A play-through of Spider-Man will last about 45 minutes, maybe a bit more. The one trick the game does pull that I’m not a fan of is that the player’s health is always gradually depleting as a means of forcing the players to move quicker. This seems to mostly be in effect during the platforming sections which is a bit annoying as the game does encourage some mild exploration. The “Go!” arrow might be telling you to go one way, but there’s an obvious area in a different direction with health power-ups. Even with that health-drain in place, a pair of reasonably skilled gamers should be able to get through this one on about 20 credits, or 5 bucks back in ’91. After each act, scores are tabulated and health bonuses distributed in kind as well which helps prolong the adventure and adds a little competition as well. The game awards a boss “kill” to whoever scores the last hit and boss defeats are weighted far more heavily than basic enemies so competitive players will do whatever they can to make sure they land that final blow.
The game is quite unique when compared with its peers, at least as unique as a brawler can be.
Since Spider-Man was an arcade-only release, it has become a bit of an obscure title. For whatever reason, other arcade-only brawlers like X-Men and The Simpsons seem to be remembered more fondly even though I find Spider-Man to be the superior experience. It’s a wonderful looking game, even by today’s standards, and the gameplay quirks help set it apart as well. As much as I enjoy X-Men, that game is a pretty basic brawler that’s over quickly, but also brutal when it comes to quarters. It’s possible Spider-Man has been victimized by the success of the Genesis game since so many people had it that it’s likely the first game they think of when people mention the character and Sega in the same sentence. It certainly wasn’t an issue of distribution as I routinely encountered this game in the wild, and it was often the game I went to first.
If this game were re-released in 2020 the legal info would be a lot more complicated than what is seen here.
Spider-Man is one of the best arcade brawlers ever released, and it’s also one of the few to remain exclusive to that format. When Sega brought 32-bit gaming to the living room with the 32X, it chose to craft a new Spider-Man game for that system rather than port this one, which ended up being the final Spider-Man game developed by Sega. Eventually games like X-Men received a release just a via X-Box Live, but Sega’s Spider-Man has remained in cabinets alone. The game was fairly popular so it’s not hard to track down a cabinet today, but buying one is quite costly since the character is so beloved. I suspect we’ve never seen the game made available due to the complicated licensing agreements surrounding both the game and Spider-Man himself. Sony holds the license for basically all Spider-Man media, while the presence of Hawkeye might give Disney a substantial voice in the room should there ever be talk of re-releasing the game. And then there’s Sega, who no longer has a home console of its own to bill this as an exclusive for. The game is likely viewed as too niche to warrant trying to figure out how to spread the money among all interested parties. Ideally it would be offered as a downloadable title like the Konami brawlers were, but that window has apparently been shut, and Sony striking a deal with Sega to include the game as a bonus feature on a modern Spider-Man title seems unlikely. As a result, if you want to experience what Spider-Man has to offer in 2020 you’ll need to track down a cabinet, or resort to other, less legal, means. Should you find yourself playing it, expect to have a pretty good time. Just make sure to bring a friend, or two, or three!
The Nostalgia Spot 