Before I begin, I want to avoid some confusion that was exhibited from some of the earlier Many faces of reviews. I haven't been reviewing figures I have already reviewed so since so many feel I am leaving some of the important figures out I thought I would add the links to the previous reviews right up front. Here you go:
"Dark" Spider-Man (technically Venom but I added him here anyway)
Now that is out of the way...
While I will admit that Spider-Man is not my favorite hero. If I were to be honest, he doesn't really rank in my top ten but I do like Spider-Man, I have enjoyed two of the three movies released in the past few years and I still hold on to my old comics from back in the day. I can't remember when I first saw Spider-Man, I do have a very, very vague recollection of him lifting his mask over his head but I could never, ever ID the issue or where I saw it. I was very young (as I know we lived on our farm, which I moved off of when I turned four years old) so the memories are fuzzy. In fact I remember the comic being ripped from my hands by our dogs, Jack and Joe and torn apart and being very upset. I know it was very weird because I had just said "Spidey takes off his mask" to my mother and the comic was gone. I still argue if I saw the exact panel I would know it as I remember it very vividly, so far no luck.
The above is probably my second or third memory of my life, so in other words Spidey has always been around somewhere. I do know I recognized Superman before Spider-man but I have no idea in what context (but from what my dad told me it was the old TV show on reruns). I can remember being ten and my mom letting me wallpaper one wall of my room with Spidey wallpaper (truth is we didn't have the money to get the wall paper for all the walls, but I didn't know that). The next year my mom let me wallpaper the other wall with DC characters (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash and Green Lantern).
I know I began buying the Spider-Man comics regularly around 1982. I had many of them but that was the first time I tried to catch them month after month at the grocery store. I know somewhere in there I had the old Mego Spidey, but I have no clue if it was the 12 inch or the 8 inch. However I think it was the 8 inch. I even had the Pocket Super-hero version of Spidey from Mego back in the day. Not sure of exactly when I got it, but I know I also got Hulk.
I read the Spider-Man comic pretty regular for many years, all the while hoping for another (better) 1:18th scale Spider-Man figure. Eventually there was the Secret Wars line, but they were a bit too tall to work with my Star Wars and GI Joe figures. I made due for a while but it still was a problem with the scale. I kept with the Spider-Man comic until the lame Clone Saga. I really think that whole storyline hurt Spidey in the long run. I mean it did turn me against a series of comics that I had enjoyed for well over a decade and a half.
I did collect the Toybiz Spider-man line for a while, but the whole time I was hoping for a 1:18th scale line. Marvel Legends also produced a few Spider-Man's I liked, but again there was the scale issues. Then Toybiz finally did Spider-Man in 1:18th scale in its Super-Hero Showdown/Marvel Legends Showdown line. After that we are off to the races.
This is probably one of my favorite Spider-Man figures ever. The one that MIGHT top it is the SDCC Movie figure. No matter what your feelings, the articulation in the MLS line defiantly tops anything before or since with the exception of Microman, and even then only barely. I won't lie and say the figure has no issues (i.e. hands and feet in proportion to the body) but overall this really is probably the best overall Spider-Man figure to date.
And before anyone cries and says "But-But they break easy" They DON'T BREAK, the arms come off easy for ease of customization, please let that topic die already. I have heard the Hasbro apologists cry that foul for years and it is just a fallacy, they just come apart easy, simple as that.
The MU Spider-Man is close but not near as good as the SHS Spidey IMO. This figure goes pretty cheap on the secondary market, so in other words grab it, it is a must have. Again I still think it is one of the best Spider-Man figures done in 1:18th scale. While that is my opinion, well hey you are reading an opinion piece by me ;-).
Too bad Toybiz couldn't hit a home run twice.
While I hate to say this figure is terrible, it falls way short of what I would expect from the Black Costumed Spider-Man. As thin as the regular one was this is even thinner. Add to that the paint job that honestly never seemed to fit this figure (I think they were going for the about to turn to Venom look) and you have a ton of potential that falls to the side.
One thing Marvel Universe did nail with the black costume is the mask, and that is the exact same thing that Toybiz failed at. Really the face is probably the most important feature on a figure and to fail so miserably it just fails the entire figure. Add to the fact that he hasn't got the signature white square on the top of his hands and you see a figure that just doesn't reach the mark on what this figure could have been.
Next Spidey took a break from the 1:18th scale until Marvel Universe hit.
This is still one of the best wave 1 MU figures done. He has had several repaints but the mold is still very solid and works with all of the different paintjobs. The webs sink in and for some collectors this is a bother, but I really think the webs add a great deal to the figure. It gives it a texture that is severely lacking in much of the rest of the MU line.
So overall this figure has been on the pegs pretty regularly and even the repaints have been a piece of cake to find. For those who just want a good Spider-Man this works really well. I won't say he is the best Spidey figure, but he is darn good.
Still I think I need to get rid of the lightest one just to get my collection some sanity.
Up next, another figure I will probably have some heat for at the end of all this...
I have seen posts on message boards that call this "the supreme" Spider-Man. Honestly I don't see it. I don't want to say the figure is terrible but defiantly not what I was looking for in a black costumed Spidey.
The figure was repainted in the Secret Wars comic packs, and some have said it was a vast improvement. I think that is kind of subjective as the blue highlights of the single packed version is to give texture to the costume on the comic page. Secret Wars (the Comic mini-series) doesn't do this most of the time and there are a few moments where Spidey does look awkward.
This figure has been repainted to the point of lunacy. Not only for Spider-Man, but many other characters as well. Some point to this figure as being a perfect blank slate, but one thing it does is gives the line a feeling of being cheap. The near $10 price tag this line has had from day one seems to be unneeded when so much recycling of other figures is involved. Nevermind the fact that Marvel movie lines use even more molds and are generally $2 cheaper.
The biggest issue with this figure is the fact that he doesn't match the scale of the previously released Spider-Man in the MU line. Black Costume Spidey is actually taller than the Wave 1 Spidey. This has been one of the few constant complaints I have seen from collectors about this figure. This is also one of the reasons the MU line's scale seems inconsistent, this mold is too tall especially when compared to the other molds in the line.
I don't want to say I hate the figure, but it is not what I would expect from a black costumed Spidey. The long arms and legs just add to the figures overall problems. Some people apparently love this figure, but I cannot bring myself to do so.
However even with the mold I can be forgiving in some instances...
Hasbro apparently wanted to have one Spider-Man in every wave. This is a hard call since although I like Spidey I don't want to be overwhelmed by him (But it appears I am anyway). As such Hasbro went to House of M storyline to be able to give us yet another Spidey. I was never a huge fan of House of M, I didn't hate it but it wasn't as Earth shattering as the press releases tried to make it either. I think the whole story could have been told in half the issues as well, but that is a curse of modern comics trying to fit in the trade paperback format.
I do really dig the pattern of the figure, when it was released I was very resistant but I ended up getting it as a gift that Christmas. He kind of grew on me fast just because of the uniqueness of the patterns. I can forgive the lack of texture because this is such a unique version of Spidey (Although I call into question the ability to make those same textures on Ben Riley Spidey, but that is beside the point). He also comes with an accessory that I honestly feel should have been with other Spider-Man figures: the web backpack. I saw someone calling this "the trash bag" once, I humbly disagree. I think this works great with all the Spider-Man figures and is worth picking up for that alone. Spidey has been swinging around with his clothes and camera in his webbing backpack forever, so why not finally put that into plastic form for the 1:18th scale.
This is one of those figures that you might get if you are a big Spider-Man fan, I can see why casual fans would pass this up. I do think the backpack is worth the figure though and wonder why Hasbro hasn't released it with other versions of Spider-Man.
Now on to another figure I might get heat over...
I have a major beef with this figure, the fact that the webs are painted on and not part of the mold. To me it feels like a major step backwards, like going from Marvel Legends back to Secret Wars or something. Some people praise this figure for this fact, I am sorry, I can't. Yes, even though the recessed webs are rather unrealistic their absence is quite noticeable and missed. There is a very nice tactile feeling with the SHS Spider-Man, the Wave 1 MU Spider-Man, even the Spider-Man line Spider-Man that is absent here. It is very hard to explain but it just feels like the most important aspect of this figure is totally missing.
To be blunt the extra large eyes of the figure don't help matters either. Although they do add some necessarily texture the eyes only work for the Black Costume Spider-Man this mold was intended for, with this mold they look way out of place.
This is the figure that was packed with Sentry, so if you want an Sentry figure it is hard to avoid this version of Spider-Man. However he does top my list of the "get rid of" pile of Spider-Men I have accumulated.
To be honest "super poseable" is kind of misnomer. I suppose it could be argued that he is super-poseable in relation to the Spider-Man line, but that really isn't saying much. Truth is he is much less poseable than the Marvel Universe wave 1 version of Spider-Man. Where he does win points is the fact his scale works much better than most of the Marvel Universe efforts.
In what works for it is the only reason one might pick it up, scale. The Spider-Man line is a bit shorter than most of the Marvel Universe line and as such fits better with Star Wars and old school GI Joe than most other Spider-Man efforts. In the end acquiring this figure depends on what you want.
This really does fit much better IMO than the Marvel Universe or Marvel Legends Showdown versions of Black Costume Spidey. He is the right scale and has the proper head paint. This same mold was repainted for the Night Glider Spidey which I think turned out a bit better but I like this one as well. Of all the Black Costumed Spider-Man attempts I think this one is the better of the bunch (Note I am excluding Night Glider). The one thing that I think would make this figure better would be to have more articulation, but it is the Spider-Man line so what do you expect.
This figure was on my favorites list of the past year and it is purely for the novelty value. I don't think translucent plastic has ever been combined with metallic parts before. I might be wrong but this was the first time I ever saw it. But its a fun figure just on that basis alone. Honestly it is one of my favorite Spider-Man figures just for the novelty factor.
It's really hard to justify a Spider-Man that is, at essence, the same thing we have seen over and over. Still the novelty value far outweighs the fact that he feels like old ground. I like him a great deal and feel he is worth the whole Hydro set. However, not everything in the Hydro set is worth while...
I think on paper this is a cool figure, but the execution is far from what I would desire. The lack of articulation is the first part that hurts this figure, but also the mold itself seems kind of chaotic, like someone couldn't decide which look to go with and just tossed a bunch of them together. I think if the mold was more uniform and had articulation I would love this figure. In fact I can say that much of the Spider-Man line, if they had just rudimentary articulation (i.e. elbows, knees, hips, shoulders) would be more desirable to me. As it stands the Spidey line falls short of the mark unfortunately with the exception of a few notable figures.
This easily ends up in my toss pile, I have no desire to keep it even on the novelty level. The addition of the Doc Ock arms would be a draw one would think but really it is far from home to me.
So that wraps up this edition of "The Many Faces of..." reviews. Who is up next in the mess. None other than Cobra's super saboteur and one of my favorite bad guys of all time: Firefly. Until then...Yeah you know the drill.