Day 4 of Guest Review Week brings us to a site that knows how to have fun with action figures. ZedsJoeSite.com features some great reviews, but the real gem of Zed’s site is the ongoing toy webcomic, Scale Wars. Today, Zed’s taking a look at the new ultra-poseable Amazing Spider-Man.
ZedHatch: Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can.
Yes, it’s inevitable that anytime Spider-Man is in the spotlight that the old theme music comes up. So once again we are treated to a new Spider-Man movie and how is it? How could I know? Seriously the previews kind of leave me with mixed messages so I am just going to wait until the movie hits video to rent it. And what does that have to do with a review of the new Ultra-poseable Spider-Man from the movie, absolutely nothing at all. Still it bears mentioning that Spidey is now based on his look in the new film which is something that can affect the overall figure.
So how is the look, not terrible but also not fantastic (no pun intended to the Fantastic Four). As such I have to knock the fig on the design level. Again it’s not bad but also seems like a metric ton of change for changes sake rather than a new take on the Spider-Man look (as I think the movie makers want us to believe).
For pure articulation the figure is pure win though. He really can get into some awesome poses and stances. I was shocked to discover that the figure had no peg holes for stands. I know the new Joe figures have peg holes that don’t seem to want to fit into the standard ME pegs (why this change was made is something of a mystery though) but having none whatsoever is a bit of a shock to say the least. The figure is a pretty stable and with some work can reach some poses that most figures its size have difficulty getting into. However this does lead to one of the big gripes of this design, the way the shoes look. Maybe it’s more realistic but I just like the red being part of the boot, maybe it’s just me.
However a comparison must be made. The SDCC Sam Raimi movie Spider-Man from a few years ago is closer to a more traditional Spider-Man look (as he was designed in the film). As far as articulation goes the only real addition to the figure is the rocker ankles (and the calf swivels from the SDCC version are not present). In addition there is not the web slinging hand that is there on the SDCC Spidey. I would have to give much higher praise to the SDCC version for those reasons. The 2012 version is a reasonable substitute for a super poseable Spider-man, but nowhere near as cool as the SDCC one. Also the SDCC Spidey seems to use many design aspects to kind of hide some of the points of articulation where as the 2012 figure seems to not worry about it.
The 2012 Spider-Man is lankier than the SDCC version as well. The thinness of the 2012 does somewhat stretch the limits of believability. While the SDCC version is a bit more bulky he also seems more reasonable to be someone with the proportionate strength of a spider. Continue to Page 2…
This figure has been calling to me from the pegs anytime I see it. I love all the articulation crammed in there, but I just can’t pull the trigger on yet another Spidey (I’d fold like a house of cards for a new black version though… eep!)
Thanks again for contributing this week, Zed!
No problem
I feel the same way, I have TOOO many spideys myself, then Hasbro pulls out one I must have like Paper Bag Spidey and I’m like “Awww man”
This one wasn’t a must have to me nessessarly (Since I had the SDCC one) but I just figured the new movie look was one I might regret passing on later if I didn’t grab it now.
I agree, he’s a nice figure, especially for the price! My local Walmarts have them $7.50! I still haven’t seen the movie, so that may tell you that I’m not all that excited for this version of the webhead, but he’s a nice addition to my “extended” movie-verse Avengers team.
Yeah about what I paid for him, not much else on the shelves screaming at me lately (besides Star Wars that is near impossible to find due to the abundance of Ep 1 wave).
comic Lizard needed a Gorn joke. imho. 😉
and yeah 3B, still debating seeing the movie. definitely some mixed reviews of like it or loathe it.
:/
Good review, but really doesn’t look much like Spider-Man to me. Paint seems sloppy, but then again there’s only so much control you can have with a 3 3/4 figure. Supposedly. 🙂
Fanboy technical point of order: It’s Sony Pictures what has the Spider-Man rights, not Fox.
AHHH poop, I was watching the Rami Spider-Man on FX, that’s why I got confusedededed. LOL.
Thanks BTW
great review zed, you did get some poses out of him that kind of surprise me (the joints don’t really look like they allow a great RoM). the torso in particular is a tough joint system to sell us on, as toybiz did how many ultra-posable spideys who had various combos of joints to get ab crunches and swivels in there… doing the ball torso on its own is ballsy. the inclusion of a garfield swappable head i think would have sold a lot of units. (or unsold… i’m still kind of out on him as spidey and i don’t think i’m alone… maybe it’s not such a bad idea that they passed on the head.)
the proportioning of the fig really freaks me out for some reason. he’s built like ralph macchio… what’s up w/ that?
I wouldn’t have minded a Garfeild swapable head myself, oh wait you mean the actor not the cat :-/
In all seriousness I don’t get Habro’s hesitation to include actor likenesses with the movie figs, RDJ, Cap, and SM are just begging for it and I figure they would sell fast. At one point I thought it might be the actor licences being cost prohibitive, but then Thor came along and proved that false (since no one was masked), so I have no clue what is up with it now.
There’s an unmasked Cap in the Avengers movie 3.75″ line (he’s in his WW2 costume, though the colors aren’t as muted as they were for the unmasked version from the Cap line last year. The shield’s a lot more solid, though), and there was a 6″ Mark IV Iron Man with a swappable RDJ head in the Walmart exclusive IM2 line.
True but he looks nothing like evans and is listed under “consept” I belive, I was meaning movie actor licences.
He’s under the movie line banner. He bares a decent likeness to Evans. It’s clearly an attempt at a likeness, just not the best capture.
Really, I’ve seen him but didn’t pay attention to which banner he was under.
Still he looks like a comic head to me, not at all like a movie inspired one, I debated getting him for an unmasked head for my movie cap, but not because I thought he looked like Evans, but because I thought he looked like Steve Rogers in the comic.
Still where is Stark, that was a big screw up.
Hmm, not sure if I like the new costume. The figure looks really great though!
Good job, Zed!
I think the costume is my one real knock to the fig, I don’t hate it but it doesn’t scream “Spider-Man” to me at all, kind of screams “Eh, we changed it to be all different.” Not bad but not a great design either.
The ONLY thing keeping me from buying this guy yesterday is the hands. Two open hands? The HELL, man?!
One fist, one “TWHIPP!” They even show it on the cardback!
I’ve had this figure for about a month now and it is easily one of the best Spidey figures I’ve ever owned. Seriously, the only area where the SDCC Spidey beats Amazing is the torso cut. Unfortunately, you can’t really get much foward/backward motion out of Amazing, but aside from that, he’s just as poseable (even without the boot-cut) as the SDCC. If you’re on the fence about him, I’d say give him a shot. He really is an amazing (hur hur) figure. The lack of a proper fist or a thwipp hand is odd, but not a deal-breaker (for me, at any rate). As for the changes to the costume, I was deadset against them until I saw the movie (which also rocked), but after that, it really didn’t bother me anymore. Seriously, I cannot recommend this figure enough. If you’re a fan of Spidey, even a burnt-out-on-the-plethora-of-Spidey-figures one, you really owe it to yourself to pick this guy up.
Crap, forgot to mention that ragging on the figure for being lanky is kind of unwarranted. Andrew Garfield is a pretty lanky dude, which the figure reflects very well. However, there are a couple times in the movie (spoiler free, don’t worry) where you can see just ripped Mr Garfield is. He’s got some pretty damned decent strength to him. Thin, lankyness doesn’t necessarily equate to not having a great amount of strength. If we’re going by the reasoning that you must physically reflect the amount of physical power you have, Superman should make Hulk look like a matchstick and not be able to move due the sheer mass of his muscles. Just saying.
Your taking my thought to the extreame on the lankyness. As I said SDCC reflects the idea just fine. On Superman, if he were just as lanky I could see many complaints as well.
great review!
Everything about the new spidey movie gives me pause from the costume (those boots sure do suck) to the actor to the fact its another origin story…think I will be skipping this one until DVD as well
Friend of mine saw it. He said it was really good but, he could “go the rest of his life without seeing another ****ing origin story.”
Yeah, I am not one of those who is like “not another origin story” but I am kind of with you on the costume, got no idea on Garfield though, I will give him a chance at least.
Great review, Zed! ^-^ I especially like the second to last picture. ^^
Thanks, had fun with that pic.