Here's Spidey, ready to be reviewed. The figure is a reuse of the Pizza Spidey mold, which came from the 2014 Superior Spider figure that had a different mask and a less elongated torso. Glenn Webb mentioned that it made his legs look a bit too short for the torso, but I don't think it's that big of a dealbreaker. The proportions look like what Spidey should have, and the colors look great for the suit itself. This is supposed to be similar to the original ToyBiz Spider-Man made before the 90s animated series aired. Scroll down below for the comparison!
The paintwork is fairly crisp for the most part, and there are no paint smudges or incoherencies with the linework. I do wish the pegs facing the sides of the torso were painted blue because they don't look that good on the insides of the arms. The web lines are hard to do nicely on a three-dimensional toy that doesn't have consistently smooth surfaces, but the job is done well. Also, the back symbol is fairly well done, especially considering it's not easy to see when the toy's carded.
The mask looks nicely sculpted on him. There's the sculpting to make the lenses look like separate pieces of the mask, and the point at the nose along with the shape of the head continues the look of a person wearing the mask than a round head as if the mask was a balloon. The web lines also look good, too.
The articulation is tremendous for Marvel Legends standards. The head is on two joints: a ball joint for looking side to side (and for swapping heads), and a neck hinge for looking up and down. The shoulders are on butterfly joints, and they can move front and back and in and out. There is a bicep swivel, a double-jointed elbow, and both hands can swivel on their peg as well as hinge in and out. The torso can ab crunch back and forth, and the waist can swivel. The hips can move front and back, but they can't move in and out too well. There are thigh swivels, double-jointed knees, and the feet hinge front and back as well as pivot side to side.
For his alternate accessories, he has the half-unmasked head and a pizza accessory. The unmasked head is something we don't get often, but I love it here! It's got a smile with his shiny teeth present, and the attention to detail doesn't stop there with the mask slightly rolled up to expose his mouth or nose. The pizza accessory, I'm mixed on. It's painted differently from the 2015 version, but the pepperoni looks like it's either burned or covered in shit, which Youtuber Shartimusprime pointed out. At least the tomato sauce looks good.
From The Fwoosh, here is a comparison between the Retro Tribute Spider-Man next to the Marvel Legends 2015 Pizza Spidey, the 2016 SDCC Raft variant, and the 2017 All-New, All-Different version of Spider-Man (who was in a two-pack with Mary Jane). This Vintage version and the 2015 Pizza Spidey share the same mask design, while the ANAD version has the Superior Spidey mask and Raft Spidey having a somewhat McFarlane influence to the eyes (though not quite there with its more rounded lenses). The reds are similar between the Pizza, Raft, and ANAD versions of Spidey, which are shinier than the Retro-styled Spidey. Raft Spidey's blue is the darkest, Pizza Spidey's blue is lighter, but the ANAD and Retro versions have the brightest shade of blue. It should be worth mentioning that the ANAD Spider-Man has the glowing logo, bluer lenses, and a more stylized look on his suit is because of Peter using the tech he has after realizing he is back in his old body and having Parker Industries while Doc Ock took over his body. The Pizza Spidey's the perfect take on the character in Legends form, though the Retro-styled version is second best because of it looking closer to the 2015 variant.
For fans that are interested in getting the rest of the figures in the line, here is at least the first wave. They consist of Wolverine (in his brown costume and parts from a 2014 Wolverine figure), Iron Man (reuse of the Neo-Classic Iron Man with the new repulsor blasts and the intended forearms and lower legs that the 2013 version didn't have), The Punisher (who has a red headband, a rocket launcher, and a more classic costume compared to his Walgreens variant), Black Widow (a new female mold with Mary Jane's head), and Captain America (who has the chainmail painted on the torso, lacks the straps of the shield, and has a shield-throwing accessory. If I were to choose, I'd get Wolverine, Black Widow, and Punisher. Iron Man and Cap have the better Alex Ross variants now.
Now let's see how this Spider-Man looks next to the original Toy Biz figure! The Toy Biz figure we will use for reference is the multi-jointed version of the character. The cards aren't quite close, but the attempts are similar. However, Spidey's symbol is more modern on the Legends figure compared to the ToyBiz figure. Everything else is fairly close, though I kind of feel for it to be more accurate, the more narrow eyes of the Spider-UK head should be used.
Overall, this Spider-Man makes for a nice purchase for fans that can't afford the Pizza Spidey. Funny enough, Hasbro got me another one when I thought that the pizza had a paint error, but after finding out that all the pizza slices look like that, I settled with what I have and got a free "replacement" copy from Hasbro, which remains carded. The only issues I do have with the toy are the lack of accessories, and the pizza accessory sorely missing, but I like how the rest of this toy still turned out. Unless you can do with a knockoff version of Pizza Spidey, this toy will do just fine as long as you find some alternate hands that match the red of this toy.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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