Monday, December 21, 2020

Marvel Legends Spider-Man (Retro Wave 2.0) review

We've taken a look at plenty of Spider-Men, now have we? One of the oldest reviews I made had the original attempt at a ToyBiz-styled Spider-Man, another one was a review of the ToyBiz Classics figure, then I made a review of one based on the PS4 game, and was seemingly done with Spider-Man reviews when I did the TASM2 one. Now we're here with a review of the Marvel Legends Spider-Man based on the 90s series (even if he's moreso got some of the traditional Steve Ditko/Silver Age comic influence). Oh and I got my Spider-Man for 13 bucks when I found him on Amazon for that price, so maybe I got a bargain out of him? Let's find out.


Here we have Spider-Man in-hand. This figure is rendered in an even more classic take on the guy; if you thought Pizza Spidey was classic-inspired, this guy takes it to a whole new level. He is pretty close to the art-style that was made from the time period this figure is based off of (basically the 90s toy-line that would tie-in with the Fox Kids show), which is not a bad thing. Once again, his deco is just deco applied on the smooth surfaces of the figure, but it looks crisp for the most part. Some details aren't perfectly applied, like the line on the left shoulder or the spider on the back, but it at least looks crisp and doesn't feel too inconsistent.


Head sculpt looks good to how it should look, but the paint apps of the eyes is a little too small to go on the lenses. Also, the black of the rest of the eyes is a little too wonky. As for the articulation, it's a little different from the past two Spider-Men I covered in terms of Pizza Spidey and Gamerverse Spider-Man. First, the neck has two points that are on ball-joints rather than the ball and hinge. The arms have the same level of articulation, but then things get a little more interesting when you realize the torso has a diaphragm joint that moves around like the Lightning Collection figures; this means the ab-crunch are lower from the diaphragm while the prior figures have ab-crunches and waist swivels. The leg articulation is the same, but the hips drop down for an added range of movement. He also has an alternate pair of web-slinging hands as well as a head with more Ditko-inspired eyes.


For a comparison with two modern Marvel Legends Spider-Men I own, here he is next to the Gamerverse and initial Retro Spider-Men. While the PS4 version is its own thing in terms of aesthetics, I kind of prefer the look of the new retro-inspired Spider-Man more than the other one, which is good but would look better in the same colors of the new guy (or in the original Pizza Spidey deco), You can also tell how beefy the PS4 guy looks compared to the lanky Pizza Spidey version while the second Retro is the perfect balance.


Overall, aside from the odd paint app inconsistencies, this guy's my favorite "traditional" Spider-Man. He's got some added articulation points that make him quite worthy of a collection even if you got prior versions of the character. That being said, good luck because scalpers are once again going to fuck your chances of getting Spider-Man with bot accounts...now it makes me wonder if bot accounts were used to get Unicron to succeed all of a sudden.


Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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