Non-Bot Reviews: Epic Hero Series Spider-Man Collection

Time to write a review to justify some impulse purchases! To be fair, though, there’s a reason why they were impulse purchases.

So, action figures are getting more and more expensive. Blame the economy, blame cost of materials, whatever, the facts are facts. So, when things actually manage to be good value, it becomes pretty noteworthy. And Hasbro’s Epic Hero Series seems to be that. It’s an imprint of smaller, 4-inch action figures (think classic GI Joe, or Reaction Figures), and covers multiple Marvel Comics sub-franchises (Avengers, X-Men, Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man), as well as a generic, multi-generation Star Wars line. And here’s why I’m into it. Peep these price tags (in Canadian dollars) for other figures in the same scale, all of which are from Hasbro:

Now, here’s what these guys cost, also in Canadian dollars, at Wal-Mart:

I’ll note that they cost a little bit more at other venues. Also, Hasbro seems to be copying Spin Master with these, since they’ve been making DC Comics figures in the same scale, for the same price, for awhile now:

So, I already reviewed one of these, over here, when I picked up a Symbiote Suit Spider-Man to go with Legacy Gears. And, well, the rest of the line calls to me. And when each one costs a tenner, it’s easy to snap one up when I’m there for groceries, or anything else I might need. And soon, I had the complete Spider-Man range, consisting of two waves so far. So, I think I’ll do a full run-through of this little budget line of figures, to show you what a cheap line looks like in 2024:

Spider-Man

I’ll begin with the Default Peter Parker, and use him to discuss the general aspects of these figures. So, Pete’s about 4 inches tall, slightly bigger than the typical Star Wars scale, but in practice, close enough. More importantly, while he doesn’t actually scale with mainline Transformers, he’s small enough to feel like he fits, if you squint. 

Sculptwise, most of these figures have the same build as this one, athletic, but not too buff, which makes sense for the kind of hero Spidey is, though they still kind of went ham emphasizing the musculature on his torso, including his abs.

As for the rest of him, you know what he looks like. This is the same evergreen Spidey design that’s been kicking around since the 70s, complete with a left hand doing the devil-horns shooty-web gesture.

On this guy, specifically, the sculpt really emphasizes the etched web patterns on his costume, which is good, because they’re not painted at all. 

Truth be told, most of this toyline manages to avoid obvious signs of cost-cutting, but not this guy, when it comes to his colors. He’s got all the red and blue in the right spots, both painted and plastic, a black spider-logo on his chest, and eyes painted white, outlined in black (and they’re sculpted in, too!), but those webbing patterns are totally uncolored, and, despite the sculptwork trying to bring them out, kind of vanish into the red of the costume. 

Articulation’s another thing that’s largely identical across this entire line, so I’ll get into it here, especially because it’s what makes this line special. I’d have been fine with your bog-standard five points of articulation, but these figures do a lot more than that. They’re built using “universal joints” (I polled some experts on what they were called), which have all the range of a ball joint, but are a lot tighter and more durable. Pete’s got them on his knees, hips, shoulders, and elbows, all below a neck that’s actually a ball joint with a bit of up-and-down movement to it. It all makes him incredibly bendy for his size. For example, his wrists don’t swivel, but that universal elbow joint lets his forearm swivel anyway. Granted, he’s not bendy enough to assume the kind of contortionist-like poses Spider-Man tends to be drawn in (which is why I love the 6-inch Amazing Fantasy and 90’s Animated Marvel Legends), but he can still do a lot more posing than you’d assume. I’ve even managed to get him to pass the “stand on one foot and kick” test, albeit very carefully, since his feet are small enough to make him a bit wobbly. 

One irksome limit to it is that, for whatever reason, his shoulder and elbow joints have ratchet-style click-positions they need to pop between, and they’re a bit wider than I’d like. It’s especially odd, since his hips and knees don’t work that way. 

For accessories, Spidey’s got exactly one: A white, nicely-sculpted strand of webbing, with a big explosive splat on the end. He interacts with it via a handcuff-like clip that fits over his wrist, which is a novel way to keep it on there, and stable. I kind of wish the end was red, to blend it into his arm more, but on the other hand, you can hand this off to almost any other figure in this line, so maybe neutral white was the best call. Meanwhile, his one hand that isn’t sculpted shooting web is half-open, to accept an accessory he doesn’t have.

But I’ve determined that he can hold pretty much anything meant for another action figure this size. 

So, that’s what the default figure of this line looks like. Now, let’s get into variants!

The Iron Spider

When I think of this Spider-variant, I mostly think of the outfit that the MCU Spider-Man wore for his Avengers appearances, and a little bit of his next two movies.

I actually had to look up the comics version this guy’s based on, which it turns out comes from the 00’s era of Marvel, and was given to Pete by Tony Stark for a hot minute during the original Civil War storyline, before the two of them parted ways (if only that had happened in the movies!) 

So, since this is the same guy in a different suit, Iron Lad’s got the exact same proportions as Default Pete, as well as the exact same suite of articulation, ups and downs included. Surprisingly, though, this is an almost entirely new tooling, with the only thing shared between them being his thighs.

The other surprising thing is how the sculptwork and colors interact. See, Iron Spider’s only two colors, a lighter orangy-red plastic, and mustard-yellow paint, a striking combo. But what’s interesting is that they didn’t slap that yellow paint on a blank body. Everything that’s colored, including his angular eyes, the inverted spider logo on his chest, even the trim on his gloves and boots, are raised bits of sculptwork. 

For features, this is one of the few figures in this range to come with more than one accessory. In this case, he’s got three yellow mechanical spider-legs, one of which is a bit larger and a bit less curled than the others. All three of them are, surprisingly, not rubberized, but made out of rigid plastic that’s just thin enough to have some bend to it, though it snaps back into neutral once you let go. To be honest, I could see a kid breaking these things in half by bending them too hard.

He’s got a little backpack with three holes you can plug them into, with the more curled ones on top, and the less curled one on the bottom, to give him an array of additional legs. Three feels like not enough, and the MCU version of this suit does give him four extra legs, but I checked, and he had three in the comics! Still, what’s here looks good, and you can rotate them all in their sockets to fan them around him in visually interesting ways.

And, instead of a web-shooting hand, he’s got two accessory-holding hands, so you can always detach two of the legs, and have him swing them around like scythes. 

Overall, this was the figure in the line I was least interested in, but I wound up liking him more than I expected!

Miles Morales

Y’know, I’m pretty sure this guy ought to be shorter than Peter. He was shorter in the Spider-Verse movies at least, and I think that’s true in the comics. Maybe this is a grown-up variant, since he’s the same size as Peter.

It’s probably so he can share thigh pieces with him, again. One thing he does share is that exact same suite of solid articulation.

Either way, this is a cool suit, because black and red is always a good look. This definitely isn’t either of his movie designs, if only because he doesn’t have the “bleeding armpits” the second film kept calling out, but it’s a good-looking one.

I feel like he ought to seem like he’s cost-cutting on the deco, given that his whole lower body is solid black, but it really doesn’t feel like it, unlike with Peter. Uptop, he’s got painted-on red web on his head and upper torso, red spider-logos on his chest and back, bits of red trim on his shoulders, and eyes colored in white. Sculptwise, most of this is, again, rased detailing that’s been painted onto, but the webbing on his head, neck and chest actually is a tampo on a flat (well, round) surface, something the rest of this line hasn’t done. Also, his hands are reversed from Pete’s, with his right hand being the shooty-web one, and his left hand being the accessory-gripping one.

For accessories, he’s got…an interesting one.

It’s seemingly meant to represent his electric shock attack, but what it actually is is another sculpted web shot that cuffs onto his wrist, but colored bright yellow. It’s….not a great visual.

They should either have given him a normal web, or sculpted it like electricity, and not….like that.

It’s a shame, because aside from that, this is the strongest of the three figures so far.

Venom

He of the Eminem song is here, and for once, we have a figure that breaks the mold, and is significantly larger than the rest of the line.

Seriously, he’s half a head taller than the Parkers and the Miles, and feels like he’s made of double the plastic, between his barrel torso and thick limbs. He’s got a monstrous, muscular sculpt going on, with a couple of sticky-out bits on his shoulders that suggest he’s still partially a liquid symbiote.

The most impressive part of the sculpt, though, is his head, with its wide open mouth, and massive tongue lolling out. It’s made of the kind of rubbery material I assumed the Iron Spider’s limbs would be made out of, flexing and holding its shape.

Guy’s gnarly, and intimidating. For colors, he’s mostly black, with white pain for his spider logos, the backs of his hands, and his eyes and teeth, and some red for his mouth, tongue, and jaw. 

In terms of his construction, he’s actually a little more stable than the smaller spider-guys, thanks to his bigger feet, though his top-heaviness makes it hard for him to pass the stand-on-one-foot test, but he still manages.

And for his articulation, despite him being way different in dimensions, he mostly has that same set of joints across him, with the only difference being that his neck is on a swivel, instead of a ball joint. The other main difference is just which universal joints have those ratcheted positions, and which are smooth. In Venom’s case, his shoulders don’t click anymore (which I like), but his elbows still do (I’m less of a fan), and so do his hips and knees (this is good, it makes him more stable). 

Venom’s lone accessory is a gnarly one, a piece of black plastic in the shape of a kind of scythe-axe type deal, which can snap onto either wrist to give him a melee impliment. I like that it’s here, because between his size, and how he already looks deadly, he could have gone without one.

Certainly, his hands can’t hold any accessories, but they’re sculpted in an old-fashioned ooga-booga-booga scary-hands pose, so I’m not complaining. In fact, I’d probably call this figure the strongest of the set, so far (sorry, Miles).

Symbiote Suit Spider-Man

So, the above figures were all Wave 1 of this toyline, and Wave 2 consisted of reships of the entire lot of them, plus this guy, and the next one.

Now, I already talked about him during my review of Legacy United Gears, so I’ve got less to say here.

We’re back to Peter-sized figures with him, and he looks to have borrowed his legs from Miles, in terms of shared parts. He’s only the two colors, black and white, not that he needs any more, and only his eyes are sculpted into his head, the rest is all paint over blank surfaces.

He’s got that same great articulation as the other small guys in this line, his webbing hand and accessory holding hand are in the Miles Morales Configuration (they’re not literally the same parts, though), and his lone accessory is another wrist-mounted web-shot. Specifically, it’s the questionable-looking yellow electrical blast from Miles, but repainted into a more sensible white.

Overall, a good figure, and the one that put me onto this entire line.

Carnage

Onto the finale, the other new Wave 2 figure, and it’s a doozie.

So, rather than being Venom-sized, Carnage is the same smaller scale as the rest of the line. However, the sculptwork on him is totally different, and really gnarly looking.

Basically, he looks like a flayed man made of muscle, like you see in those Bodyworks exhibits at museums. He’s got all this intricate linework across his body, oddly detailed feet, and hands that are kind of splayed open, with fingers that are just a little too long.

Uptop, he’s got a face that’s halfway between Spider-Man and Venom, with a big, open jaw. Here’s the thing: Between his expression and his hands, there’s something inherently funny about this guy. He just looks oddly happy and enthusiastic!

For colors, this is one where he ought to seem underpainted, but doesn’t. He’s mostly a bright, deep red, and they picked a good shade, because it doesn’t wash out his sculptwork (looking at you, default Spider-Man). The only paint on his body is a black splatter along his chest and shoulders. Uptop, he’s got more black on his face, along with a pink mouth, and white eyes. And, honestly, it manages to look really good. 

Despite all the new sculptwork, we’re back to the Peter Parker Articulation Suite, not that that’s a bad thing, odd ratcheted shoulders aside.

And for accessories, he’s actually got two: A pair of giant, spiked glove-like things that slap onto both of his wrists, and form what looks like a pair of scratching claws, made out of Symbiote Goo (you can tell by the sculptwork.)

They look really good, and make for some dynamic posing.

The biggest issue, though, is that it’s really hard to get them off if his wrists, because they adhere to him really tightly.

Still, this is a really strong entry. 

Overall:

All of these figure turned out pretty good, really. For one thing, you can’t beat the price they’re being sold at. But they also go above and beyond what you’d expect from this pricepoint, and this scale, and manage to be really poseable, expressive, and just plain fun. Remember fun? These are fun, and they make for good impulse purchases. Weirdly, I think Carnage is my favorite of the bunch, despite me not specifically being a Carnage fan. He’s just got something about him. I’d call Venom a close second, and he’s certainly the best when it comes to value-for-money. As for the heroes, I think Miles is mostly my favorite, it’s just the poor choice of accessory that kneecaps him a bit. Really, all of the Spider-Mans are pretty good. The regular Peter Parker version is the weakest, due to his obviously missing colors, but that’s sort of a “by default” kind of assessment, he still turned out pretty good.

Basically, you should get some of these. And if you’re not a Spider-Fan, they made a bunch of other Marvel heroes in the same style (I don’t think the Star Wars ones have the cool universal joints). Treat yourself, and get a couple small action figures to pose with your bigger robots. I’m having more fun with these than some of those robots, even! 

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