Much as I think everyone should leave Martin Scorcese and his ilk alone when it comes to trying to validate superhero movies (you don’t need their validation! Be less insecure!), if I was trying to legitimately put together a case for a set of comic book super-films as bonafide cinema, the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy would be my picks (yes, even the third one, it’s like Godfather Part 3). Reading the original Steve Ditko/Stan Lee run this year made me appreciate them even more, since, more than anything made in the last couple decades, these movies understood the tone of the original stuff, that particular kind of heightened, soapy reality, right down to the cadence of the dialogue written in those speech bubbles, without also feeling the need to make everything literally accurate. It’s about a vibe. Plus, they still managed to have some real meaty characters, themes and ideas, without becoming overly dour or self-serious in the process.
This is the stuff.
Still, I wasn’t really a “collect merchandise” -level fan at the time the movies came out, but Marvel Legends has hooked me again. See, I also really enjoyed Spider-Man: No Way Home, despite previously not being a big fan of the MCU version of Spider-Man, and I didn’t just like the movie because of all of the crossovers and fanservice from previous tellings of the story. That being said, the Marvel Legends side of things is taking the opportunity to use the movie’s branding to release a bunch of the Raimi-verse characters who crossed over into that film, and I’m down for it as a delivery system for the Peeps from The Best Films. I don’t know how deep I’ll go on what they’re planning to put out, but I figured I’d at least start with Tobey Maguire’s version of the web-slinger, who now goes by the branding “Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” to differentiate him from the other two Peters in the crossover.
I thought a lot about possibly nabbing this set.
This isn’t the first time this figure’s been released. Earlier this year, there was a three-pack of all three No Way Home Spider-Men (pictured above), and I did consider picking it up. But it was an expensive, big set to get in one go, plus I wasn’t as fond of the other two. This new solo version looks to be an identical base mold and colors (glancing at online images), but has a different set of accessories, including his unmasked face.
The Sculpt
You look at this guy, and you hear either the Nickelback song, the Sum 41 song, or him going “Who am I?”
Proportionally, this guy’s a lot slimmer than the Amazing Fantasy/Retro Animated Spider-Guy tooling I already reviewed twice, looking a bit more like a real person, without defined musculature, which works for this live-action design. As far as I know, this is a wholly original tooling, too, which makes sense, considering all the specific sculpted detail on him.
He’s shaking his fist at the memes that depict him as a big jerk (that’s Ditko Spidey).
You know Spider-Man’s got a good suit design because of how little it really changes over the years, from adaptation to adaptation, and the Raimi Movie suit was no exception, just being his traditional design with a few tweaks, which are preserved here.
You’re a child in 2002. It’s time to pick the red hero with the franchise you’re going to hyperfixate on for the rest of your life.
The biggest thing is just how three-dimensional and textured the Spider-suit is, with all of the web-lines, as well as the logos on his front and back, all being raised, sculpted textures. And the material of the suit itself is also textured, like on the Kamen Rider SH Figuarts I also reviewed, looking a bit like the surface of a basketball. This also continues the trend of newer Marvel Legends having “pin-free” sculpts, meaning that while there’s still lots of joint cuts, those odd round cuts near the arms and legs that older figures had are absent.
There’s mister misses-the-part-where-it’s-his-problem.
Up top, one of the selling points of this new version is a freshly-sculpted unmasked face, and it’s kind of interesting how my eyes play tricks on me.
Dramatic re-enactment.
When I saw front-facing photos of it, I thought it was kind of a poor likeless for Mr. Maguire, but when I tilted it to angles other than the front, it was suddenly a really good likeness of the man. Like Lightning Collection Billy Cranston, the sculpt is “soft” enough that it can pass as vintage 2002 Spidey, or the more veteran No Way Home version.
You think the younger or older versions would be down for a costume swap?
Either way, it’s a really detailed sculpt, with stuff like his hair, ears, and facial features rendered lovingly, but not so detailed as to ping the uncanny valley. They’ve got this down to a science. I will say that his neck being entirely costume that vanishes up into his head is a bit odd-looking, but I’d rather that than some kind of ill-advised Replacement Neck. Speaking of that, there’s the masked head.
DC will sue him if he discusses no one caring about who he was until he put the mask on.
This one, I’ve got to admit, reflexively doesn’t look quite right to me. I’ve been checking promo art, other figures, and I think what it is is just that the masked head is too rounded, and the eyes are too far apart, most of the photo references I’ve dug up seem to have him with a narrower head, and closer-together eyes.
A Bulbous Bonce.
For example, the expensive SH Figuart seems to get it right, it just costs a boatload of money. This isn’t a dealbreaker, and it’s grown on me since I first got the figure, but it’s annoyingly just-short-of-the-mark. That, and his neck feels like it’s a hair too long.
The Colors
“I don’t understand why red and black isn’t the standard, it just looks objectively cooler!”
Meanwhile, this is pretty much 10/10, no notes, everything is here. He’s primarily the usual red and blue, in shades that are a bit less vibrant, and a bit more realistic. I can’t tell which bits are paint and which are plastic, it’s matched very well. Meanwhile, all of his raised web detailing is painted silver, and there’s not a single smudge or quality control problem that I can detect. Beyond that, he’s got some black for his chest logo and eye outlines, and a metallic white in the eyes. It’s simple, but it’s all that needs to be there.
Ameritoku!
Meanwhile, he seemingly had a huge paint budget for his unmasked head, especially on his face, which uses screen-printing to give him a ton of subtle shading around the eyes and mouth. It’s extremely detailed!
Build Quality and Articulation
Sometimes, Spider-Man needs to stop for Pizza Time.
On one hand, the old rubbery feeling of ‘10s era Marvel Legends are gone, and this guy’s made out of nicely rigid-feeling materials, feeling even more solid than the Amazing Fantasy/Retro Animated ones, save for his hands (so they don’t break). On the other hand, his joints don’t feel great. They’re noticeably stiffer and tighter than Amazing Fantasy’s are, and not in a good way. I don’t feel like I’m going to break anything, but that stiffness feels almost NECA-like (for those not in the know, NECA toys look lovely, but are bad to handle, and can have joints that are fused, or breakable). At least he has no trouble standing, and he does feel a lot more solid and stable than the Lightning Collection Remastered Blue Ranger. I’d rather have a figure be too tight than too loose.
Still, I can’t really reliably crouch him lower than this, and have him stay balanced.
When it comes to that jointage, it’s basically the same story. Comparing them side by side, he has the same joints in the same places as Amazing Fantasy, including double elbows and knees, the waist joint being where the pecs are, the shoulders that crunch back and forward, the works. But between the tightness of the joints, and the fact that some of them move with ratchety clicks instead of fluid motions (namely, his chest-mounted inward-and-outward arm motion), he doesn’t feel as smoothly contortionist-like as his brethren.
They’re having a pose-off, and the old guy’s winning.
I can still bend him into plenty of poses, but he doesn’t feel as immediately receptive to acrobatic bending as the others I’ve got. In particular, it took genuine force the first few times I tried using the double knees and elbows, and I very much had to break them in.
Not that you can’t make him look cool, though.
Accessories
This is another area where I’ve found him lacking. On one hand, I appreciate the new unmasked head, especially since Amazing Fantasy and Retro Animated not having them was one of the few things I missed on them. But aside from that, this guy’s sorely lacking in the most basic of accessories. He only comes with two sets of hands, and while they’re nice and easy to swap, as per usual, they made a strange choice here.
And it’s preventing him from climbing like a normal Spider-Man.
The optional set that aren’t on him in the package are his web-shooting hands, which make sense. But for some reason, his default set is a right hand closed into a fist, and his left hand splayed open. The fact that they don’t match is a huge problem, because it kills the amount of poses he can pull off. He can’t stand neutrally at rest, he can’t crawl on a wall, both of those things require matching hands to look right.
POV: You’re the Sandman.
To make things worse, the original multipack version had a set of six hands: Web gestures, two fists, and two splayed palms, meaning they deliberately omitted hands that had been tooled.
Look! They’re right there!
I’d have liked all six, but the fact that they don’t match is the most troublesome. If it was two fists, or even better, two splayed hands, that would be fine, it’s the asymmetry that bugs me. Bizarrely, all the promo images online of this release show him with two fists, this is some kinda messed up last-minute change.
Like, this in-package photo is straight up false, he doesn’t come with two closed fists.
Plus his hands are completely different sizes and colors from the other two Marvel Legends Spideys I’ve got, so I can’t just have him share hands with them.
“Oh, this is wrong.”
He also has to share webbing with them, because he doesn’t come with any of his own, but that’s less egregious.
Overall
Hot Take: These are the three best Peters Parker.
This guy’s a replica of the best live-action movie Spider-Man to ever do it, so he’s automatically going to get a passing grade. And he does a really great job of replicating the man himself visually, despite the slightly-off masked head. But there’s just so many tiny problems here, and after my last two Marvel Legends set the bar so high, he comes up lacking.
And it’s not because he did this.
His tight joints automatically make him feel less like a figure I’ll reflexively grab and fiddle with, and his bizarre lack of a single set of neutral hands really limits him in a way that bugs me more than I expected. I wouldn’t call him bad, not by a long shot, he just doesn’t live up to the standards of his 2-D brethren, and really feels like he’s been kneecapped for no good reason. An upshot is that he’s on the cheaper side of Marvel Legends, coming in at about $35 Canadian, but I’d definitely have paid extra if he’d included a bit more stuff, plus I’m pretty sure the aftermarket’s going to scoop him up quick. So, he’s not really the kind of figure I can unconditionally recommend, sadly, but if you want a Maguire Spidey to hang out near your Playstation, he’s not a bad choice, just don’t pay aftermarket markup, and definitely grab him in the (unlikely) event of a sale.
*Chad Kroeger wailing over an electric guitar.*
For over 100 Bot, Non-Bot, and Retro Bot Reviews, click here to view my archive.
