What’s the current public temperature on Spider-Man 3? It feels like opinions the finale of the Sam Rami Spider-Trilogy have gone down, then up, then down, then up again in the public’s eye multiple times since its 2007 debut. These days, I’m pretty fond of it.
You’ll see this image again, later.
Sure, it’s the weakest of the three movies, but the weakest Raimi Spidey is still stronger than a lot of genre cinema. It has the job of bringing all of thematic ideas of the previous two to their natural conclusion, and does so with aplomb. Aunt May’s “revenge is a poison” speech? That’s one of the theses of the entire three-part story! I could go on, but instead, I’ll just talk about some Marvel Legends. Honestly, this first one, which is properly branded as a Spider-Man 3 item, definitely only happened because it was an easy retool of the No Way Home Friendly Neightborhood Spider-Man I already reviewed some years back. That’s why this writeup’s gonna be a twofer. But to start with, let’s talk about Mr. Bully Maguire himself, the black-suited antihero version of the films lead, who is confusingly just called “Spider-Man” on the box, no “Black Suit” or “Symbiont” modifier added.
The Sculpt
Yes, he’s a cringeworthy edgelord. That’s the point!
To start with, there’s more retooling than I was expecting here. Sure, he’s got a new unmasked head, I knew about that. But it wasn’t until I held this new model side-by-side with the No Way Home version that I realized the spider-logos on his chest and back were remolded, which means most of his torso’s new, too.
Their back tats do NOT match.
I’m actually not detail-oriented enough to speak on suit accuracy, but it’s a neat little thing.
“Mine’s cooler!!” “Sure, pal, whatever you say.”
Either way, this is the same nicely-sculpted live-action Spider-body as before, managing to have the proportions of a real person, not a chiseled Comic Book Man. It’s still impressive how they made his suit very three dimensional and textured, with its raised web lines, and fabric that reminds me of the surface of a basketball. There’s still visible joint cuts, but this is one of those newfangled “pin-free” sculpts, too, making his elbows and knees look a little cleaner.
“No one understands my twisted mind”
Uptop, the big story is the new noggin, replicating the emo-spider himself. He’s got the black hair, the laughably bad emo fringe, and a really good expression that looks like he’s trying way too hard to be a smarmy edgelord. It’s perfect.
Contemplating his edginess.
Of course, he’s also got the same masked head as the previous version of this figure, and I still think it’s a little too thick and bulbous to be screen-accurate, but at this point, I don’t mind as much.
The Colors
Told you you’d see it again.
He’s black (and silver), and that’s mostly it. Famously, there were plans to give Symbiont Spidey a suit that was more in line with its comics design, but it didn’t look good in live action, and so “his normal suit, but black” was the compromise.
There’s only a bit of a family resemblance.
And that’s what they did here! He’s mostly solid black, with silver lining for his webbing. It’s basic, but it looks good, and they did the important task of picking a black that was glossy enough not to wash out his details. The lion’s share of the deco, meanwhile, went to his face, beneath his black hair, and it’s nicely detailed.
How theatrical of him.
The bit I appreciate is the darkness around his eyes. Subtle fatigue? A bit of makeup? You decide!
Build Quality
He insists he’s tough.
This was a low point of the previous release of this tooling, with joints that were a bit too tight to feel good. I don’t know if it was a deliberate choice, or mold decay, but that isn’t a problem here, he’s a tiny bit looser, in a good way. He still also mostly feels like he’s made out of solid plastic, and doesn’t have that rubbery feeling some Marvel Legends have (like Death’s Head), so kudos for that. The one big issue I’ve got is, like a lot of Marvel Legends, it’s kind of hard to keep him standing while in non-neutral poses.
For example, I had to lean him against the box here.
It’s because I’m used to Transformers, who often cheat larger footprints to keep them more stable. An action figure with human proportions has smaller feet, and topples easier. It’s not impossible to stand him up in a fancy pose, but he’s not passing the “stand on one foot and kick” test.
Still, I can get him to stand in some bendy configurations.
There’s pegholes in his feet for a stand, sure, but as per usual, he doesn’t come with one.
Articulation
He really hopes no one notices how arched his back is.
This is unchanged from the previous use of the tooling, which was already really good. Modern Marvel Legends have articulation on par with an expensive Japanese SH Figuarts or Figma, so he’s got all the bendy bits you could ask for, including omni-directional ankles, double knees, thigh swivels, universal hips, a double-ab-crunch, universal shoulders, bicep swivels, double elbows, wrists that swivel and dip, and a ball-jointed neck. It’s pretty lush.
Perfect for all of the overdramatic nonsense you can think of.
The biggest criticism is that I’ve got other Marvel Legends Spider-Guys with the same joints, that have way more range than him, so he doesn’t feel as bendy as his brethren. On the other hand, he’s a replica of a real person, and not a cartoon or comic illustration, so the realism feels a bit like it’s the point.
Accessories and Features
“I HAVE TWO OPEN HANDS!!!!”
Alright, so, they fixed a thing here that only I care about, so bear with me. The previous Friendly Neighborhood Pete only came with four hands: Two web-shooting ones, a single fist, and a single splayed palm. That was a very big drawback for me, because it meant he couldn’t have any kind of neutral-looking pose with his hands. Well, Black Peter’s got a full set of six hands, adding an extra fist and splayed palm, resolving that whole issue. And having him be able to just do proper one-two pugilism, and proper wall-crawling poses, is a huge upgrade.
“Finally, I can give them the one-two!”
All of the fists pop on and off easily enough now, same with those two headsculpts I talked about.
Web-swinging nonsense.
He’s got another extra accessory, too: A warped, half-transformed Venom head, made out of rubbery plastic. It’s meant to sit around his neck, and look like it’s forming over and around his face.
“No one knows the beast inside me!”
It’s fairly neat, and well-sculpted, but I don’t remember anything like this happening to him in the actual film.
You can sort of pretend it’s from the belltower scene, I guess.
I’d have liked it better if they included a web effect or two instead, honestly.
Overall
Ta-daaaa!
It’s funny. I went back to my review of the previous Friendly Neighborhood version of this tooling, and I was actually kind of lukewarm on him. It was a combination of the too-tight, bad-feeling joints, and the weird choice with his swappable hands. Well, this repaint fixes both of those problems, so I find myself a lot more fond of it. Of course, the big issue is that this version represents a controversial take on Peter Parker, from a movie some people aren’t fond of, but me, I like the movie, and get a laugh out of what a cringey edgelord this nerd-with-sudden-power thought he was, so I love that there’s a fancy new plastic portrayal of him. Now, at $42.99 Canadian, he was a bit on the pricey side for Marvel Legends (he’s about $10 more than the previous release), so those extra fists, and that Venom head will cost you, but honestly, he was worth it to me. I’ve heard rumors that the Tobey Maguire Spidey will be back in the upcoming Brand New Day movie, and if that’s true, maybe they’ll re-release the red and blue version with a proper set of six fists, so everyone will be happy. But until that happens, let’s talk about this figure’s opponent!
The Sandman
Over the years, I’ve heard plenty of complaints that Spider-Man 3 retconning Flink Marko, a.k.a. The Sandman, into the man who actually shot Uncle Ben was a bad choice. Personally, I liked it, because of the whole story about revenge and forgiveness that it facilitated. Sandy and Pete’s final scene together is an excellent way to close the book on the trilogy’s story, too. Plus, the original Ditko Sandman was basically just an ontologically evil career criminal out to cause problems for no reason, so any depth the movies gave him was a big plus.
This was a really great bit of catharsis.
Now, this figure’s technically based on his appearance in No Way Home, where his actor not being available resulted in him staying half-transformed the whole time.
As seen here, looking amusingly normal.
Honestly, I bought all the Raimi-verse villains as stand-ins for their original trilogy selves, and I feel like I’m not the only one. Well, I’m one of the very few that bought this figure, at least, because he shelfwarmed really, really hard at the time, to the point where you can probably find him pretty easily on the aftermarket these days. So, let’s have a closer look, and find out if the figure-buying public was right or not.
The Sculpt
Exactly what it said on the package.
He’s a man, and he’s made of sand, hence he’s the Sandman. So, one thing about him is that I feel like they didn’t quite manage to nail what he looked like in the finished film, where he was kind of this indistinct mound of sand that vaguely resembled Thomas Haden Church if you squinted. On this sculpted version, the “resolution” is a little bit higher, and he’s more person-like. He’s still got a delicately-sculpted, coarse, grainy texture all over him, but honestly, he kind of gives me “statue of a guy” or “Vitruvian Man” vibes, especially the way he’s got defined musculature and anatomy across his body.
He feels made for poses like this.
I’m saying that I don’t mind it, especially because it makes it easier for me to pass him off as the 2007 version. In particular, the face is a really, really good likeness of Mr. Church, complete with an appropriately dour expression.
He looks like he thinks deep thoughts on the regular.
My wife joked that the likeness is good enough that this is actually an action figure of the character Thomas Haden Church played in George of the Jungle, after he got covered in animal feces.
The Colors
Vast tracts of beige
Speaking of “covered in animal feces,” we reach the probable reason why this guy was a shelfwarmer: He’s overwhelmingly beige, as befits a man made of sand. Now, an effort was made to give him some color depth. There’s dark brown inkwash all across him, giving him shading and texture, helping pick out the sculpt, so points for effort. But he still mostly comes across as monochrome, and that was seemingly a dealbreaker for most people.
He does nicely contrast with Black Suit Spidey, though.
I don’t mind, because, again, he reads more like a statue or sculpture, but I can certainly see where the problem is.
Build Quality
Solid enough to hold his own in a fight.
It’s a hard thing to convey through photos, but this is why I like this figure: He actually feels really good in-hand. His joints aren’t too tight, his plastic is a bit soft, but not too soft, and he just feels good to manipulate in your hands. He’s not perfect, his double-jointed knees are a bit stiffer and ratchet-y than I’d like, but I daresay it makes up for his bland colors. I’d still say Amazing Fantasy Spider-Man is the best-feeling Marvel Legend I have, but this is a close second, ahead of even Tobey Pete. And another important part of his build quality is how stable he is, because they used the “he is made of sand” angle to make his feet bigger and wider than a standard human sculpt, so he stays on his feet way easier than most of my Spider-Guys. He still can’t stand on one foot, though.
Articulation
I don’t think he ever posed this dramatically, to be honest.
This is another highlight. He’s got the same great articulation as Spidey, so I’m going to shamelessly copy-paste it here: Omni-directional ankles, double knees, thigh swivels, universal hips, a double-ab-crunch, universal shoulders, bicep swivels, double elbows, wrists that swivel and dip, and a ball-jointed neck. Unlike his webbed counterpart, Sandman’s general range of articulation makes me a lot more inclined to bend and flex him. Seriously, he’s just fun.
DRAMA!
Accessories and Features
This is the really amusing bit about Sandman. So, his first two sets of hands are pretty normal, a pair of fists, and a pair of splayed hands.
Good for expressing his disbelief at Venom’s stature.
His next set of accessories are, personally, really funny to me: A pair of giant-sized hands, with a couple of “sleeves” that fit over his forearms, to flare them up into his big hands.
He’s going to Get You ™.
Now, it’d be one thing if these were giant “Hulk Hands” type fists, but instead, they’re open-handed, with curled fingers, but gigantic.
“What’s that? I can’t hear you whining anymore!”
It’s like, he’s not going to punch you, but he is going to Get You.
“I’m tired of these jokes about my giant hand. The first such incident occurred in 1956…”
I can’t stress enough how funny I find these hands. They basically make the figure for me.
“Shhh. Sandman says go to sleep.”
Overall
Look, I can see why this one shelfwarmed hard. He’s overwhelmingly bland-looking, and I can’t say I wouldn’t have preferred a proper Spider-Man 3 version, green striped shirt and all.
Replicating this shot doesn’t hit quite right without it.
But I’m still really fond of him, entirely because of how fun he is to pose and handle, and how amusing the giant hands are. And hey, the fact that he was a shelfwarmer means (I assume) that he’s (probably) cheap on the aftermarket, so if you need a goon for your 6-inchers to fight, he’s your (sandy) man.
He really doesn’t like being lumped in with these wierdos, though.
Some More Thoughts
Marvel Legends aren’t for everyone. For one thing, their quality is all over the place, extremely hit and miss from figure to figure.
These two hit, though.
Maybe I’ll review Doc Ock and Green Goblin eventually, but spoiler alert, they’re not as good as these two. But, look, I’m a “I want the guy from the thing” kind of collector, and action figures from a trilogy of films I love are always an easy sell. And these two here are some of the better Legends I’ve handled, in terms of poseability, personality, and fun, so I’d call both of them worth a look.
Everyone disliked that.
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