Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Review: Marvel Legends Infinite Series Spider-Man

Figure Information
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Origin Series: Amazing Fantasy (First Appearance)
Scale: Non-scale
Height: Approximately 16.5cm tall
Original Price: $19.99


Packaging:


I've decided to pick from my Top 10 action figures of 2015 for 2016's first review and here he is! This is the first time I'm actually reviewing a marvel legends with an actual packaging in hand! (Do note that the BAF part has been taken in my piece.) So yeah, the packaging for Marvel Legends Infinite Series are pretty much the same across all the releases and as you can see, it's pretty plain overall; there's a big window for you to inspect the figure (which is a plus in my end since I've seen some Pizza Spideys that have warped joints from how they're packaged, do beware of that) and you can see the brand line, the character's name (which is sometimes replaced with titles) and which series and wave it is which is Spider-man Marvel Legends and Hobgoblin wave in this case. Well. there's really not much for me to discuss so I'll end it here. 

Details:


Okay, so I have not much ideas whether this body is a reuse from an older release or not so I'll just discuss the figure as how I see it.

Of course, I'll start with the head and I must say it looks pretty good, it's definitely got that right Spidey feel to it though while this is supposed to be a representation of Earth 616 Spider-Man, I am not sure if this was based off a certain comic version or not but it does feel more cartoon-ish than comic due to the way the webbing in the suit has been done.


The details extend to the rest of the clothes and the spider logo looks perfect IMO. One thing I totally loved about the figure's mold is that you can see pretty well defined muscles in his arms and especially in the torso which is definitely something pleasing to me. Overall, the paint and details are clean though my piece in particular does have some minor paint chips here and there but it definitely doesn't bug me.


If you noticed in one of the detail photos above, Pizza Spidey does have a hole in his back and this perfectly fits figma stands if you have extras.


The biggest bummer on Pizza Spidey for me is that in his double jointed elbows, you'll see that on one side, it's still red which a total eyesore for me. I mean, I might be spoiled by my japanese figures but couldn't they have painted those two blots with blue just to keep consistency?


Size Comparison:

And starting 2016, I'll be separating the size comparison into it's own section and that I'll try to provide more comparisons as the reviews go from here on.

With figma Spider-Man

The comparison above is with another Spider-Man from a different line which is the only one I have at the moment (and I really wish I had MAFEX Spidey at this point) and as you can see, the figma is definitely shorter and it always has been shorter when stood up even with the figma Avengers.

With figma Captain America and S.H.Figuarts Iron Man Mk 42

The figma Avengers and MCU shfs scale a bit better when they stand next to Marvel legends though by all means, Marvel Legends figures are still taller (just slightly taller than SHF Mk 42 for the comparison above.) So yeah, you can definitely bundle these guys together for a photo and not extremely notice a sizing difference when they're posed altogether.

Accessories:


As for accessories, this is definitely a great set by Marvel Legends since ML rarely do give accessories aside from the Build A Figure (BAF) part which isn't even an accessory for the character to begin with; speaking of BAF parts, Pizza Spidey comes with Hobgoblin's left leg which I definitely do not have. 

Anyway, this Spidey comes with alternate hands, a feat that's slowly being applied to more and more Marvel Legends releases; Spider-Man comes with a treat as you get a pair of fists and the other halves of his default hands (a web shooting hand and an open hand) thus, giving him a total of 3 pairs handsets. 

Hands aside you also get an alternate head which depicts Spider-Man's mask unmasked just enough for us to see a grinning Peter Parker mouth. Lastly but certainly not the least, he comes with a pizza slice! Yes, a pizza slice and hence why I and a lot of other collectors have been calling Hobgoblin Wave Spider-Man as Pizza Spidey as it's a big indicator on which ML Spidey is being talked about. 

While the count isn't much compared to figmas or Figuarts, for a Marvel Legends release, this is actually more than what I could ask for and I really hope Hasbro provides us with more accessories for their releases this year.

Articulation Points:


Marvel Legends has always been loved by many because of its great articulation and at least for Pizza Spidey here, I'd say I'm around 80% satisfied with his articulation. And as I start with the head, the head primarily moves on a ball joint so you can definitely get a full rotation there and some minor tilting and I do wish we could've gotten better tilting while there's also a hinge on the neck which does give a great range of looking up and down.


Arm articulation is totally awesome as it provides a complete 90 degree raise to the sides as well a hinder free arm rotation on the shoulders. We are also given a bicep swivel, a VERY satisfying double hinged elbow as well as wrist movement similar to old figmas (hinged and can be swiveled via the connecting peg) on each arm.


And although I forgot to take a photo, you can swing his arms inward thanks to the shoulder mechanism.

Going to torso articulation, he does have decent outwards and inwards ab crunch and what's amazing here is that even if you crunch his body to its limits, the detailing doesn't break as the extra plastic molds inside are also detailed, giving that continued detail look. A full rotation on his waist is also available but do note that if you rotate his body that much, there's gonna be an obvious mold break visible there.


And now the most disappointing part is Spidey's hip joints, its sideways split is just so damn limited (just around 45 degrees by default) for an acrobatic character like Spider-Man, you'd have to mod it just so he can split properly, and what's even more disappointing here is that an earlier ML Spidey (TASM2 Spidey) had so much more than this without any need of modding so it's definitely an odd case. Anyway, going back to the hip joints, they can at least kick to just a little bit past 90 degrees while you are also given minor backward movement. Much like the arms, each legs does get a thigh swivel, perfect double hinged joint and last but not least, a very very great ankle tilt and hinge, which definitely helps the wallcrawler in dynamic poses.


Poseability:


Pizza Spidey's unmodded limited hip joints really proved a challenge when I was posing him around for shots in this review and it certainly was tricky to utilize the joints to make Spidey actually feel like Spidey. Don't get me wrong though as this Spidey can definitely pull off some remarkable poses despite being limited at certain points of his articulation.


I found posing him in mid air to be the easiest types of poses to do and is a lot of fun; there's certainly still limits every now and then but hey, Spider-Man is one character who we actually see in mid air more often than not so the frame definitely works. I do wish he came with some web parts but hey, that's just asking for too much already.


Adding the alternate head was definitely a great move by hasbro as this allows this Spidey to be posed in not just typical Spidey business but also some more relaxed manner or even something totally unorthodox if your ideas go wild.



With all said and done, I really find Spidey to be very poseable despite the limits; it's just that he could've done more without those and from the 3 Marvel Legends I've reviewed so far (this included), I definitely enjoyed this shoot a lot.



Final Thoughts:

For his price point, I must say that he's totally worth it as again I'd like to emphasize that he has an absurd number of accessories for a Marvel Legends release and the articulation is also above average while at the same time providing you with a decent 6 inch representation of Earth-616 Spider-Man. Pizza Spidey was definitely a bang for the buck hence why he's included in my top 10 action figures of 2016. Anyway, before I end the review, I did get Pizza Spidey from Dragon's Keep in Greenhills Shopping Center so do check out the store when you're there. Additionally, Pizza Spidey stocks are all over Toy Kingdom stores recently so if you're looking for one, do try checking out their branches.

I do give Pizza Spidey a spectacular 4 out of 5.

4 comments:

  1. Great job ! The proportions of this amazing Spider Man are really good !

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  2. Loved the review! But my friend told me that when he tried modding the hips, it gave him great outwards movement, but he said it felt a bit loose when posing. Also since it's a bit loose, you might have trouble making pizza spidey stand up. So, heads up when removing that extra plastic!

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  3. Hey there, I saw a forum saying that pizza spidey figures with 50261 at the back of the left thigh is a KO.

    Here's the link:
    http://m.thefwoosh.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=96&t=94850&start=15

    I saw that yours have one, and the one I bought second hand (the previous owner took the BAF part) have the same number. It has a good quality though unlike the one in the photos in the link.

    Just want to hear from you, you got your figure sealed when you got it right? Want to know that there are legitimate figures produced with the same serial number.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi there! Sorry for the delay in publishing the comment and replying. My Pizza Spidey was actually second hand since the BAF part was already removed when I got it. Judging from the link you gave, I saw one reply there stating that he bought pizza spideys from TRU or Walgreens and he had the same serial on the back, so I guess there are some legit Pizza Spideys with the said number; additionally, my piece doesn't have the head dent nor the improved hip joints, so I'm guessing it's legit? I'd hate to find out if this one's a KO though since I paid for it in SRP even without the BAF part.

      Delete