I Finally Freed The Amazing Spiderman!

Yeah, he'd been sitting on my shelf for quite a bit, but with Halloween around the corner, and me wanting to do a Halloween themed review for Articulated Discussions, I was left with one option from the non-horror themed toys of mine--Marvel Universe 3.75" Green Goblin!

So naturally I had to open Spidey up as well, for what is the Goblin without the Spider? And what a figure or favourite wall-crawler is!


I think along with Captain America web-head here's the most poseable figure in the line so far, though after being through so many GI Joe figs, the Marvel Universe range could use a little more accessories.
Aesthetics: 9/10 - It's tough to pick the lines of Spiderman's suit out right without any slop from the black wash showing up glaringly on the colourful parts of his costume. Spidey is done pretty well, but there are still glops here and there on his face and wherever the web on his suit gets denser.

I do have to say I got this guy early, otherwise I'd have picked up the darker blue suit version instead. Though the blue is washed on that version to make it appear more gritty and realistic, I have seen some of those where the slop is so bad that it covers parts of the red on his costume. The black and red versions (these may be the over washed dark-blue versions) I have seen really look bad, though. So I'm still glad I have the light blue paint--no problems at all with the blue parts here.

The Spider logo on his chest and especially on his back are superb, with the back logo being molded, painted and washed! :)

And I actually really dig his right hand being molded in a web shooting position. It's rare that you get to see individual fingers on figures this size. It's refreshing and makes for excellent posing.

Poseability: 9.5/10 - 23 points of articulation puts this guys right up there with many 6" figures. But Spidey loses some points with his leg joints not being able to bend 90 degrees. He does more than make up for this with a very mobile head. Left, right, up, down, he can look wherever you need him to point his head. Also, his head is loose enough to pop out but not so loose it'll fall out or change direction on its own. This is good because if you ever find the right head, you can have your unmasked Spidey variant. And who doesn't love those? Yay!!!

Fun: 9.5/10 - All those poses, all those villains, and of course, all the wise-cracking you can come up with! Spidey is one of those super heroes kids and adults alike can have fun with. He smart mouths everyone, but not in a malicious way, even the bad-guys. Speaking of which, this line already has Green Goblin, Hobgoblin, and Electro. No doubt they'll come out with Venom, Rhino, Kraven, The Lizard, Sandman, Mysterio etc. soon, but right now you have enough baddies for a gang up attack on the web-head. Let the fun begin already! :)

Value: 8.5/10 - In terms of accessories, Spidey comes with a mass of webbing, Fury Files ID card, a Top Secret Letter and that's it. At retail, he may not be that worth it. But let the price drop a little, use a coupon, or wait for a store wide discount and you'll get your money's worth.

He's a great figure to play with and pose, so the value lies quite a bit in the playability rather than the accessories. But of course, we could all do with some web "constructs." A couple of web bullets here, a pair of web cuffs there and would've been just perfect. Oh, and throwing in Peter Parker's camera would be cool too, especially with the number of Spideys in multi-packs not coming with anything at all. A stand would be great too, but Hasbro are already doing that with the next series.

Overall: 9.2/10 - A must have cuz hey, it's Spidey! And he's an icon! Every kid on the block and Stan Lee want to be him! Ok maybe not the last bit, but this is a great figure. And who doesn't want to be a card carrying member of the Super Human Registration Act?

Seriously, though, Spiderman is one of those figures that won't be under produced or have a shortage of versions that you can choose from. Right now there's this guy, the new dark blue and red suit one, the black and red one (I think), the black with blue wash costume, the Secret Wars flat black, and the Spiderfriends 3 pack version.

That's 6 Spideys. And they haven't even gone into Armoured Spidey, Iron Spidey, Six-arm Spidey, Ben Reilly Spidey, or an unmasked variant yet. So you can take your time for your fave Spidey to show up, or you can get a standard iconic version like this one because he'll be great fun anyways!