The Amazing Spiderman Movie Series 6" Lizard

First up, apologies to the Rangerlord!--I saw this figure for the first time when I was on vacation in Malacca and had never seen before in Singapore.  There was one him and Ultimate (Miles Morales) Spiderman for S$28 each, so I grabbed them both!  At that price, I was thinking it was a steal compared to the Marvel Legends retail price of S$39.90 back home.

The Rangerlord was game for Miles and I was so-so, so I handed it off to him for what I had paid.

But of course, I then start seeing these everywhere retailing for S$24.90 in Singapore.  I felt really bad that he had to pay a few extra bucks for them, but the price was too good to resist.

So I picked up Miles.

I also picked up movie series Spidey for just under S$20 at a Metro department store sale a few days later.

The moral of the story?  For every good deal you find, you're likely to make a bad one too.  Of course, it's not entirely terrible paying a few more dollars in this case, but it was for someone else.  I guess on my part it pays to be patient.  Then again, you can end up being too patient and miss the boat altogether. (Memories of Marvel Universe Vision come to mind...)

On to the subject in question:  The Lizard!

Dislike: I rarely start a review with a "dislike", but I have to say I actually really dislike the design of the character's head.  The rest of his body is pretty awesome, but the head is too round and human-like for me.  It's got something to do with the CG being a little under par during closeups.  But this is a movie-related peeve, which unfortunately affects the the look of the toy.  Having said that, the head is moulded perfectly, to the point that I still don't like it on the toy! ;P

Like: The size of the Lizard.  He may be is the 6" scale, but the guy stands at a whopping 8.25" to tower over Spidey!

Like: The detail on this guy.  I'm not just talking about the sculpt, which is pretty darn close to perfect for a human-like lizard, I'm also talking paint apps.

The base green-moulded plastic is just the right tone and it blends in nicely between the kaki painted-on highlights and deeper green used for shading and picking out the thicker parts of his hide.  His eyes are painted really well, as are his white teeth and red tongue.

Dislike: That they left his claws on both his hands and feet unpainted!  Oh well...

Like: The sculpted detail on the skin!  It's the very best feature of the Lizard--there's not an inch of him that isn't covered in scales, wrinkly skin, or muscle!

His chest, torso, biceps, leg balls, inner thighs and hamstring area, as well as neck and shoulder balls all have wrinkly skin.

The rest of his body is covered in squarish scales of all sizes, ranging from about a millimetre (like on the forearms, head, feet and tail) to a few millimetres wide (thighs, shins, calves, "heel", and spine.)

Lots of areas have a combo of both skin and scales, with some of these also having "human" muscle.  Needless to say, the Lizard looks real darn good!

Like: His articulation, of course!  The back of his card boasts "super-articulated" and the figure delivers.  Sporting some of the most up-to-date joints tailored for his unusual physique, the Lizard has "shoe" hinge/swivel ankles that have been adapted to his elongated foot, giving him the reverse "knee joint" on each leg.

The guys also got a swivel/hinge atop a (giant!) neck swivel/hinge.  Also, the Lizard has a large tail that is detached in the package.  That, too, has swivel/hinge!

There are downsides, unfortunately.  He's got no hinges on his swivel wrists, and the large neck looks awkward when over-swivelled.  Luckily, his head swivel can do that job, leaving the neck to move minimally--anything more than about 40 degrees either way makes him look like he had his head and neck chopped off and sewn on wrong.

The other thing is that his tail and neck hinge have huge slits for the joint to move back and forth (or up and down for the tail.)  And when the neck is fully back, the hinge slit is very visible above his collarbone.  (See pic in package!)  So too for the tail, but that faces downwards/backwards so it's not too jarring.

Like: That they thought up some accessories for a villain that uses none: enter his three lil' lizard buddies! They're made of soft plastic so their not too much of a danger if thrown in an eye.  They're also well painted and have excellent sculpts!  Leave one in the kitchen to surprise Mom or Sis and see how well it works! ;P

RATINGS

Aesthetics: 9.75/10 - The Lizard is beautiful! (Women of the world, cringe with disgust! :P)  Aside from the glaring chest slit, the Lizard is really quite marvellous to look at.  He'd be perfect but for the afore-mentioned slits and the unpainted claws.  But the later is easily remedied.  The former, not quite so.  But all in all a wonderfully rendered movie to toy action figure!

Poseability: 9/10 - I really love the idea of the giant neck hinge and swivel/hinge head combo.  Combined with the excellent torso pivot, the Lizard can really bend backwards and hunch forward.  The tail also has lots of range for movement.  And the new ankle joints also are a joy both on 3.75" figures as well as on 6" scale one like the Lizard.

Curt here has got standard Marvel Legend articulation in his double jointed elbows and knees, though I do wish he also had wrist hinges.  He loses most of his up down head movement because of the thickness of his neck, but thank goodness the neck itself makes up for it by being very flexible back to front.

His other joints bend like they should and easily so, especially the leg/hip ball joints, so the Lizard action figure matches up to the Lizard character in this department! ;)

Fun: 9/10 - I had a great time posing this guy for photos as he looks great both in static poses as well as in action shots.  But the latter is where he really shine because of his superb articulation.  Heck, he was so good that I couldn't resist opening up Spiderman for a photo cameo!


Value: 9/10 - It's hard to find action figures these days that have the bulk, the articulation, the PoAs, and the accessories that the Lizard has and at the S$24.90 (US$20) price he retails at.  I don't regret paying a little more like I did for this guy.  What I don't get is that he comes as he is with all the wonderful sculpting and paint, the three lizards, and a Heroscape-style figure stand for some S$15 less than a Marvel Legends figure.

I'm putting it down to the success the Amazing Spiderman had at the box office but I could be wrong.  At this price, it's hard to resist any ol' Marvel Legends quality figure, especially an oversized one like the Lizard!

Overall: 9.2/10 - I'd take and arm and a leg for this figure! (I know, the irony.)  - My initial reaction was one of revulsion--ugh, not another movie design gone awry.  Not this Lizard again.  But I noticed the PoAs, the lil' lizard buddies, the paint, the sculpt, and then the price.  Truth is, I was originally willing to take his head off and find another head to give him a more comicbook-like look without losing his grittiness.  But now that he's out of the package, I'm not quite so sure.  He's a great figure and even if you ain't a movie Lizard fan, he'll definitely impress you if you get him. ;)