So if you haven't watched Spiderman: No Way Home by now, well then spoilers - both the Tobey MacGuire and Andrew Garfield versions of the character show up to help save the day. If you were in the theatre during that first weekend, when there was still a mystery to it, the applause when it happened was deafening. I was definitely excited - while I didn't mind the Garfield portrayal (he got screwed by a bad script), the Tobey MacGuire movies are where my heart be at.
Naturally, this meant that there was a chance for modern toys made in the image of that Spiderman, and sure enough there was a Hot Toy, which I preordered, and a S.H. Figuarts release, which was purchased as I always wanted a poseable MacGuire Spiderman. My brother had that giant one from the second movie, which was neat for the time, but even then it was either robots or toys with boobs for me, so I never got around to adding anything to my collection.
After some delays, the figure finally was released, and so.. here we go!
Officially named Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man, which is great because I never knew he even had a formal title. I don't know how authentic this font is to official art work, as I've never seen anything to that effect. At any rate, it's a nice red and blue box. Not pictured is the brown shipper it came in, as I believe this figure was a Tamashii Web exclusive.
I believe that this figure was around the 9,800 Yen mark with regards to MSRP. This is of course a bit on the high side, but not unexpected given the exclusive nature and all that:
- 1 x Main Figure
- 1 x Unmasked Sculpt w/Neck Adapter
- 1 x Smiling Sculpt
- 1 x Loose Mask Effect.
- 12 x Gripping/Posing Hands
- 2 x Short Web
- 2 x Medium Web
- 1 x Long Web
There seem like a lot of hands, but it's actually not that many - closed fists, open palm, web sling, web gripping, mask effect hand, and of course, meme hand.
The Raimi Spider Suit has been replicated nicely. Nice colour and texturing, with the silver/grey webbing on the suit versus the traditional black webbing of the comic outfit. Body silhouette is the right width, though the upper body and head are a bit on the long side. The appropriate spider symbols have been recreated nicely.
Tied into articulation is how the joints are cut. Simply put, compared to my other Figuarts (which are mostly Black Widow), I'm going to call it and say that the Spiderman body they use is based on the engineering of the typical Saiyan body in the Dragonball line. Most evident would be the way the hips are designed, which feature a hip joint that is lower than usual to allow for greater range of motion, with a floating piece to fill in the gap. This groin area, combined with the thight swivel cut, is a bit unsightly. I'm not entirely certain why the cut was made this way, or more accurately, why the thigh cut looks like the top of an ice cream cone, but it is what it is.
It's less weird looking than the ass, though.
You're probably wondering how well the unmasked heads worked out. Well, take a look for yourself...
The neutral expression sculpt isn't perfect, at least not compared to how well the Black Widow faces came out. But you know what? At least it's passable and I can look at it and say "that's Tobey MacGuire". The facial shape is generally there, but it's like the facial structure like the cheeks, nose and so on were muddled and turned to mush. Hair detailing is meh, but that's generally the case when you're at a figure of this size. But that deadpan expression though.. that' is straight up Tobey MacGuire.
The smiling face? Yeah.. it's not Loki Figurarts bad, but it's pretty bad. It's like they Faceeapp'ed someone elses details into the MacGuire face blank, then put on a really fake smile. This guy looks like he's not putting dirt in your eye AND he failed to make rent money.
The loose mask effect is OK. Again, it's not going to win any awards or praise from me, but I suppose it is functional, and at least can be held in the appropriate hand. I don't remember it being a thing in the movie though, so I suspect they might have thrown it in so unmasked smiling Tobey didn't look so much like a creeper.
The web effects are again, alright. I don't expect them to do much other than not break, and we seem to be alright. The short and medium length ones are mounted by a ring onto the wrist joint, and mimic web fluid being shot out. The long web effect is more akin to a finished line that he swings from, and can be gripped in the open fist.
From an articulation perspective, as stated, pretty good. Effectively anything that Goku could do, this figure can do as well, with the added benefit of having less bulk to deal with, which further allows for range of motion. What the figure lacks is a greater range of motion for the head, which is essential as Spidey likes to crawl on the walls and what not, which requires him to look forward while in a prone position. Spidey would have also benefited from a freaking flight stand because, well, he jumps a lot. But overall, the figure can pull off quite a few good poses. It's just a matter of accepting the fact you're gonna see the joints and all that.
Paint Application wise, pretty standard stuff for a Figuarts. Everything looks sharp, or at least it does on all thing Spider suit related. The unmasked sculpts are... muddied to say the very least. For whatever reason they aren't as crisp as any of my Widows, Captain Marvels, or even the random male characters I have. I wonder if it's possible that they used a different technology to obtain the facial scans. It's just weird to see them not be as good as the others I've seen from Bandai, and those are slightly older too. This is also the only figure where it looks like they dumped a ton of paint on for the flesh tones, but upon closer inspection it appears that they just picked a plastic really saturated in colour.
Build Quality wise, first and foremost handle the web effects with care because, well, they're flimsy and fragile. Another thing to watch out for is the wrist pegs. Now, I don't know how well they're gonna hold up, but I can tell you that the actual pegs are pretty slender, and the hands aren't even designed to take the it all the way to the wrist. I wonder if this was done to space for the web effects but whatever the case may be, I wouldn't be handling that section of the figure too roughly.
With the exception of the kind of weak unmasked sculpts, this figure is pretty much everything I was hoping for it to be. A well made Raimi Spiderman with good posing options. Unless Mafex decides to step up and make their own version, it's unlikely there will be a better version to get. Legends will not be articulated as this (and would have been out by now) and Revoltech may have a better articulated body, but there's nothing to suggest that they will be competent at their sculpt making game. I'd recommend a waiting period to see if this will go on sale, though the only places that are going to have any actual stock are probably raising the prices up to begin with. I don't think many Japanese stores actually stock Tamashi Web items, or at least not on purpose and in bulk.
At the end of the day, it's about the fun you can have with a figure.
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