When No Way Home came out, fans everywhere were ecstatic. It wasn't perfect, but Marvel did something we all wanted to see happen - bring together all the Spider-Man universes and make them all relevant again. Along for ride were of course key villains. I've always been partial to the Raimi villains (well, most of them... his version of Venom sucked), with my favourite being Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin.
So when the S.H. Figuarts version of the character was put on preorder, I got on that right away. I can't remember when that was, but between waiting for release and a few other things for consolidated shipping, it finally arrived the middle of December 2023.
Being a web exclusive, the figure shipped inside an art box inside a brown shipper. Upon opening the box, I marveled at the fact this was the first non-windowed S.H. Figuarts box I'd seen, or at least one that wasn't made completely cardboard for cost cutting purposes. Even stranger is that the actual art doesn't even look like the guy at all (bit of foreshadowing there for you) and if you really want to stretch the truth, a bit of false advertising.
The contents of the set are a bit of a mixed bag, as there are both sufficient parts, and at the same time, there are inadequacies:
1 x Main Figure
2 x Head Sculpt (Goggles, No Goggles)
1 x Hood
8 x Posing/Gripping Hands
1 x Goblin Glider
1 x Extended Wrist Blade Effect
1 x Pumpkin Bomb
If you've been following along, you'll notice that yeah, he's missing a few weapons, as is the actual glider itself, but the biggest crime is the fact that despite being known for exactly TWO expressions, there is no grinning or cackling headsculpt with this set, which for the Green Goblin, is kind of criminal. The lack of helmet isn't terribly surprising as I'm sure this is meat to depict the final battle scene.
The figure looks pretty good right out of the box. One of things I never really appreciated until I got a hold of this is just how unsymmetrical the suit was - in a good way. There's a whole bunch or irregular battle damage that shows up on the suit, and this is something that is also captured on the larger Hot Toys version. The overall silhouette is pretty good as well, slightly bulky just like it looked in the movie.
The head sculpts are... OK. I mean, they're certainly better than the Doctor Strange I just looked at, but there are a few questions. For starters, I'm not entirely certain why they gave the guy a moustache when even the proto had it more at a stubble level. The actual sculpting itself isn't terrible - a bit cartoonish perhaps, but at least they're well defined. Hair isn't bad either. It's really the eyes that throw off the true Dafoe feeling, and for that, you have the one head with the goggles.
This is also a good time to mention that for the hood, you're just swapping out on soft plastic piece for another.
Sculpting and overall design of the Goblin Glider is pretty good as well. The piece is designed with rotating wings and foot rests that can adjust and move. Underneath, you can see that there is some excellent mechanical detailing there, along with some lovely missiles. I think that putting the glider on a stand and having Green Goblin ride it is probably the best way to to display this set.
Articulation on this figure is quite good, though there are some bulk related restrictions, most notably on the back arch (purple chest wrap) and hips (bulky belt pockets). One of the first figures I've seen outside of the Dragonball figures to utilize that lowered hip with the rotating panels to cover up the gap. It works there, and it works here as well. While back arch is garbage, ab crunch is fantastic, and this is great news because of all the potential Goblin Glider poses you can put the figure in and still have it look normal while posed. You get Butterfly Joints and full standard array of joints on the arm. The head tilt could be improved, as it would give you that much posing range.
Paint Applications on the face are kind of iffy, but again, much much better than Doctor Strange, no ands, ifs, or buts. The paint work on the rest of the figure, however, is gorgeous. Like with Metal Cooler, there isn't really any unpainted surface, with the exception of the purple wrap around the chest (which is odd when I think about it) and the soles of the boots. Otherwise, everything is either covered in that sweet, sweet Emerald Green or some other metallic colour. As photos show, this extends to the glider as well. Base and detailing paint apps are superbly applied, with no overspray or masking flaws.
It's so weird they left that one section unpainted.
Build Quality is of no concern, which is nice as this is an above average set when it comes to parts and moving pieces. Everything fits together very nicely and you're not going to have any issues with holding poses or other joint related activities - there's no heavy loads for me to test the wrists and arms from that perspective. The finish on this figure is very good, and there were no random parts popping off.
It's a shame about how the face turned out - that and the lack of a trademark cackling face. The figure otherwise exhibits some very high quality production values that are likely to please collectors who look for that sort of thing. This figure is how I wish all the Figuarts releases were painted... but I suspect that would invite a price increase that would never end.... maybe save the pretty paint for Event Exclusives. Sculpting is also excellent for both the figure and the Glider, and this figure has the articulation to keep up with pretty much all your Goblin Glider posing needs.
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