Amazing Yamaguchi/Revoltech Spider-Man (#002) Action Figure Review

Image © Dan's ToyBox 2023

Hey there everyone, thanks for stopping by Dan's ToyBox for our latest action figure review. Technically you could consider this a "Retro Review" because this figure has been out for quite some time. That being said, I finally broke down and bought the Kaiyodo Amazing Yamaguchi/Revoltech Spider-Man (#002) Action Figure. I'm really glad I did because there is a lot to like about this figure! Admittedly, it's also an acquired taste, but if you have the patience oh, it's so worth adding to your collection.

Here's where I would generally write a synopsis history of the character, but we all know Spider-Man's origin from front to back and vice versa. Instead, today, I'll throw a question out to you, please feel free to drop your responses over on the Dan's ToyBox group, in the comments section of this review article's post. (If you aren't a member... send a request, we'd be happy to have you!) Who, for you personally, is the DEFINITIVE Spider-Man artist and what is it about that style that you like the most? For me... even though I love the McFarlane and Bagley eras, I'm a child of the 80's which means John Romita jr is my "go to" Spider-Man guy. He drew so many of my favorite stories back then and his style, especially in the two part "Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut" story just really made the stories come alive. If I were to go top five, they would be: 5) Mark Bagley, 4) Todd McFarlane, 3) John Romita Sr, 2) Steve Ditko, and of course at #1 J.R Jr. Each of these men found new and exciting ways to stylize the webslinger and their art made his stories so much more engaging! I'm looking forward to hearing all of your thoughts.

Before we dive into the review, we'll do a quick review criteria recap: Accessories, Appearance, Articulation, and Affordability are all discussed and given a rating. At the end, after taking each category into consideration, we'll assign an overall score of Zero to Ten ToyBoxes to the figure. As always, I attempt to be as objective as possible because my only goal is to give you the best opinion I can to help you decide if this is a product you want to purchase for yourself. Let's get after it!

Images © Dan's ToyBox 2023

ACCESSORIES

As with most all import figures I've seen, Amazing Yamaguchi also packs a lot of accessories with their figures. Spider-Man comes with 4 different sets of mask lenses (1 squinting, 1 angry, 1 normal, and 1 wide-eyed) to convey different emotions.

Images © Dan's ToyBox 2023

There are 4 different pairs of hands: 1 pair fists, 1 pair wall-crawling, 1 pair thwipping, and 1 pair "trigger finger." He has two short thwipping webs that plug into his hands, two longer swinging webs that plug into his fists and a flexible web lasso that fits into the trigger finger hands. He also has a flight stand with a magnetic attachment, eye lens removal tool and extra pegs... just in case. Lastly, there is a really nice background featuring some incredible artwork of Spider-Man. Though I knew what to expect, having seen everything in the ads when I ordered it, I was still very impressed when I opened the packaging. I really like that the webbing isn't a solid white but appears to have gray highlights throughout. This gives the webbing more detail and really helps it stand out more in photos. I'm not sure how I feel about the web "lasso." I do like the engineering for how it goes into his hand and can secure itself in place though. Swapping the hands is very easy, which is nice. However. the pegs do have a tendency to slide out of the wrists easier than they do the hands themselves. If this happens, just take care to not drop the peg when you remove it from the hand. I also really appreciate the fact that the swinging webs can fit so snugly into each fist and don't fall out easily. I'm also really grateful to have the additional pegs. So far, I've been careful about swapping out the hands and moving them around on the pegs, but it is good to know I've got backups... just in case. Now I admit that there are fewer accessories than with other import companies, but in this case, not getting magnetic hands/feet is acceptable because of the magnet attachment itself. I did plug the display clamp into the magnet and was able to hang Spidey on the side of my filing cabinet. The magnet held his weight easily, there was no sliding and the figure stayed right where it was placed. I'm very pleased with the accessories and give them a 9 out of 10.

Images © Dan's ToyBox 2023

APPEARANCE

For many people (me included) the appearance was a prohibitive factor in buying this figure. Naturally, the engineering design of the shoulders and legs leaves a bit to be desired, when considering pure aesthetics of the figure. With newer offerings, Amazing Yamaguchi has really improved the flow of the design and the shoulders look so much better now. Honestly, I hated the look of this figure because of the shoulders when I first saw it and thought..."Nope, that's not something I want." I will admit now... I was an idiot. The engineering design of the figure is such that it's not really meant to be in vanilla poses. This is an "action" figure and should be posed as such. So, very quickly, let's hit on the rest of the appearance and then we'll dive into articulation. The reds and blues on this figure are remarkably vibrant and the metallic sheen to the blues almost makes you feel this could be a die-cast figure. It isn't though, the paint application is just done exceedingly well. All of the web patterns have a nice black wash to them, which only enhances the look of the costume and both spider emblems look phenomenal. Displaying this figure with any of the different eyepieces helps to give it even more character and, I have to confess, I really prefer the wide-open eyes, which you see predominantly in the pictures. My reason... they remind me of the old 1970's Spider-Man tv series with Nicholas Hammond. I know it wasn't the best depiction of the web-spinner, but next to The Electric Company, that was my first exposure to a live-action Spider-Man. I would love to see a toy company create that show's version of Spider-Man in action figure form but until then, I can look at the eyes on this and reminisce. The sculpt of the figure is incredible as rendered by the artist Yamaguchi Katsuhisa and mixes a nice blend of anime styling into Spider-Man's appearance. Granted, I do feel that the upper thighs are very bulky, the neck is thick and very long, and the arms are far too slender, but that's only a matter of opinion and not enough to give me a negative view of this figure. Really, aside from the shoulders, my only real complaint about the figure is the teardrop Deadpool-esque look to the back of his mask. That is disappointing to me and could have been created far more effectively. We shall see if it is remedied when they release the new version of Spider-Man later this year. The shoulders aren't really even an issue for me any longer either. Once I got to playing and posing this figure around, I realized that I don't even notice them much any longer. My score on this category is a solid 8 out of 10. Round off the head and shoulders and this would jump up a bit higher.

Images © Dan's ToyBox 2023

ARTICULATION

The engineering in this figure is really the greatest strength and at the same time, the largest source of frustration. If you are new to Revoltech design all I can do is recommend PATIENCE. This is not the type of figure that you just crack out of the package and start posing, if you've never had one of these before. Honestly, I watched several reviews on the figure before mine arrived, simply to see how the joints design worked. I didn't want to break anything by turning or twisting it the wrong way, or stressing something because I pushed too hard. I'm glad that I did, especially when I opened the figure and discovered that the left leg was stuck. The hair dryer trick didn't work, so it ended up going for a swim in hot water for a good 30 seconds. Thankfully that helped and the joint is fully functional now. Anyway, on to the actual articulation. The head has a two-piece system and is mounted on a peg. The head can look up very far and with the neck movement can also look straight down at his feet. The neck can move and tilt side to side a degree, which helps give expression to his poses. The shoulders are on a dumbbell joint. This design gives a major degree of range and movement, allowing full rotation at the shoulder ball and up/down shifting at the deltoid muscle ball. This design seems to more closely mimic the actual motion of a human shoulder. The movement though allows for greater range of motion across body, upwards, outwards, and even reaching up and back. The aesthetic of the shoulder design might not look great, but the articulation is fantastic. There is no bicep swivel, which can be frustrating, until you get the hang of working the shoulder joints. The elbows will bend in just a bit past 90 degrees and the hands all swivel and hinge easily. The diaphragm joint at the torso gives amazing forward crunch, backward crunch, side to side tilt and twist. The abdomen is actually a floating piece, along with the belt and neither hinder the ab motion at all. Getting into the leg articulation, once again we find ourselves at a place of patience. The hips will do nice splits and kick forward and back very nicely. However, the upper thigh rotation needs to come into play in conjunction with the hips in order to keep the look of the figure unbroken. The knees will bend deeply, but in order to get them in the right position, you will need to work the knee rotation into the bend. This allows you to achieve a foot to butt bend, just remember, that when straightening, you will need to rotate the knee again in order for the leg to align properly. There is a boot rotation, and the design of the boots actually leaves a lip at the top, rather than the skin-tight look we are used to. The rotation works fine, and if used with the knee rotation, helps maintain a tight aesthetic. The ankles hinge and pivot well enough and the toe articulation works just fine. If you're a relative novice at Revoltech engineering, like me, this can be very frustrating to work with. However, the fun is in the learning and the more I've played around and practiced posing the joints, the easier it is becoming. I have to admit that I wish I hadn't waited so long to get one of these figures. They are a LOT of fun! Novice posing score would be a 7 out of 10, but if you have more experience with Revoltech, this hits a 10 out of 10 for the range of poses you can come up with.

Image © Dan's ToyBox 2023

AFFORDABILITY

I was able to get this as a re-issue on BBTS for $84.99. Looking at the different products that Amazing Yamaguchi offers this is on the lower end of the price range, but honestly, with the improved aesthetics, incredible engineering, and cool accessories, they fit right in with the other import companies out there. This is a super reasonable price for a tight figure. I give it an 8 out of 10 for affordability!

Overall, I'm really pleased with the Kaiyodo Amazing Yamaguchi Revoltech Spider-Man action figure. I'm disappointed in myself for not actually giving it a try much sooner. Honestly, seeing the reviews for their new Black Panther and how good it looks, really spurred me to give this Spider-Man a try. I'm sure Mrs. ToyBox won't be terribly excited to hear this, but there is a better than average possibility that Yamaguchi may find more figures joining my import collection. This Spider-Man earns a solid:

9 out of 10 ToyBoxes!!!

This figure is a whole lot of fun wrapped up in a very cool design. Thank you, as always, for dropping by to play in Dan's ToyBox. Until next time... GEEK OUT!