Welcome to part 2 of our 3-part Spider-Man No Way Home Marvel Legends Reviews. Our last review took a look at the Tobey Maguire inspired "Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man" and today, we're leaping ahead to the second iteration of the character from the big screen, Andrew Garfield's The Amazing Spider-Man as he appeared in the movie: Spider-Man: No Way Home.
In 2012, five years after Tobey Maguire's last outing as the web-head, Marc Webb brought us The Amazing Spider-Man. Andrew Garfield stepped into the webs as Peter Parker and Spider-Man. This new take gave us a wisecracking web-spinner, more in line with his comic counterpart. In these films, Peter is more of a loner, skater type, still brilliant, and nerdy in a cool way. This portrayal was definitely different from his predecessor and while met with mixed reviews, was still a fun ride. Two years later, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 hit theaters. While the costume was, at the time, the most comic accurate rendition we'd yet seen, critics panned the film for trying to cram too many characters into an already unbalanced and overburdened story. YET, when the announcement finally came that Garfield would appear in the third Tom Holland Spider-Man film, fans went nuts. As the concept of the multiverse unfolded and Garfield made his first appearance, the theater I was in erupted, and the cheers were equally as loud when Tobey Maguire showed up. There is a nostalgia for the generational Spider-Men and both audiences and critics alike praised the film. Fans of the various actors will point out why their "Spider-Man" is the best and I can't say that I blame them. I am old enough to have seen all of these movies on the silver screen and will admit that there are elements of all of them that I find really enjoyable. Tobey's nerdy portrayal of Peter Parker, Andrew's wisecracking web-slinger, and Tom's effortless weaving of both into a character with an earnest desire to prove himself as a hero all show different aspects of the webhead as he's appeared in the comic books.
As regular readers well know, Dan's ToyBox reviews four categories when considering action figures. Accessories, Appearance, Articulation, and Affordability. Each category will receive a score on the zero to 10 scale, after which the figure will receive an overall grade, also based on zero to 10 ToyBoxes. So, without further ado, let's discuss the Amazing Spider-Man from Marvel Legends No Way Home Three-Pack.
ACCESSORIES
As with the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, this figure also comes with three full sets of hands. One pair of fists, one pair of thwipping hands, one wall crawling hand, and one hand with kind of a relaxed pose. I'm honestly unsure how best to describe it. It kind of looks like he's about to pick something up. He also comes with the looped web line we've seen repeatedly. Unlike the previous figure we've already discussed, the proportions on this Spider-Man's hands are much better. In fact, one nice nod to the films and actors is that this figure is slightly taller than both of the others and the Maguire version is a bit taller than the Holland version. The fact that he does come with three sets of hands is always a plus and even a tired, overused web effect is better than none. I do, kind of, like the oddly positioned hand as it looks pretty cool when plugged in to his wrist. With that in mind, the Amazing Spider-Man receives a 7 out of 10 for accessories. Proper proportions go a long way in improving scores.
APPEARANCE
When Amazing Spider-Man 2 hit the big screen, I was thrilled to see this version of the costume. Sure, the spider logos on his front and back were still larger and more stylized than they'd been in the comic books, but this was the closest to his traditional look that I'd seen. Seeing it again in No Way Home was an absolute joy for me. The reds and blues on this are much darker than on the Maguire figure, though my lighting does make them seem a bit brighter. One aspect of this costume that I've always enjoyed was the sleek look of the material. This looked like a spandex superhero costume and moved accordingly. The black webbing stands out exceptionally well against the red and the eyes have a wonderful pearlescent glow to them. Additionally, the musculature is more sculpted and detailed than on the Maguire figure. Obviously, this Spider-Man is still in good shape, perhaps just a bit past his prime, but still lean, fit, and strong. The sculpted web lines, while not as starkly in relief as the Maguire version still provide a nice texture and feel in hand. Additionally, if you look closely, you can see the texturing sculpted in the blue parts of the costume, which is a great nod to the film costume as well. The other nice thing about this is that the legs on both spiders (front and back) run up underneath the diaphragm joint, which means there is no break in the design when posing him. Probably my only gripe is at the elbow joints where the paint has rubbed pretty badly. Sadly, this is the same on both arms.
However, one factor which helps me forget about that is the fact that they took the time to sculpt Garfield's WEB SHOOTERS on the wrists! Granted, this photo is very closely zoomed in and they are very small, so you aren't going to get any detail on them, unless you have a magnifying lens and want to paint your own. It's still nice to see such a small detail added to the figure though.
While each figure brings their own unique look to the separate characters and all of them look great, I do have to admit that this is probably my favorite of all three. I realized that I only have one Andrew Garfield Spider-Man and it is the Diamond Select from ASM 2. I never ended up getting the older Marvel Legends version with the Green Goblin BAF. As far as looks go, for me, this is a no-brainer, (mostly) clean paint applications, solid web patterns, glossy eyes... this is a solid 9 out of 10 for appearance.
ARTICULATION
I felt, initially, as though the articulation was the same as the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man figure. After comparing the two, there are some slight differences, but for the most part they both move the same way. The Amazing Spider-Man's head can turn easily side to side, looks down quite well and upward just a bit. He has really good head tilt though, which is great! The upper body sculpt is definitely more muscular and defined than the previous Spidey we reviewed, and this figure's butterfly joints seem to have just a bit more forward/backward range to them. The arms can raise out to above a T pose at the shoulders and can rotate a full 360 degrees, also at the shoulder joint. The bicep swivel works nice and both double jointed elbows bend in with forearm able to touch bicep. All wrists have easy swivel and hinge action which is also very nice. As with the other Spidey, the upper diaphragm joint is a bit of a disappointment. It was gummy and needed a good hot water bath. The side-to-side tilt is limited, and it bends backward much better than it crunches forward. The rotation is all right, but it has a tendency to start shifting back to a neutral position on its own. There is no waist swivel as just as with the Maguire version there is a lower diaphragm hinge designed to help increase crunch. Sadly, it also bends further backward than it does forward, meaning that the pudgy "dad bod" Maguire Spidey actually has a deeper ab crunch! The legs have drop down hips, but I'm a bit on the nervous side to pull too hard on them. What I've found easier is to just put them into a split, which is absolutely fantastic and wide. This allows the hips to naturally rotate out and down, helping with the drop-down feature. allowing this figure to kick forward much higher. The upper thigh cut works just fine as well, but the knees also required that hot water dip as they were very stiff. Once freed, the knees will bend back quite far, but sadly, the proportions are off, making his lower legs longer than his upper! There is no mid-shin boot cut. Finally, his ankles have terrific pivot and hinge range. I must confess to being disappointed with the limited torso crunch and that is going to knock the score down a bit. Nearly everything else was as good as or better than the Maguire Spidey, but the gummy torso issues and lack of deep forward bend drop the score to a 7 out of 10 for articulation.
AFFORDABILITY
The only standard for all three figures in this review is this section. I'll admit, I'm copying from the first review because it applies. I purchased this three-pack on Hasbro Pulse for $89.99, plus tax and shipping. At base price, that puts each individual figure at just under $30.00 each. As a figure with three pairs of hands and one web line accessory, that individual price is 20% higher than what single packed Marvel Legends retail at ($24.99). This is very disappointing because if these were single packed, I think we'd all expect them to retail for the base price, but the question is would they end up selling retail at $29.99 each? If so, that is really a blatant rip-off of the consumer. Hasbro really needs to set the base price and then entice us into buying these multi-packs with a small discount. At base price, these three should be $74.97 if bought individually, with the accessories included. Hasbro is throwing an additional $15 cost on this... for what? It's exploitation of their customers and rates a terrible 3 out of 10 for affordability. Quit screwing your customers, Hasbro.
Overall, I will admit this is easily my favorite of the three figures so far and even with the bad score for pricing and my concerns with the articulation and some of the paint applications, I'm completely comfortable with giving the Hasbro Marvel Legends No Way Home: The Amazing Spider-Man an overall score of:
7.75 out of 10 ToyBoxes
I am satisfied with this particular figure, and I do think it looks great on my display. Also, given that this is only the second Garfield version I have in my collection, it stands out quite nicely from the rest. Well, two down, one more to go. Check back in a couple of days when we finish this trilogy with the Integrated Suit Spider-Man review! Until then... GEEK OUT!!!