SHFiguarts "No Way Home" Spider-Man Upgraded Suit Special Set Action Figure Review

Hey everybody! Welcome back to Dan's ToyBox as we take a look at the SHFiguarts: "No Way Home" Upgrade Suit Spider-Man Special Set Action Figure.

The web-head swings back into action in his newest film entry "No Way Home." After the events of Far From Home, Peter thinks life is finally getting a bit better, that is, until Mysterio exposes his secret identity to the world! Even though he is cleared of responsibility for the battle in London, Peter finds life is no longer peaceful or better as he, his loved ones, and his friends find themselves the subjects of intense public scrutiny. Attempting to have some semblance of a normal life, Peter, MJ, and Ned all eagerly await acceptance letters from their college of choice. Unfortunately, all three are rejected, due to concerns about Spider-Man's activities and the potential danger he brings along. Frustrated and angry, Peter makes a decision and appeals to the Master of the Mystic Arts, Dr. Strange, to find some way to make people forget that he is Spider-Man. During the spell casting, Peter's continued interruptions disrupt the spell, opening multiple rifts in the universe's fabric and causing several of Spider-Man's deadliest foes to appear. Unfortunately for Peter... he has no idea who he's facing as these enemies fought different Spider-Men in different Universes! As Peter tries to restore these foes to their rightful universes, he is joined in battle by two other versions of himself, who are familiar with these foes. Together, the three Spider-Men successfully restore proper order to this version of the newly discovered Multiverse and in the end, Dr. Strange's spell causes not only everybody to forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, but also to forget who Peter Parker is as well.

SHFiguarts presents us with another amazing figure in their Spider-Man line. This was kind of a bonus surprise for me as well because when I originally ordered this figure, I thought I was getting the regular version, which had some issues with the red paint on the chest and abdomen. Fortunately, my pre-order was delayed twice and I ended up cancelling it and buying from a different vendor. (Thank you BBTS!!!!) When it arrived I noticed that not only was there no paint difference, this had a stand with it. Upon closer inspection, I realized that I'd received the "Special Set" version with a nifty flight stand and matching red paint. The best part... I paid the same price for this version as for the original Non-Special Set that I'd previously ordered. I honestly don't know if there was a price difference, but to get a set with the flight display stand as well as a magnetic stand when I wasn't expecting it, made me very happy. If you are unfamiliar with my column, Dan's ToyBox bases figure review grades on four criteria: Accessories, Appearance, Articulation, and Affordability. After weiging these factors, each figure is given an overall grade of 1 to 5 ToyBoxes, with one being the worst and five the best.

As always, we kick off our reviews with a look at the accessories each figure comes with. Typically, our import figures tend to come packed with a number of additional pieces to make displaying and playing much more fun. SHFiguarts is no exception to the rule as the No Way Home Upgraded Suit Special Set comes with a lot of great items! Of initial importance is number of hands. This figure comes with five pairs of hands: 1 pr fists, 1 pr relaxed hands, 1pr wall crawling hands, 1 pr "thwipping" hands, and 1 pr of web holding hands. There are two pairs of "web shooting" webs, 1 short, 1 longer. There is one swinging web. He also comes with three sets of mask lenses that can port into the eyepiece sockets on the head to give Spidey three different expressions; one wide, one normal, and one narrowed lens set.

I really enjoy the fact that you can swap out the eyes or mix and match to give Spider-Man more expressive looks. Included is the small tool to help pop the eyes out as well as remove the plug on his back in order to port him on one of the displays. This is one of the best features I've ever seen with action figures and absolutely love that it's a "thing." Lastly, the Special Set comes with a great display stand, with the Spider-Signal as the base and a magnetic stand which can port into his back, to display him on the side of your metal cabinets, refrigerator or... wherever you choose to magnetize him. Given that I was not expecting this variant of the figure, having the flight stands is a definite bonus and the overall Accessories easily earn an "A" for this figure.

Upon first removing the SHFiguarts No Way Home Upgraded Suit Spider-Man from the packaging, I was absolutely thrilled to find there was no difference in the reds on his chest and abdominal sections. One of the chief complaints on this figure was that the upper body was a matte red while the abdomen was a glossy/brighter red. I was kind of surprised, not knowing that there was a basic and a Special Set. To be quite frank, the only real issue I have with the figure is that the costume, on film, appears to be a solid red and black, while this figure has glossier black highlights, but the arms, legs, and torso themselves appear to be a dark charcoal gray. The lighting on my pictures doesn't really reflect this, but it is more visible in person. Overall, though, I am finding myself really enjoying the look. The webbing is sculpted, and the lines are trimmed out with black paint. The detail on the spider emblems, both front and back is crisp and cleanly applied and the sculpted details running throughout the figure are very nicely rendered. The red on the figure is uniform throughout and stands out nicely against the gray/black. The overall figure is done in a very matte coloring scheme, but it really works. When compared to my Mafex Far From Home Upgrade Suit figure, it is very easy to see the difference in black between the two and the Mafex sculpting does stand out a bit better, but overall this is a really nice version of the figure and I'm quite pleased to have it in my collection. Proportionally, this figure does seem to fit it's design a bit better than the Mafex version. The body looks more in line with human measurements, but I think my least favorite part of the figure (which also gives it the best articulation) is the thong and butt cheek flaps. I understand that the flaps can be rotated to not only improve leg articulation, but also to help cover gaps and that's great, but the "thong" piece running from crotch to lower back takes some getting used to for me. Overall though, I do really like the look of this figure and having the different eyepieces give the figure more character and expression, earns it an "A" for Appearance.

So far, the SHFiguarts No Way Home Upgraded Suit Spider-Man Special Set figure is living up to the hype for me and though imports are also well known for great articulation, I do have a few gripes with this figure, which I will cover shortly. Starting off at the head, I have to say the design here is my overall absolute favorite. The fact that the head is so easily removable and interchangeable due to the design of the neck/head piece is one thing I love about SHF. There is no fear of snapping a small ball peg because the engineering on here is solid. As a result, the head can look up and down equally well, will turn side to side with ease, and can tilt for a little "attitude." The neck itself also leans forward, lending to greater range of motion for his head. My biggest problem with this figure lies in the shoulders. The good piece to the butterfly joints is not the increased forward and backward range, but rather the hinge motion to extend the range of the arm up and down. The actual shoulder joint itself though is kind of a pain. Mine are stiff and getting the figure into a decent T pose is difficult. Additionally, there is no bicep swivel and even the hidden swivel we get with SHF is very difficult to move here. I would recommend, if you are running into the same problems as I am, to invest in some silicone shock oil to help loosen the joint a bit. I was going to heat mine but decided against it. That being said, I absolutely am juiced over the double-jointed elbows and how far they bend in. The hands will all pivot and though the wrist joints are hinged, getting decent up and down movement is somewhat difficult with this figure. It's very easy to rest Spidey's head against his hand without tilting the head much at all. His upper diaphragm joint works well enough and when coupled with the lower joint allows for some beautiful crunch. However, the back of the figure will have a very prominent gap and looks pretty bad when fully crunched. I would recommend using the upper crunch more and minimizing the bottom, unless you aren't taking pictures from his back angles. As mentioned above, Spidey has the "thong" design with movable bum flaps. This does allow you to kick his legs absurdly high, just as we'd expect from a character with Spidey's flexibility. The legs will do amazing splits and can even kick backward a bit. There is an upper thigh swivel as well and very nice double-jointed knees that bend in fairly deep. Lastly, Spidey has an ankle hinge that will also pivot and the requisite toe joint, which is somewhat stiff on my figure. Granted import figures do take some time and patience to really execute posing well and this figure is no exception to that. However, I have found this one to be a bit more difficult to maneuver than other SHF figures that I own and as much as I want to give him an A for Articulation... I am having too many issues with this figure to do so.

As the SHFiguarts No Way Home Upgraded Suit Spider-Man Special Set action figure is an import, we can be guaranteed it will be on the pricier side. I was very pleased to find mine for about $80 online at BBTS and if you are interested in landing one, they are still available. In spite of the articulation issues and the charcoal gray color scheme, I feel there is value in this offering from SHFiguarts. I was pleased to learn that this was the Special Set and feel that it is easily worth an overall 4 out of 5 toyboxes!

There you have it, my friends. Thank you so much for visiting Dan's ToyBox and until next time... GEEK OUT!!!