Friday, April 8, 2016

Toy Review - Medicom MAFEX The Amazing Spider-Man 2 No. 003

I have read good things about the MAFEX series by Medicom, especially the Amazing Spider-Man 1 figure.  However, I was not really into the costume in the first movie and also the secondary market price was on the high side for me.  When the second movie came out, I was pleasantly surprised at how much they have referenced back to the comic costume design, in fact, I think it is probably one of the closest it has ever been for Spidey (yes I know the Civil War Spidey costume has potential).  This figure also has a DX (deluxe) version with additional Andy Garfield head, additional accessories and a magnetic backdrop, but I decided to get this figure to see if the deluxe version is worth getting.



I am particularly drawn to the articulation of this figure, so without further ado, let’s take a look at this figure!




Packaging (5 out of 5)

The packaging is similar to other MAFEX action figures in the line.  I gave the packaging a perfect score because it is a box with the figure displayed with all its accessories.  The box art showcase the figure and the poses it is capable of.  You can take out the figure and repackage it back if you are a MIB collector.  There are no nasty twist ties to mess around with and the figure is in a vanilla pose that does not distort the joints like some of the other figures made by some other companies.









Sculpt (4.5 out of 5)

The figure is quite accurate to the movie costume.  The lean body is also suitable for Garfield’s body shape.  Medicom did a great job in the details, like the webshooters, details on shoe soles and the glass lens.  The half point I have deducted is because of the break in sculpt in the ball jointed hips, wrists and ankles in certain poses.  But all in all, a solid sculpt attempt by Medicom.



One thing to note is that the upper torso is made of a rubbery material.  It is holding up for now but personally I am not a fan of rubbery material as it tends to melt or become sticky over time.




Paint (4 out of 5)

The paint is clean and the lines are sharp.  I really like the way Medicom made the eyes a clear plastic over a pearlescent white.  It really made the white eyes pop like what we see in the movie.

However, the reason why I knock 1 point off this category is for 2 reasons.  Firstly, the red is very metallic, so much so that it is way more than in the movie.  For those of us who really appreciate the comic costume, this is a bummer, because Medicom went a little heavy on the metallic red paint.  Secondly, my figure had some spots on the right eye.  It looks like some “water spots” but I guess it is an uneven application of the glue from the clear portion to the white base.  There is a little on the left eye but it is minor.  In addition, I have some glue residue on the belt area on my figure.  I hope this is only on my figure and not a widespread issue.






Articulation (4 out of 5)

The articulation on this figure is great.  The hinged hip joints allow the legs to kick so high the figure is probably closest to chewing its own toes.  This figure probably pulled off the tightest four point crouch of all the 6 inch Spidey figures I owned.  However, there are shortcomings, namely the shoulders and the neck joints.  The shoulders lack the “butterfly” joint which does not allow the arms to come close to crossing of the arms to give a tight crouch.  Also the neck does not allow the head to look up much, and when I try, the head pop off at the base of the neck, which is annoying.



But the range of articulation is fantastic, and it allows for a lot of dynamic poses.










Joints (2.5 out of 5)

Right out of the packaging the joints are loose and floppy.  You can get the figure into poses but the lack of tightness in the joints can be rather irritating.  Also the neck and legs do pop off pretty often when posing, but they do pop back easily enough.  The constant popping out of the neck and the legs is really a pain when you are posing the figure.  Coupled with the loose floppy joints it becomes quite an exercise to make the figure stay with the pose, especially if it is a dynamic one.  I tried to make the figure get into a pose as shown on the box and I almost had to prevent myself from pulling my hair off because of the neck and/ or the left leg popping off.





The small hand pegs also cause the hands to pop off easily, but they allow the swapping of hands easy enough.  I just hope that the pegs will last and not break seeing how thin and small the pegs are.





Another gripe I have is the ankle ball joints, where the pin is metallic and it shows in some poses.  Already the ball joints can be obvious in some poses and the unpainted metallic pins make it worse.  It would have been better if they are painted.




Action Feature (5 out of 5)

I gave a perfect score on this because there are no action feature, none!  And nothing pleases me better than an articulated action figure without action feature to affect that.





Accessories (5 out of 5)

This figure comes with a lot of accessories (more in the DX version).  The regular version comes with five sets of hands:

- 1 x set fists

- 1 x set wall crawling hands

- 1 x set web-shooting “thwip” hands

- 1 x set web holding slinging hands

- 1 x set relaxed hands





It also comes 3 x web lines:

- 2 x web lines with wrist loop (one of them is pretty warped out of the packaging, but I think I can fix it with the hairdryer)

- 1 x longer web line to be held in web holding hands





The figure also comes with a figure stand display base, which is like a shorter version of the Tamashii stand, with a C clamp.





Value (3.5 out of 5)

I got my figure at eBay for USD55 (inclusive of shipping).  I think in the market nowadays, you can expect to pay this kind of price especially if you are shipping in from Japan.  In consideration to the accessories I think this figure is ok with the value.




Overall (4 out of 5)

All in all I think this is a cool figure.  The loose floppy joints is the key issue I have, followed by the range of motion in the shoulders and head articulation.  Other than that, I think this is a solid figure and would recommend to any Spidey fan and/ or Andy Garfield fan.











Score Recap:

Packaging – 5 out of 5

Sculpt – 4.5 out of 5

Paint – 4 out of 5

Articulation – 4 out of 5

Joints – 2.5 out of 5

Action Feature – 5 out of 5

Accessories – 5 out of 5

Value – 3.5 out of 5

Overall – 4 out of 5

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