At first glance it looks
very much like a shrunken down version of Pizza Spider-Man figure released
earlier. Let’s see whether this is the
case.
The Ultimate Spidey Peter Parker is packed in the regular Marvel Legends packaging with a transparent window showcasing the figure. There are two Ultimate Spidey figures in this wave (Peter Parker and Miles Morales) and both figure shares the same box art.
I got my figure loose
without the BAF part so the packaged pictures are from MarvelousNews.com.
The reason why I knock off
points on the packaging is that because of the bubble that houses the figure,
the wall-crawling hands are warped very badly.
I did a search online and I find that this is a common problem. For my figure, the wall crawling hands are so
warped you can even take that it is trying to make a Vulcan salute. I had to heat the fingers with a hairdryer to
shape it back to make it look normal.
Sculpt (4 out of 5)
I really like how this
figure looks. The body is a lean but not
overly muscular male body and is really fitting for a teenage body. I do like how Hasbro make the effort of
making the body looks like that it is under a costume with fabric stretching
over the body e.g. lower back and side of thighs. Personally, I do find the feet a little too
big but it somehow helps in standing, so not a big complain there.
For the Spidey mask, I
like the large eyes. On first look it
might look like Pizza Spidey, but when placed side by side, you can see that
the eyes are larger in this Ultimate Spidey sculpt.
This figure also includes
a Peter Parker unmasked head. If I am
not wrong, this is the second Peter Parker head Hasbro has given us with a
Spidey figure. The first being the SDCC
2007 Stan Lee Spidey figure, while for Pizza Spidey it is a half unmasked
head. I like the Peter Parker head sculpt. I am not a fan of Ultimate Spider-Man comics
but I must say this is pretty good rendition of the artwork. One thing to note is that for the Peter
Parker head, there seem to be some remnant plastic along the chin. It looks as though the head was not pulled
cleanly from the mold. It is not as bad
on mine, but I have seen worse from others.
This figure comes with
interchangeable hands as well (to be covered in detail under accessories). I want to highlight that Hasbro too the extra
effort to make sure the hands are smaller compared to Pizza Spidey to make sure
they fit the teenage body better. And for
those who wish to know, the wall crawling hand can still hold on to the pizza
slice that comes with Pizza Spidey, though the fit is not perfect.
Paint (3 out of 5)
This Spidey figure has
painted weblines like Pizza Spidey and the paint is generally clean. I do have some misaligned web lines on the
mask that bug me a little. So if you can,
definitely pick a piece with better paint when you are buying this figure.
Again, Hasbro has gone
with not painting the red pegs in the inner elbows and forearms. I guess we have probably got used to this at
this point.
The spider symbol on the
chest and back is quite similar to the Pizza Spidey’s. I like the comic look to it.
After some posing around,
I find that the blue paint on the armpit area chips off, revealing the red
plastic underneath, which is kind of irritating. You might want to be careful when posing.
Articulation (3.5 out of
5)
This figure has the added
mid-calf swivel that was missing from the past few Spidey figures, and it is a
welcomed addition. However, Hasbro
removed the shoulder butterfly joints.
Interestingly, even without the shoulder butterfly joint, the range of
movement in the shoulders is still pretty good.
I guess this is because of the leaner upper torso from the teenage body
and may not work as well with a thicker adult torso. Hasbro included the awesome ankle pivot joint
on this figure (thank goodness). This figure also has peg holes at the bottom of the feet.
The hips articulation is
also not bad. It has a better range of
movement than Pizza Spidey but still unable to do the splits perfectly. I think the hips range of movement is similar to the
Civil War movie Spidey figure.
This is
the widest stance possible taking advantage of the hip articulation and ankle pivot with both feet
remaining flat on the floor.
I also tried to put this
figure into the four point crouch. It
can somewhat pull it off, but the lack of shoulder butterfly joint did not
allow the hands to come together closer to give tight crouch. Also the limited range in the hips is kind of
preventing the figure from getting into a perfect crouch.
Posing the figure around revealed
a key issue with the ankle articulation.
The up/ down hinge of the ankle seems to be rather limited on the upward
movement. And this is real pity.
Joints (3 out of 5)
The joints on my figure is
quite tight, with the exception of the right shoulder swivel, right wall
crawling hand hinge and right web shooting “Thwip” hand hinge. I hope this is just on my figure and not a
widespread issue. I also find that the
socket for the wrist is very tight, so the switching out of hands pulled on the
hinge joint, which makes the loose hinges worse. I might try to use the hairdryer to loosen
the socket a little and see if it helps.
Ok, so now to track the
surprise Hasbro like to drop on us by changing the peg sizes, the neck peg is
much smaller than Pizza/ Raft Spidey, so the Peter Parker’s head cannot be
placed on the larger body. But to be
fair, the head looks a little too small on the adult body.
The interchangeable hands
pegs, fortunately, are the same as Raft Spidey (means it is different from
Pizza Spidey). So you can use the hands
from this Ultimate Spidey on your Raft Spidey, but the unfortunate thing is
that the hands are smaller, but it may work in certain poses though.
Action Feature (5 out of
5)
Zilch, no action feature,
which is perfect and suits me just fine!
Accessories (5 out of 5)
The Ultimate Spidey Peter
Parker comes with the Space Venom BAF left arm.
Since I got him loose, I did not get his BAF part.
The figure is packed with
plenty of accessories. He comes with:
- Spidey masked head- Peter Parker alternate head
- 2 x web shooting “Thwip” hands
- 2 x fisted hands
- 2 x wall crawling hands
I gave this category a
perfect score, as I am grateful that he comes with these many interchangeable
parts. Of course you can ask for more
(action stand, web lines etc), since he is missing a pizza slice compared to
Pizza Spidey, but I am contented with what we have gotten.
Value (3 out of 5)
I did not give a high
score in this category because I had to get him loose on secondary market. But you can add a point or two in this
category if you find it at a good price.
He (and Miles) is the additional figure in the box anyway, so he should
not be that hard to find.
Overall (3.5 out of 5)
Overall, I will say I like
this figure. I will definitely add him
to my comic Spidey figure guide. This is
a well-made/ sculpted Spidey figure and I definitely welcome the addition of
mid-calf swivel. I am not even that bothered
with the lack of shoulder butterfly joint, though it definitely would have
improved the four point crouch pose.
The key issues I have with
this figure are the limited ankle hinge upward movement and the QC issues
(some loose joints, paint chip, warped hands and misaligned web lines). I am still not totally happy with the hips range
of movement though, which I think has room for improvement.
Score Recap:
Packaging – 3 out of 5Sculpt – 4 out of 5
Paint – 3 out of 5
Articulation – 3.5 out of 5
Joints – 3 out of 5
Action Feature – 5 out of 5
Accessories – 5 out of 5
Value – 3 out of 5
Overall – 3.5 out of 5
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