Thursday, May 18, 2017

Toy Review - Marvel Legends Spider-Man & Mary Jane Watson Toys 'R' Us Exclusive 2 Pack


Fresh from the sunny shores of Singapore, Toys ‘R’ Us started putting out their exclusive Marvel Legends All-New, All-Different (ANAD) Spider-Man and, finally, Mary Jane (MJ) Watson 2 pack!


I must thank my friends Toymaniac and Kurtcobain731 for helping me to secure this box set with the valuable hunt and intel.

It took Hasbro the breaking up of Peter and MJ to finally get MJ in 6 inch plastic, so let’s see how it is!

Packaging (3.5 out of 5)

This is a simple 2 figure box set, showcasing the 2 figures within.  There is also no background art so the figures and accessories are in clear display, complete with a TRU exclusive sticker.  It is a clean display, which I kind of like.  The sides of the box have artwork of Peter and MJ.  The back is a photograph of the figures with a short bios write-up.






Sculpt (Spidey: 4 out of 5 / MJ: 4.5 out of 5)

ANAD Spidey:
The sculpt of this Spidey is not new, it is basically a repaint of the Pizza Spidey with the slightly better hip articulation of Ben Reilly/ Spider-Carnage (so basically a repaint of Ben Reilly/ Spider-Carnage).  The head, however, is a repaint of the Superior Spider-Man, which is an interesting choice, but I have to say, it works.




The highlight of this figure is the unmasked adult Peter Parker head sculpt.  It is very well done, and I can see some resemblance of the 12 inch unmasked Peter Parker head sculpt which they released a while ago.  The head sculpt shows a confident looking Peter Parker with a hint of a smile.  The head sculpt is a good depiction of the artwork in the ANAD storyline in the comics. In certain angles, the Peter Parker head sculpt can look a little big for the body in certain angles.



Mary Jane Watson:
MJ looks great!  The head sculpt is very pretty and I really like how her hair was sculpted.  Hasbro took the effort to sculpt the jeans on the lower half of her body including the creases and pockets.  Hasbro has opted for flat feet for MJ this time round which helps in keeping her standing upright.  I am not exactly sure what her base body buck is but it works ok.  At some angles her head may seem slightly big for her body.




Paint (Spidey: 3 out of 5 / MJ: 4.5 out of 5)

ANAD Spidey:
The suit for Spidey is the new costume he is wearing in the comics currently, showcasing a “glowing” spider symbol.  The paint job on his chest attempts to recreate the impression in the comics and does quite a good job in that.  However, I would have preferred a glow-in-the-dark paint to showcase the glowing spider symbol.  One thing to note is that the red/blue segregation is also different from the classic costume, though it reminds me slightly of the Ben Reilly Spidey costume.

The paint job is rather sloppy for Spidey.  I have quite a few paint slips/ chips on my Spidey and he suffers a fair bit of misalignment in the eyes for the unmasked Peter Parker head sculpt.

I have to highlight that this Spidey is still having red pegs which has not improved since Pizza Spidey.  Some may be bothered by this as it really sticks out like a sore thumb in the blue areas of the costume.  I wonder if Hasbro will get round to painting the pegs or having bi-coloured pegs.




Mary Jane Watson:
MJ’s paint app is largely very clean.  The face especially has great paint details including some freckles.  I also really like how Hasbro managed to bring out the washed jeans effect on the paint app on her jeans.  Hasbro even painted the button on the jeans which is really a nice touch.

The complaints I have are some paint slippage on her top and jeans, and that the black seeps through to the flesh paint slightly around the underarm area.



Articulation (Spidey: 3.5 out of 5 / MJ: 3.5 out of 5)

ANAD Spidey:
The articulation for Spidey is the same as for the Ben Reilly/ Spider-Carnage figure, which is an improvement in the hips articulation over the Pizza Spidey.  However, the range of motion for the hips is still lacking for a Spidey figure for me, if it cannot do a 180ยบ split.  So I have kept the score the same as for Raft Spidey.  I do hope that at some point, Hasbro can improve on the range of movement for the hips joint for Spidey.  That said, I really do like the butterfly shoulder joints and the ankle pivot.


Mary Jane Watson:
The articulation on MJ is ok, rather common for the female figures offered by Hasbro.  MJ’s head articulation (hinge and swivel) is hindered by her hair, which is expected for female characters with long hair.  One thing I really hope they would change would be to give the female figures double jointed elbows, however, this is not the case for MJ.  However, since MJ is a civilian character, the range of motion for her articulation is sufficient to get her into poses.


Taking advantage of the ankle pivot and the hip articulation, this is the widest stance possible for both of the figures.  It is amazing to see how much better the range of motion of MJ’s hip articulation is compared to Spidey’s.




Joints (Spidey: 3.5 out of 5 / MJ: 3.5 out of 5)

ANAD Spidey:
Joints for Spidey is ok, no loose joints, but the joints do feel slightly gummy, especially for the shoulders/ butterfly joints and elbow joints.  It could be because of my hot and humid weather, but do be careful when you are posing him around.  The gummy-ness of the joints is the main reason for the score here.

It is probably good to note here that Hasbro has not change the peg size for this ANAD Spidey compared to Ben Reilly, or Raft Spidey.  This means that I can reuse the interchangeable hands on this ANAD Spidey for my Raft Spidey.  The red paint matches, but the web lines in this ANAD Spidey is denser than the Raft Spidey, but it works.


Mary Jane Watson:
The joints for the MJ figure that I have is tight and can hold poses that I put her in.  However, the elbows, shoulders and knee joints can feel a tad gummy/ rubbery.  So far it has not given me any problems (breakage etc) but I think it does not hurt to be careful.  Similar to Spidey, the gummy-ness of the joints accounts for the score for MJ in this category.  If you are thinking of swapping MJ’s head onto other figures, do note that not all the female figures have the same neck peg size.  Here is a comparison of her neck peg with Jessica Drew Spider-Woman and Spider-Gwen.



Action Feature (5 out of 5)

There are no action features for both Spidey and MJ, and this is how I love articulated figures.  Full score here!


Accessories (Spidey: 5 out of 5 / MJ: 3 out of 5)

ANAD Spidey:
Spidey comes with an unmasked Peter Parker head.  He also comes with 2 x Thwip webshooting hands, 2 fisted hands and 2 wall crawling hands.  I am so glad that Hasbro finally gave us the full set of interchangeable hands and now I can use them on Raft Spidey, which sorely lack in the department of interchangeable hands.  One thing to note is that the weblines for ANAD Spidey is denser than Raft and Pizza Spidey, but the red does match up ok.


Mary Jane Watson:
MJ only comes with a red handbag, which is red repaint of the goblin man-purse that came with the Green Goblin and Hobgoblin Hasbro issued a while ago.  She did not come with any interchangeable heads or hands.




Value (3.5 out of 5)

This 2 pack retails in Singapore TRU for SGD100 (approx. USD72).  It is a little pricey for 2 figures, especially since Spidey is a repaint of an older figure.  However, MJ figure is the highlight of this 2 pack together with the unmasked adult Peter Parker head sculpt.  Also, if you have Raft Spidey and are looking for interchangeable hands for it, then the interchangeable hands for this ANAD Spidey works out great.




Overall (4 out of 5)

I like this box set and would recommend Spidey fans to get it!  And this is the first time we get MJ in 6 inch plastic form in ML so that is a definite plus!  It is also great to finally get the unmasked adult Peter Parker head.  So happy hunting!




Score Recap:

Packaging – 3.5 out of 5

Sculpt – Spidey: 4 out of 5 / MJ: 4.5 out of 5

Paint – Spidey: 3 out of 5 / MJ: 4.5 out of 5

Articulation – Spidey: 3.5 out of 5 / MJ: 3.5 out of 5

Joints – Spidey: 3.5 out of 5 / MJ: 3.5 out of 5

Action Feature – 5 out of 5

Accessories – Spidey: 5 out of 5 / MJ: 3 out of 5

Value – 3.5 out of 5

Overall – 4 out of 5



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