ML10 First Appearance Spider-Man Review!

Spider-Man action figure from the tenth series of Toybiz's Marvel Legends line. He's designed to look like the character did in his first appearance, an occasional subset of the Marvel Legends line, previously represented by a First Appearance Hulk in series nine.



Sculpt
Very good. This figure's not getting a fair break due to the ubiquity of the character in the sister line to ML, Spider-Man Classics, through which 12-15 spider-man figures are produced annually. Which is a shame, because this really is probably the best one in terms of sculpting. The sculpted folds in the cloth, the mask, etc. One thing I'm not fond of are his fingers, which are really skinny and simple.

Paint
Okay. Losing points just because it's a simple paint scheme, and uses Toybiz's old tricks. To get the web design on the costume, Toybiz usually carves them into the sculpt, and uses a black wash to fill them in. This generally works but tends to be sloppy, with some muddy black wash getting onto the red squares where they're not supposed to be. Luckily Toybiz resisted their usual habit of putting a strange wash on the black portions of the costume, and it looks very nice and stylish.



Articulation
Very good. McFarlane Spidey he's not. But just about any non-action feature Spider-man Toybiz makes will be uber-articulated, so we're treated to the same here. He has a neck hinge/swivel. stupid armpit hinges, ball shoulders, bicep swivels, double-hinged elbows, mid-forearm swivel cuts, wrist hinges, seperate fingers articulated at the knuckle, ab hinge, waist swivel, ball hips, thigh swivel under the ball, double-hinged knees, mid-calf swivel cuts, ankle inges, toe hinges. I count 39 POA but depending on how generous you are it may go to 41-43.

Accessories
Very good. In addition to coming with a vital piece of the BAF Sentinel, Spidey comes with a flying stand, which he gets a lot of use out of, and is dearly useful. He also comes with cloth underarm webwings that, while comic-accurate, are poorly designed and are more an eyesore than anything else. I removed it straight away. Also, as with all MLs, he comes with a comic book.



Overall
Excellent. The whole is more than the sum of the parts. There's been a few definitive Spider-Man artists over the years, including the already made McFarlane version, but this Steve Ditko one is the first, and my favorite. I like the black instead of blue on the costume, the slightly creepy eye design, and the overall litheness of the design. He's my new definitive Spider-man, even the beloved McFarlane Spidey goes into the box.