Marvel Universe Secret Wars Comic Packs Issue #8

It's Magneto and Black Suit Spiderman!

I couldn't wait to get this two-pack (right after I couldn't wait to get Hulk and Cyclops) after seeing a classic Magneto.  The black costume Spiderman was just a bonus, but a damn good one since he would be every bit as cool as the classic suit Spidey! Right? Wrong.

They have a saying about the Secret Wars 12 issue mini-series ("They" being a joke I heard somewhere I think).  Secret Wars achieved nothing except to help give Spiderman his Alien Symbiote suit and spawn Venom (and Carnage, if I'm not mistaken).  Well, they're wrong because now it's given us a whole bunch of like 12 Marvel Universe two-packs. Hahahahaha (Toy Collector covetous evil laughter)...

So is it just me who's biased against (yet another) black suit Spidey for this line? Or are black costume Spidey 3.75" toys sucking it right now? Well, we'll just have to clcik and find out, won't we? :P

Now, I was all excited about Magneto with him being the new figure and all, but I thought Spiderman would be a guaranteed quality bonus after recently opening up classic Spidey.

But boy, was I wrong. First of all, BS Spidey has none of the articulation of Classic Spidey--No waist, head ball-joint is limited to swivel, legs can barely bend backwards and only about 45 degrees comfortably before they pop off to ball joint. It wouldn't take a genius to notice immediately, but BS Spidey was definitely not of the same mold as classic Spidey, who along with Captain America, is the figure with the best articulation.

So I initially thought BS Spidey was just a repaint of Silver Surfer or the Human Torch with a new head. Now Surfer doesn't need that much articulation (he seems to be stoned most of the time anyway), and the Human Torch won't be doing any fancy moves in his flamed off form anyways. And I really though Hasbro had gone the way of Mattel and DC Universe, re-using parts as frequently as possible.  After all, classic Spidey has web molded onto him while BS Spidey has no web on his suit whatsoever.

But I was wrong.

BS Spidey doesn't share the sculpt as Norrin and Johnny.  He shares the same sculpt as...wait for it...

Original BS Spiderman.


Yup, the one with the blue paint highlights.  That one looked awful.  And now I know it also plays awful. Thank goodness I didn't grab him when I first saw him.  So what does this mean? Don't, I repeat, don't, buy a Black Suit Spidey unless you are a big, big fan of BS. :P

It also means that every Secret Wars 2-pack has at least one re-used sculpt.  Not that it's a bad thing, because if you have great old sculpt and new sculpt matches like Classic Spidey and Thunderball, or Hulk and Cyclops, then you're good to go for value in articulation and playability, at the very least.

What's left of this Spidey and Magneto 2-pack then is just the Master of Magnetism, and it's in the Brotherhood's leader that salvation for all toy-kind is found (well at least for this 2-pack anyway).

The first thing that caught my eye was the attention to detail on the face and helmet. His eyes are a striking blue, and they even painted his white eyebrows under the rim of his helm.  They've also molded the fork in front of his helmet and the M-shaped rim around it.

His cape is also quite a sight. There's round studs and folds molded into it, though one thing I don't see the point of is the fold-back on the left edge.  It make it look like a botched slice of cheese, the one you try to get out of he plastic wrapper in one piece but fail, causing it to stick on itself and deny you the triumphant feeling of a single smooth flat slice. The other minor thing is that they didn't paint said studs or wash 'em.  But I guess they are purple in the comic and if you wash the studs you ave to wash the entire cape, which would have turned out really bad, I think.

But all that is really just nit-picking because his cape comes off! Yes, it's an accessory! Anyone can wear it! Customizers and kit-bashers would really be able to make use of this, I'm thinking.  His belt is also a separate piece but to remove it, one would have to pop off Magnus' legs.

Magneto's other plus points are in his hands.  He's got the left molded open to look as if he's using his powers and the right's closed but not a fist, meaning that he can seize stuff after yanking them out of his ememies' hands with his powers of magnetism!

If there was one thing that is bad about Magneto is his paint.  There's planty of rub off from his ribbed gauntlet and boots and there's also some stray wash on his left knee.  Otherwise the wash is well applied.  Good thing for this line is that the faces are not that badly botched if at all. All ya gotta do is find one you like off the shelves. :)




RATINGS

Aesthetics:

Spiderman - Well if nothing else, our webslinger does look good. Still there are some paint smudges, most notably the spider mandible on the right chest.  There are also two rub-off points on his back from where the paint hadn'y completely dried before he was packaged.  Otherwise, Spidey actually looks the part! 9.5/10

Magneto - Magnus really catches your eye in the package.  And right out of it, it's his head sculpt and cape that grabs you. A good thing that his face and head are painted well enough.  Well painted eyes are the most important feature for a helmeted figure and Magneto comes through here with flying colours.  I love the darkish red they used on him and the purple of the molded cape and belt. A pity that the purple paint has the most rub off. Gotta also love the thicker"senior super hero" body they used for him.  From what I've seen it's a new mold and from this set, Wolverine has it too (just look at Wolvie's middle age bodybuilder gut. Har.) Also have to love the folds they did for the cape. 9.5/10

Poseability: 

Spiderman -

He just doesn't gots the moves.  And he's supposed to be faster, stronger, more agile in his symbiote suit, but it's the reverse for Marvel Universe figs. 'Nuff said. 8/10

Magneto - Now Magnus, on the other hand, is the perfect example of how you should have articulation on a fig although that character might not need it.

Magneto here doesn't need to kneel or crouch (or at least you don't imagine him doing so too often.)   But yet he can.  I sure found it a lot easier to come up with poses for Mags than I did with BS Spidey. 9/10 

Fun:

Spiderman: Looks great, but plays poor.  I had a tough time figuring out just what he could do.  He's a real good exmple of great articulation with poor poseability. 7/10 

Magneto: When I hold a great toy in my hands, I simply know what I want to do with it and that makes it fun.  Your imagination just flows and keeps flowing. This is how fun Mags is:

Mag's Fun: 9.5/10

Value:

Spiderman: No web, no accessories, no Fury Files even. He does come with issue #8 of Secret Wars though.  But then again, so does Magneto.  And Magnus has a removeable cape (and belt. Sorta.) 7/10

Magneto: Definitely worth getting as a single figure.  But for now, he only comes with Spidey and the comic.  It would be inteeresting to see what they give him for accessories if he's ever packed individually. 9/10

Overall:

Spiderman: The black costume is a huge fan favourite but unfortunately that's all that Black costume Secret Wars Spidey here has going for him.  I can safely say that if Hasbro do come up with a BS Spidey with the appropriate articualtion I'll grab it for sure.

7.9/10
 

Magneto: Magnus really is the only reason to get this 2-pack. And you should.  With Spidey not pulling his weight, Magneto really picks up the slack in a big way.  What's more, you'll need someone to lead Sabertooth, Blob, and (everyone knows she'll make it to the line sooner or later) Mystique.  Then you'll have a nice little super villain team that doesn't need to have tons of members in it to look good. I'd be happy with just these four. 9.3/10

I Finally Freed The Amazing Spiderman!

Yeah, he'd been sitting on my shelf for quite a bit, but with Halloween around the corner, and me wanting to do a Halloween themed review for Articulated Discussions, I was left with one option from the non-horror themed toys of mine--Marvel Universe 3.75" Green Goblin!

So naturally I had to open Spidey up as well, for what is the Goblin without the Spider? And what a figure or favourite wall-crawler is!


I think along with Captain America web-head here's the most poseable figure in the line so far, though after being through so many GI Joe figs, the Marvel Universe range could use a little more accessories.
Aesthetics: 9/10 - It's tough to pick the lines of Spiderman's suit out right without any slop from the black wash showing up glaringly on the colourful parts of his costume. Spidey is done pretty well, but there are still glops here and there on his face and wherever the web on his suit gets denser.

I do have to say I got this guy early, otherwise I'd have picked up the darker blue suit version instead. Though the blue is washed on that version to make it appear more gritty and realistic, I have seen some of those where the slop is so bad that it covers parts of the red on his costume. The black and red versions (these may be the over washed dark-blue versions) I have seen really look bad, though. So I'm still glad I have the light blue paint--no problems at all with the blue parts here.

The Spider logo on his chest and especially on his back are superb, with the back logo being molded, painted and washed! :)

And I actually really dig his right hand being molded in a web shooting position. It's rare that you get to see individual fingers on figures this size. It's refreshing and makes for excellent posing.

Poseability: 9.5/10 - 23 points of articulation puts this guys right up there with many 6" figures. But Spidey loses some points with his leg joints not being able to bend 90 degrees. He does more than make up for this with a very mobile head. Left, right, up, down, he can look wherever you need him to point his head. Also, his head is loose enough to pop out but not so loose it'll fall out or change direction on its own. This is good because if you ever find the right head, you can have your unmasked Spidey variant. And who doesn't love those? Yay!!!

Fun: 9.5/10 - All those poses, all those villains, and of course, all the wise-cracking you can come up with! Spidey is one of those super heroes kids and adults alike can have fun with. He smart mouths everyone, but not in a malicious way, even the bad-guys. Speaking of which, this line already has Green Goblin, Hobgoblin, and Electro. No doubt they'll come out with Venom, Rhino, Kraven, The Lizard, Sandman, Mysterio etc. soon, but right now you have enough baddies for a gang up attack on the web-head. Let the fun begin already! :)

Value: 8.5/10 - In terms of accessories, Spidey comes with a mass of webbing, Fury Files ID card, a Top Secret Letter and that's it. At retail, he may not be that worth it. But let the price drop a little, use a coupon, or wait for a store wide discount and you'll get your money's worth.

He's a great figure to play with and pose, so the value lies quite a bit in the playability rather than the accessories. But of course, we could all do with some web "constructs." A couple of web bullets here, a pair of web cuffs there and would've been just perfect. Oh, and throwing in Peter Parker's camera would be cool too, especially with the number of Spideys in multi-packs not coming with anything at all. A stand would be great too, but Hasbro are already doing that with the next series.

Overall: 9.2/10 - A must have cuz hey, it's Spidey! And he's an icon! Every kid on the block and Stan Lee want to be him! Ok maybe not the last bit, but this is a great figure. And who doesn't want to be a card carrying member of the Super Human Registration Act?

Seriously, though, Spiderman is one of those figures that won't be under produced or have a shortage of versions that you can choose from. Right now there's this guy, the new dark blue and red suit one, the black and red one (I think), the black with blue wash costume, the Secret Wars flat black, and the Spiderfriends 3 pack version.

That's 6 Spideys. And they haven't even gone into Armoured Spidey, Iron Spidey, Six-arm Spidey, Ben Reilly Spidey, or an unmasked variant yet. So you can take your time for your fave Spidey to show up, or you can get a standard iconic version like this one because he'll be great fun anyways!