Spider Man (Super Poseable)

February 28, 2011 | By More


Roughly at the same time Hasbro started making their Marvel Universe line, they also launched the Fiercest Foes of Spiderman line. Not unlike the Marvel movie licensed lines, these figures are done in the same scale as the Marvel Universe figures, but there are important differences in terms of figure design.

Where Marvel Universe is based mostly on re-using a variety of stock body types to recreate a vast stable of characters, most of the figures in the Fiercest Foes line are unique sculpts with variable articulation design for most characters, although a line with about six different Spiderman figures per wave is bound to have also some simple repaints of the most popular molds.

The Super Poseable Spiderman I’m reviewing today is the closest to a classic costumed Spiderman in this line. Body proportions are a better fit for the character than the wave 1 MU Spiderman figure and the sculpted detail is just as extensive, with each costume line etched into the plastic.

The look of the figure is not as lanky as in the later MU wave Spidermen figures, but it still looks realistic enough to blend just right in, even if the figure is more primary-colored.

The chief difference with the MU offering is articulation. This version of Spidey has:

  • Ball jointed neck. Excellent range all around, although the neck is slightly slanted forward, giving Spidey something of a hunched-over look.
  • Peg & hinge shoulders.
  • Peg & hinge elbows.
  • Swivel forearms.
  • Floating torso.
  • Double peg & hinge hips.
  • Peg & hinge knees.
  • Peg & hinge ankles.

Even though the relatively simple knee joints lack the range achieved by the standard MU double joints, the upper thigh swivel provided by the hip design offers much more versatility, which is something a character like Spiderman really benefits from.

The paintjob is deceptively simple. As I mentioned, the web lines on the red areas of the costume are etched into the plastic, but each line is also painted neatly in black. On torso and arms, the blue sections are painted in a hue similar but not quite the same color as the deep blue plastic molded legs.

A paint wash was applied over the blue areas, but even though this provides a good amount of shading, it doesn’t really mute the brightness of the plastic, lending the figure a decidedly cartoon-like feel.

For the past few years, Hasbro  has been including some sort of paper goods to add to the play value, and the Fiercest Foes line follows suit with a “collectible” card game.

Super Poseable Spiderman comes with three cardboard cards shaped roughly like crosses.

Two of them are actual stat cards for both Spiderman and Venom, while the third is more of a “decoder”  and a visual aid to determine who beats who in the game.

If you are familiar with the game “Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock“, then you should have  no problem grasping the basics of the Fiercest Foes game, as it involves less variables and each attribute on the cards has numbers to adjudicate victory in the event of  a draw.

The game cards show the character attributes on one side with the number stat obscured by a red scrawl over it and on the reverse they have images that can be placed to form a larger picture, which is kind of bad news if you don’t plan on collecting the whole series to complete the image.

The decoder card  has a red cellophane window that serves to read the attribute values hidden in the game cards. On one side it has  an image of Spiderman and on the other it has printed the visual game aid I mentioned earlier.

The only other accessory included is a translucent rubber web net. The thing seems to have pegs and round slots that could presumably be used to link several of these pieces together to form some sort of mega-web, but otherwise it doesn’t seem to be all that useful for the figure itself.

Despite the gawdy colors and the poor excuse of a game included, I ended up liking this figure very much. It has the proverbial solid construction one can expect from Hasbro, good detailing and really good articulation.

Errex Score: 90/100

Be Sociable, Share!

Tags: , , ,

Category: Featured, Marvel, Toy Reviews

About the Author ()

I've been collecting action figures since the original Kenner Star Wars days. Nowadays, I still collect pretty much anything that catches my eye.

Comments (1)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. Engineernerd says:

    You’d think by know they would have figure out some cooler web accessories than that!

    Nice work!