“Just Trying To Do Better.”
The 2021 release of Spider-Man: No Way Home was shrouded in a lot of secrecy ahead of its release due to the number of returning characters that appeared in the movie as cameos, or as key characters. This meant that Hasbro was most likely a little restricted by the Marvel Legends figures it could get on shelves to coincide with the December release. That amounted to figures of Doctor Strange, J. Jonah Jameson, and a trio of Spider-Man figures, all pretty much as seen in the trailers. Following the movie, there was a huge clamouring for many more figures from the movie and it has taken a full 2 years to finally bring the next batch of Spider-Man: No Way Home figures to store shelves.
The Marvel Legends ‘No Way Home’ wave is dedicated to movie figures and goes down a similar track as the Across the Spiderverse releases by packing the figures onto blister cards and doing away with a build-a-figure option. The cards themselves are beautiful featuring a deep blue Spider-Suit-inspired backing overlaid with a bright gold panel that acts as the backing colour for the figure in its blister as well as depicting scenes from No Way Home with the three Peter Parkers. The movie logo sits above the blister while the Marvel Legends logo as well as the character name sits bottom left - to differentiate the three Spider-Man / Peter Parker figures in the wave, this Tobey Maguire version is referred to as ‘Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’. Round the back is a repeat of the image of the three Peters, expanded now to show them on the scaffold of the Statue of Liberty and headed by the movie logo as though it were a movie poster. The standard Marvel Legends principle of a short character overview is then listed to the left of the card back. The decision to card this wave does mean there is no way of opening the figures without damaging the packaging in some way.
Far right, the 3-Pack version
Tobey Maguire’s ‘Friendly Neighborhood’ Spider-Man figure is the exact same version as was released early this year in the No Way Home 3-pack. While there are some very minor paint tone variations due to the differing production runs, the key difference this time round is the inclusion of an unmasked Maguire head. The body is cast in a mix of red and blue plastics, depending on the part of the suit it is replicating. Weblines are sculpted on the chest, arms, hands, and boots and each of these is neatly painted out in silver. A small relief sculpt of the Spider-Man symbol is painted black on the front of the chest, while a larger red version is painted on the reverse - it is this rear symbol that shows the only real paint issues I could find on my figure with the red of the legs not quite extending out far enough or brightly enough against the blue base colour.
The Maguire head sculpt is a great likeness and will work as either the aged Tobey in No Way Home, and also not looking out of place in a Spider-Man Trilogy display representing a younger Peter Parker. Facial print tech is shown to its full extent with the eyes in particular as well as the mouth and shading around the nose and mouth. The hair is a single-tone brown but is an individual piece glued into the head meaning there is a crisp definition where hair meets head and no unpainted or overpainted errors. This single release also includes the Spider-Man masked head in the set, this is the same as the 3-pack - cast in red with sculpted web lines painted in silver, and silver edged in black for the eyes. The unmasked head swaps out well enough, the masked head is much tighter and I felt I had to apply a touch of heat to prevent damage. As it is all the same body the heads are interchangeable, not that this adds any value considering it's the exact same figure.
The 3-Pack Tobey figure came with three sets of hands, this single release reduces that to two and provides us with a clenched right fist, an open ‘claw’ left hand, and a pair of web-slinging hands. These provided a reasonable combination, and if you have the three-pack you can also borrow other hands if you’d prefer a dual set of clenched fists for example.
Articulation weighs in with 21 points of articulation including butterfly shoulders, a waist cut and torso ball joint, and pinless double-jointed knees and elbows. This should, on paper, make this Maguire Spider-Man ultra poseable but there is a problem in the legs in particular with very springy and hard-to-control hip joints that don’t seem to want to stay in position, and ankle rockers that don't pivot forward - only backward. So the arms can do whatever you wish, but getting the legs to behave is a bit harder and there is no easy way of recreating the Spider-Man crouch pose without the feet flattening out further.
For those that hung fire on the Spider-Man 3-pack, this single release represents much better value for money in terms of gaining the unmasked head while only losing out on a couple of hands and a relatively useless web effect - all for circa £8 less per figure. For those who have forked out for the Spidey set, this version does provide the unmasked head - which is glorious. The reused body is a good replication of the first movie Spider-Man suit, and the articulation is acceptable but with some issues around the hips and legs that mean some of the poses you may want to get are frustratingly out of reach. This one is unlikely to hang around on pegs, and is already selling out across stockists.
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About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...
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