Toy Review: MU Spider-Friends

11/10/09

Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends

Any kid who grew up on US television in the early 80’s remembers the adventures of Peter Parker, Bobby Drake, and Anjelica Jones. It only aired for two seasons, 24 episodes total, but it was one of the shows that sticks in my head when I think of Saturday morning as a kid.

The show actually featured many other Marvel heroes. The one I remember most was an episode where the trio met the X-men and visited the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. I can probably credit that cartoon with getting me stuck on the mutant books.

So when you ask me why it was I bought the Toys R’ Us exclusive Marvel Universe 3-pack despite the news of horrendous quality control and lackluster sculpts, I’ll say “Nostalgia.”

Whatever you’ve heard about the quality issues with these figures is absolutely true. I’ve seen about 2 dozen examples of the set now, and the one I bought is the ONLY ONE I’ve seen that is ACCEPTABLE.

Note that I used the word “acceptable”. Firestar’s mask still has an unpainted area around her nose that makes her look as if she has one of those fake noses you see in joke shops tied on. Iceman’s left arm is has been bent at an odd angle so that it curves outward (at first I thought they had assembled him wrong, but it looks as if they just tied him into the box incorrectly). All of their joints are as loose as a porn star’s… well you get my drift.

Spidey is probably the one who fares the best among the three figures in terms of quality control, but he’s by no means spared. I saw several examples where the register lines of his webs were clearly off, and you’re as likely to get one of them with a bent arm as you are to get an Iceman with one. I also hate hate hate his sculpt. He looks pin-headed and though the mid-torso joint allows for some nice Spidey-like poses, it looks awful from any angle but the front.

The crappy thing about him is that if you’ve already bought one of 4 or 5 versions of the single card Marvel Universe figure, you’re basically going to be stuck with another identical figure.

Iceman is probably the best figure in the set, but he’s not really a fun toy. Aside from the paint and materials problem, he’s also got some funky stuff going on with his sculpt. The most annoying thing first; he falls apart constantly.

I have a feeling that he is a retool or kitbash of several different figures. His legs don’t seem to fit correctly into his hips and tend to fall out if you try anything dramatic with them. It makes him limited when you’re trying to pose him.

You’ll also need to look closely at his head. Hasbro tried to give him the fun-loving smirk of a natural born class clown, but with the yellow eyes and the angular smile, it looks like he’s either constipated or contemplating something very evil.

His right hand is also a little weird. It’s sculpted as a fist, but it’s bent inward. Everytime I see it, the first thing that goes through my head is… OGC.

On the plus side, he does get a lovely finish. The “snow” that covers him is appropriately done in a matte finish which I figure was applied on top of the plastic. Then he’s got a nice blue wash on top of that to give him some highlights. It picks up dirt like you wouldn’t belive, but it’s pretty.

Firestar is probably the biggest dissapointment of the bunch. There’s nothing “WOW” about her at all. For one, she’s pretty much cast in color, and since her costume is so plain, you don’t get much for your buck. I like the body shape though, which looks pretty good except for the granny panties. The whole effect is nice and round, but the granny panties disturb me.

Her head sculpt is pretty good aside from the aforementioned nose. The pictures don’t do it justice (I really need to save up for a macro lens) but it really is distracting. On the plus side, though she has long hair, the plastic used on her wig is softer than that used on many of the Marvel Legends figures in the past. It’s easily bent over her shoulder if you want to pose her with her head turned.

The kicker with this set was that Hasbro forgot to include accessories.

HELLO! WTF, HASBRO?

Considering that even the single MU Spidey has a web accessory, and Torch has accessories ready made for Firestar, it’s inexcusable that Hasbro didn’t include anything. What’s Iceman without some kind of ICE?

For the price this thing is retailing at here (p2,200.00) I’d expect a little something extra. A single Marvel Universe figure is p500.00, which means that this thing is roughly 700 bucks overpriced. To be fair, it’s not Hasbro that chooses the prices of exclusives here, but the retail chain. Toys R’ Us can price these at whatever they think the market can bear. Next time you visit TRU, check out the recent Transformer releases and GI Joe figures for that “exclusive” sticker and compare the prices to toys that do not have it. Sucks, no?

So yeah, unless you’re old enough to remember this cartoon fondly, don’t buy this thing.