Up for review is the Spider-man Classics Superposeable Spider-man knock-off action figure. Keep in mind, a knock-off's quality and finish can vary from figure to figure. This review covers the one I recently received.
This figure was originally made by toy manufacturer Toy Biz in 2005 and re-released in a slightly different color scheme in 2008 by Hasbro. Arguably this is one of the most popular Spider-man action figures due to the sculpt resembling the artwork of Todd Mcfarlane or J. Scott Campbell depending on your point of view. It also has an amazing amount of articulation that puts even some modern action figures with similar articulation to shame. Toy Biz was notorious for trying new things with their figures, and it really showed when they made this figure.
Many years later, demand still runs high for this figure commanding high prices on the secondary market.
Recently, some of the more popular figures from Spider-man Classics and Marvel Legends have been copied, coming mainly from China. Prices are much lower compared to genuine figures, which make this attractive for some collectors. In some cases, quality may match or surpass the original.
PRESENTATION
The Spider-man KO comes in a plain white box and clear zip bag. No bells or whistles here.
FIGURE
The figure stands at about 6 and 1/2 inches from head to foot and is cast in mainly red plastic.
The overall quality of plastic used is pretty solid and doesn't have that softer plastic feel that similar figures have. This really helps with pulling off the many poses that the figure is able to do without worrying about the plastic giving way due to the softness.
SCULPT
Spider-man sports his very iconic comic book look with his lanky limbs, muscular details, and sculpted webbing on the red parts of his costume. The sculptors managed to capture this look with an astonishing amount of detail. Even the spider symbols on the front and back are sculpted into the figure rather than just painted on.
PAINT
Much of the figure has very dark blue painted applications with what appears to be slightly lighter blue wash to help accentuate those parts on Spider-man's body. The blue paint is pretty dark and gives it an almost grey color. The blue is there, but it's very subtle.
The sculpted wide eyes on his mask are painted white with black paint surrounding the eyes. There also appears to be a light black wash that fills in the sculpted webs on the figure. They're not completely filled in with certain spots, but it's relatively consistent.
Honestly, looking back at my old pictures of the official Toy Biz version, the paint looks much better on the knock off. I had a bunch of black paint wash globs on my official version that really made the figure look sloppy and uneven. The knock off has much better applications.
ARTICULATION
Spider-man has a incredible amount of articulation with 46 points that were counted. The articulation is one of the biggest highlights of this figure.
From the tips of the toes to the individual fingers to the amazing shoulder range, you can get really close to duplicating some of the contortions the Spider-man performed in the comic book. Just simply...amazing!
ACCESSORIES
The Spider-Man knock-off did not come with any accessories. I still had the accessory from my official figure, so I got to pose the figure with it.
QUALITY CONTROL
With only minor paint inconsistencies, the only other quality control issues that I came across were the neck and left ankle tilt joints. Both are extremely tight with little give. I'm afraid that if I force those joints, I may damage it. The other joints are solid, but not overly tight. Plastic is very durable and has held up when I tried different poses.
I remember with my official version, the ab crunch became very loose after posing it only a few times. So far, the tolerances are much tighter on the knock off.
OVERALL
Would I recommend this figure to other collectors? Yes, I would.
I regretted selling my official superposeable Spider-man, and had always wanted to get it back in my collection. This was my definitive figure for this character, but I didn't want to pay the exorbitant prices that this figure was getting on the secondary market.
This knock-off is a cheaper alternative, as I paid about $38.00 USD shipped from China. I am pretty happy with the figure, as it turned out much better than I expected, and I can honestly say the figure turned out better than my official.
Just a reminder, this is still a knock-off, so your mileage may vary.
Keep playing!
Primeconvoy1
