“Listen, let's just focus on the good news, okay?”
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 clamoring 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. 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.
This Tom Holland Spider-Man is depicted as wearing his new comic-book inspired suit as seen at the very end of No Way Home. This is a brighter blue finish with red panels and sculpted web lines that are painted over in black. The blue finish is perhaps not as bright as depicted on screen but does have a level of the sheen we also see. The black lines are neatly painted, as are the spider logos front and back, but are a bit too thick vs the onscreen prop and lack that gold sheen that is built into the suit. The proportions overall are good, in line with the other Tom Holland Spider-Man figures.
The head sculpt is taken from the Homecoming 2-pack with Ned so is a re-use. This fits fine on this new suit body and is a good likeness to Tom Holland, maximising that likeness by way of the usual face print technology. While the Maguire and Garfield Spider-Man from this wave were direct repacks of the No Way Home 3-Pack albeit now with unmasked heads, this new Tom Holland version is of course a different suit meaning the Integrated Suit from that set - with its enhanced weblined paint job - is now exclusive to that set. As that Integrated Suit is the one that is used when all three Spider-Men are working together during the finale, I can confirm that the unmasked head from this set (or the original Homecoming pack) can be retrofitted onto the 3-pack Integrated Suit to allow you to compete an unmasked Trio from the Statue of Liberty.
This single release also features a masked head as well, providing two options for display. The masked head is finished in the same red as the suit with the same black web lines and a pair of white high gloss eye visors edged in red. The figure also features three sets of hands, with choices of clenched fists, 'web-slinging' hands, and a pair of open ‘wall crawler’ hands. These swap in and out without any fuss and are coloured and weblined the same as the suit.
The articulation is extensive at 21 points in total, and I found this new Spider-Man version the most fun to pose out of the three included in this No Way Home wave. While there is a bit of spring in the hip joints, they are better to work with than the other Spider-Man figures allowing you to achieve several display options by maximising the twin-jointed torso, dual joint elbows and knees, and butterfly shoulders - all across a fully pinless body. Spider-Man can crouch, kneel, sit, and get into a number of dynamic poses although some will require an aftermarket stand. Like the other three though the ankle joint won't come far enough forward for that iconic crouched pose we see on the packaging and we’d really need to be looking at the addition of a toe joint to get us to that level.
The inclusion of this new comic book inspired Spider-Man suit in the wave, while re-using the Tom Holland unmasked head is a decision that will split collectors and that will be dependent on whether they bought the 3-pack. For those who dropped the cash on the Hasbro Pulse exclusive set, there will be a degree of happiness that one of the suits from that set retains a level of exclusivity and they can then add a new suit to their collection with an unmasked head that can be retrofitted to the 3-pack body. For those who held off buying the 3-pack in anticipation for this wave, there may be a touch of disappointment although said integrated suit remains available as a single release albeit with a reduced level of decor.
The new figure does a reasonable job of replicating what we see on screen, but Hasbro might have been a bit braver with the brightness of the blue and dialed back on the black of the web lines for a more subtle finish. Articulation is fine, and accessories are good considering what is included with the other Spider-man figures in the line even without the inclusion of any web effects. This latest iteration of the MCU Spider-Man is a purchase recommended for Spider-Man completists, but not necessarily compulsory for those who already have a Tom Holland Spider-man that they are happy with for their display especially when you consider that any future projects including Spider-Man in this updated suit will likely see a re-release or revamp of this figure.
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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...