Ever since I started collecting sixth scale movie superhero figures I wanted Spider-man in my collection. I love Sam Raimi’s interpretation of Spider-man for the big screen. It’s very close to the comic version and full of detail. It doesn’t seem a regular guy could sew the suit by himself like the upcoming Marc Webs Spider-man costume looks like. But Raimi’s Spider-man is just cool!

I was eying on the 12″ Medicom Real Action Heroes Spider-man from the Raimi movies before Hot Toys announced they where releasing Spider-man from the Spider-man 3 movie. I was excited to hear of the prospect.
Though, when Hot Toys made the announcement, the reactions on the Internet to the 12″ Spider-man  where mixed to sat the least. I wanted to wait and see and took the risk of pre-ordering the figure. I liked what I saw in the promotion stills. At first I thought these were stills from the movie. So in that regard the prototype was spot-on. The only thing I was skeptical about was the articulation and how the joints would look like under the costume.
Well, Spider-man has been released and now I’ll now if my concerns are just. Just let me say upfront, I think this Spider-man is an underestimated figure and will be a sleeper hit!
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From the Spider-man 3 line, Hot Toys already announced the New Goblin. And we’ve seen a black Spider-man from the ComicCon. I hope we see a Venom and even beter, a Doctor Octopus. That would be awesome. Doc Ock is from the second movie, so I shouldn’t get my hopes up.
Back to Spidey. Like his comic book title. I think he’s pretty amazing. See my ratings:
Overall – ***1/2 of 4
Packaging – ****
Sculpting – ***1/2
Paint – ****
Articulation – ***
Outfit – ***1/2
Accessories – ***
Fun Factor – ***
Value – ***
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So on with the review:
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packaging – ****
Another great packaging design from Hot Toys. I excepted a rather straight-forward shoe-box like type. But Hot Toys always make that extra length to do something special. On the cover there’s a big black spider embossed. The box also has UV-printing to give texture on the brilliant red and blue colors of Spider-man’s suit which enfolds around the box.
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The box is huge! For such a basic figure I didn’t expected that. It’s bigger than Iron Man II, Mark VI or Sideshows Darth Vader.
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Like we expect from Hot Toys, there’s a cardboard flap inside with a cool image of the figure. There’s a plastic tray underneath holds the figure and all the accessories. Again they are easily removable from the tray without cutting of tearing.
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Sculpting – ***1/2
There’s not really much to talk about here, since there’s no head sculpt of an actor.
I feel that’s a real loss. I could be something with right-issues or maybe technical. I can’t imagine how someone could swap heads on this figure since the mask is connected to the suit.
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Still, We’ve got the underlying face-less head that shapes the form of the mask has. The only remark I have is the nose’s a tad on the small side. This results in having almost no nose bump in the mask. However this is not to make an issue out of it.
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Then there are the hands. I think these are sculpted excellent in proportion to his body. I never like swapping hands a lot. Mostly I choose two and these tend to stick on the figure for a long time. This time I choose the classic web-shoot pose for his right hand and a relaxed pose for his left.
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Paint – ****
The only paint work here is on the hands since the rest of the body is covered by the suit. And no remarks here as the paint on the is just plain clean. The ‘bee hyve’ texture of the costume continues on the hands but is more visible than on the fabric of the costume.
I feel the paint work on the building piece could have been more realistic though.
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Articulation – ***
I feel his arms are slightly shorter in proportion to the rest of his body. This is also due the account the arms are positioned pretty high on the shoulder. It looks like he’s constantly thighting his shoulder muscles. The arms and legs also seem a too buff for a Spider-man figure. But since this is a representation of the movie and the actor buffed up for the role is pretty accurate.
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The figure can do some very cool poses but due the outfit the figure has some restrictions in extreme poses. The soft rubber webtexture on the costume is very cool, however the instructions warns it could tear of if the angles at the joints are to excessive.
I get there has to be a balance between ethic looks and functionally, and I really love the webbing on the suit, but Spider-man needs his extreme poses.
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Unfortunally, my Spider-man came with a broken right ankle. I heard some  people posted the same problem on Facebook. I think it’s just a freak accident, so I can’t take points down. I’m in the progress of ordering a new one.
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Outfit – ***1/2
This brings us to the costume itself. As I mentioned just before, I feel the balance is more focused on the ethics instead on the posability. A wise decision on Hot Toys’ part as the costume is the most important aspect of Spider-man. They did some real development on the fabric and cloth on the suit. The costume cannot be removed since it’s sewn on the underlying figure. The stitching is astonishingly fine, sturdy and real quality work. This is real important as it’s to keep the suit tight.
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The fine soft rubber webbing is the highlight of the costume. It’s tightly affixed to the cloth. This gives an uncanny layering and depth on the costume that can’t be achived with any sort of printing. This is what this Spider-man differentiates himself from the others and gives the realism Hot Toys is known for and what I love in superhero movie versions.
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The colors are very clean with a subtle bee-hyve pattern giving the cloth more depth. The red is bright, the blue is dark. Not only the color compliment, but also the hues. This is how I like to see Spider-man, not a bright and happy circus costume, but something more mysterious and menacing.
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The feature what makes Spider-man more menacing are his eyes. I am not really a fan of big lenses on a Spider-man, In this case I am actually stunned how accurate the eyes are to the movie version. The lenses are made from a combination of different high quality materials giving them a reflective, clear and layered look adding to the realism of the figure. I love them.
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Looking in long term, I’m actually concerned for the condition of this figure. Specifically about the tear and wear of the rubber materials. It’s not unreasonable to think the rubber will decade over time or remain clued to the cloth. My fear is concerned especially around the joints. Only time will tell if my fears are just.

Accessories- ***
Spider-man’s a basic figure. He doesn’t have weapons or gadgets. He just got his costume and his athletics. So all the focus is on the figure  and not a lot of accessories to distract or make-up for the flaws of the figure. Still Hot Toys managed to add plenty of relevant extras.
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Spider-man comes with 5 pairs of hands. There are fists, grasping, gripping, relaxed and the famous web shooting hands.
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What is Spider-man without his webs? He comes with seven translucent strings of web. Three strings are ‘shooting’ strings. Two has as clot of web at the end, one has an opening web. These stands have small black rings at the other end. The black ring is to be placed between the arm and hand to hold the web strands in place and to look like the strand is being ‘fired’ from the wrists. Unfortunately the strand with the opening web is drooping due it’s weight at the end, losing it’s function for the pose.
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The other four web strings are designed to work with the ‘gripping’ hand to give Spider-man a ‘swinging’ look. And it would actually work if the holes in the top of the gripping hands are not to small.
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However, there are extra black rings included. With a little creativity you could use  the other four web-strings to give Spidey some web action, or choose not to, without removing the hands. If you are fan of Spider-man’s mechanical web shooters, the black rings make up for their omission in the films, as they actually look like the metal pegs on Spidey’s wrists in the comic.
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There’s also a heavy piece of building for Spider-man doing a cool pose upon. The sculpt and paint are not what we accustomed to from Hot Toys.
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Then the are the extra pegs for the wrists and the standard display base. Although I don’t think this display base is suitable for Spider-man if you want to pose him mid-air of swinging.
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Value
I got this figure for around the €145. You would think this is a reasonable price for a Hot Toys licensed movie figure. But when you think about the fine details and development that went in the costume, I think you’ll have a pretty good deal. Certainly when you take in account how much the Medicom Spider-man costs. I also think this figure is a sleeper hit and his value will increase as time goes by. *** stars is a good value.
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Fun Factor
I really love the details and layering. You’ll have a lot of fun posing the figure in his cool stances and looking at him from all the different angles and in close-ups. This is not a toy for your kid. It’s a delicate figure and take care handling the rubber webbing. But it’s the best 12″ Spider-man you can buy!
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Where to buy
Sideshow has Spider-man on the wait list at the RRP of $149,99.
I got him at HammersCollectibles for €147,25 without shipping costs.
It seems they’re all sold out there.
Gator – still on pre-order for €160
Collectiblezity – should have him in stock for €155
Acmetrendz – still has him on pre-order for €159,90
Kadoshop Ton Swart – expected to arrive in september 30th, for €152,50
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