Spider-Man Legends Expands The Comic Roster Of Characters

Marvel Legends is always pushing the boundaries of action figures, and the new Spider-man: Homecoming wave of figures shows why Hasbro sets the bar for mass retail figures. 

The line is split between the comic characters and the movie figures, the latter will get their own review later in the week.The comic figures are made up of two villains, Tombstone and Classic Beetle, and the heroes, Cosmic Spider-man and Moon Knight. It is a nice mix of updated characters and never before seen figures in this scale. I have to admit there is a little bit of nostalgia for me with this line up, mixing my early days of cartoons and first time reading comics that make them all perfect.

For 15 years fans have been asking for a classic Beetle, and Hasbro has finally delivered on the villain who brought together Spidey and his Amazing Friends! The body is plain, but it works for him with a deep green and pearl coated purple. Where he shines is the head sculpt and the wings, both have been perfectly sculpted and painted. The classic big eyes stand out on the mask, making this comic villain come alive. The wings are also well done once you figure out how they work. When I attached the wings and moved them the little peg holding them popped out, I was worried at first but realized it was for the shell down look. The little pegs don’t look too sturdy, so having the whole piece removable will surely save collectors from a lot of broken parts. Tombstone is the other name, who was a heavy hitter in the late 80’s comics an in the 90’s cartoon. He might be one of the more simple characters released, but in his case less is more. The mob look and the perfectly ugly head sculpt help him fit in seamlessly with all the updated Spider-man villains.

The heroes of the wave are also a mix of updates and new figures. Moon Knight was last seen in the final Toy Biz wave, was one of the better figures of the line at the time. This time he is again one of the best figures in the line, thought not one of the most well known. The amount of detail and armor on this figure makes a good figure, great. When you get a figure like this you realize where the tooling dollars went, and puts other companies retail figures to shame. Moon Knight, even with all the tooling, comes with a decent amount of accessories, including his billy club/staff, a large moon-a-rang, and 3 small Moon-a rangs which fit in the knuckles of his alternate fists. Buyer beware, they are tiny and like they said at Toy Fair they will be the one thing people loose. The other hero is a little obscure, but thanks to the 90’s trading cards one of my favorite looks for Spider-man. The Cosmic suit wearing Peter Parker, part of the Spider-verse story line, is on the larger buck used for UK Spider-man in the last wave and comes with 3 heads. The colors are flawless on this figure and each of the heads add to the overall value of the figure. There is only one thing missing, some energy blasts for characters like this.I am glad they did not do the bubbles again, but something that that clips on to our shoots out of his hands would add to the accessory bank for these figures.

These four are just visually stunning, so what else is there left in the wave, but 3 more figures all equally impressive.

Thanks to Hasbro for sending over these review samples.