Welcome back to Dan's ToyBox. This year celebrates 60 years of the Amazing Spider-Man and what better way to enjoy than to see the web-slinger brought to life in film, television, and action figure form? Today, we're very excited to bring you our take on the 1978 Toei company's Japanese tv version of Supaidaman!
Now, I've never actually watched a full episode of this series, which ran from May 1978 through March 1979 for a total of 41 episodes. With that in mind, I did have to do some research and learned the following plot synopsis: Motorcycle racer Takuya Yamashiro sees a UFO falling to Earth, a space warship named the Marveller. Takuya's father Dr. Hiroshi Yamashiro, himself a space archaeologist, is killed while investigating the crashed spacecraft.
Takuya follows his father to the Marveller and, while there, discovers Garia, the last surviving warrior of Planet Spider. Garia explains that his world was destroyed by Professor Monster and the Iron Cross Army. Garia then shares that he was hunting Prof. Monster but now needs someone to carry on the fight. He then injects Takuya with some of his own blood, the "Spider-Extract." This gives Takuya spider-like powers and incredibly, some of the same weaknesses that spiders have, such as a sensitivity to cold. Garia then gives Takuya a bracelet that activates his spider protector costume, shoots web-lines, and controls the Marveller ship which transforms into the giant fighting robot, Leopardon. Ironically, he seldom uses the web shooters to swing from buildings, preferring instead to drive his car, the Spider-Machine GP-7. Using his powers, Takuya fights Professor Monster's army and other threats to Earth under the name Spider-Man.
If you are interested in viewing the series, you can find it in its entirety on: Supaidaaman! (Spiderman the Tokusatsu) (English Subbed) : Toei and Marvel : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive. I took a quick look at it for the review and will probably watch more later on. In the meantime, for new visitors to Dan's ToyBox, we take a look at four categories: Accessories, Appearance, Articulation, and Affordability and then give the figure an overall grade, based on these categories, of zero to five toyboxes.
Images Copyright Dan's ToyBox 2022
ACCESSORIES
This is my second foray into the realm of Marvel Legends windowless packaging and I'm still getting used to it. I do like that the accessories are all packed in a little white bag now, which makes keeping them together for storage much easier. Supaidaman comes with two web effects that we've seen before, with the Armored Mk 1 Spider-Man figure, a web line that we've seen multiple times, one pair of fisted hands, and one pair of open/relaxed hands. His bracelet is also removable, so I guess you could consider it to be an accessory. Though I'm not really a big fan of the webbing accessories that Hasbro uses, I will say that it's nice to see the effort with this figure. Three different webbing accessories and two pairs of hands for a single packed figure is nice. Sure, I'd have loved to have wall crawling hands, but these open/relaxed hands are a new look for the figure, and I don't think I can recall seeing them before. As we know from the background, this figure seldom uses the web shooters, so having thwipping hands wouldn't have made much sense. In that respect, I am pleased with what he comes with and am good with giving him an A for Accessories.
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APPEARANCE
I will say, upon seeing the costume for the first time, aside from the differences in the mask, the costume does appear to be the same as was used in the U.S. television version from 1977. The spider logos and "belt" design at his waist are virtually identical. I would love to see a version of Nicholas Hammond's Spider-Man from the 1977 series at some point, complete with the unique mask design and the web shooters and web cartridge utility belt as accessories to the figure. As far as Supaidaman goes, this figure does an absolute wonderful job of capturing the look of the Toei series. I really like the fact that there are a number of wrinkles sculpted into the figure, giving it the appearance of someone actually wearing a costume. I also like that the head is shaped and sculpted to show outlines of ears, wrinkles above the nose and eyes, and even a hint of his mouth underneath. I'm also very pleased that it's not an overly muscular sculpt, again going with a more screen accurate look. I did notice that the reds seem to be more reddish orange which I thought kind of odd initially. However, the longer I've had him on display and the more I've played around with it, the more I like it. I'm also a big fan of the more royal blue on the costume which really makes the suit pop. I was also pleased to see the white paint applications on the bottom of his boots as well. Even the details applied to his bracelet are screen accurate. I did notice that there are breaks in the web lines at his neck, which makes me wonder if that's where the costume line for the mask would normally be. You can see the breaks in the cover image at the top. On the plus side, they do line up nicely, which is good. I like the smaller eyes, which are screen accurate and really do give off a Steve Ditko feel to the character, in spite of the fact that this version has virtually nothing in common with his namesake. The web accessories, as mentioned before are all molded in white and look good enough, though their uses are somewhat limited. For me, though, the look of an actual masked head with the added ear and facial details really kicks this up a notch. This figure looks as though it were actually representative of a human being wearing a costume. It's simple and well, nice. I'll give him an A for Appearance because the figure accurately conveys the look it's meant for.
Images Copyright Dan's ToyBox 2022
ARTICULATION
On one hand, the Hasbro Marvel Legends 60th Anniversary Toei Supaidaman figure has some great things going for it with the articulation and on the other, there are some problems. Starting at the head, he has that small cut in the back of the neck to help increase the upward range and as you can see in the pictures above, he can look up somewhat. On the plus side, the huge gap under his chin is virtually nonexistent which looks so much better! He is also capable of looking downward, quite far which is really nice as well. The head will turn easily enough. His shoulders lack the butterfly joints we are getting used to seeing on Legends figures, which precludes any forward and backward arm movement. I think though, that I actually like it better this way, for this specific figure, simply because it doesn't break up the look of the figure. Still though, that's a serious loss of articulation points. The shoulders will raise out to just better than a T pose and can rotate the full 360 degrees easy enough. The upper bicep swivel works nicely and the pinless double-jointed elbows bend in all the way, allowing his hands to reach his face. Both sets of hands hinge and rotate and the bracelet, which is free floating can be removed if you so desire. Supaidaman only has an upper ab crunch, which doesn't really bend forward or backward very far. That is exceptionally disappointing as Spider-Man figures lately, have been getting much better articulation for crouching and squatting poses. Supaidaman has a waist swivel which works well and hides the "flat landing platforms" at the sides of the hips reasonably well. I was quite pleased with his ability to get some good splits too! It's about time we're starting to get Spidey figures that can both do splits and kick forward nicely!!! There is an upper thigh cut and the double-jointed, pinless knees can bend in deep enough for heel to backside contact!!! There is no boot cut, which is fine, but the ankle pivot and hinge are excellent. My biggest gripe about this figure, right out of the box, was that he needed a hot water bath to help loosen his joints. I've continued working them to keep them "loose" but man, moving those knee and elbow joints was both frustrating and then scary at first. There are too many limitations to his articulation to overcome the few good things and I am sad to say that there will be no A for Articulation given in this review.
Images Copyright Dan's ToyBox 2022
AFFORDABILITY
The Hasbro Marvel Legends 60th Anniversary Spider-Man: Toei Supaidaman Action Figure is retailing at online shops for about $29, however, I was super happy when I saw that a friend to this website, Itzdante had shots in hand of this, when he found it in his LCS. Dante was absolutely awesome enough to grab one for me at the retail price of $24.99. So, big shout out to him for hooking me up!!! Make sure to find him on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube and show him some love. You can also read our interview right here: Prime Figure Time
I've mentioned several times, my inability to comprehend Hasbro's pricing structure anymore, but I'm happy to have this figure at the lower end of the retail pricing spectrum. With that in mind, he's worth an A for Affordability.
Overall, I really like this figure, though it's not without some issues. Considering all of the categories and trying to be objective, I will say that this is a figure you won't regret adding to your collection and with that will give him:
3.75 Toyboxes out of 5
There you have it folks! I am, as always, very appreciative for all of my readers and THANK YOU for helping Dan's ToyBox hit 3000 site visits on Saturday September 3, 2022!!! Until our next review... GEEK OUT!!!