Let's Discuss: Hasbro Marvel Legends MAXIMUM SERIES Spider-Man Action Figure

Welcome to Dan's ToyBox and our look at the Hasbro Marvel Legends MAXIMUM SERIES Spider-Man Action Figure. There has been a LOT of discussion about this figure... articulation, deco, accessories... uhm... something else too... oh yeah... PRICING.

I can't recall an action figure that, upon being revealed created so much dissension within the collecting community. Truth be told, it's not the figure so much as it is the company and those who benefit from promoting the products. As I've said before, I don't charge for my reviews, nor do I receive any free items from companies like Hasbro or Mafex. The only free samples I've ever received have been the Jurassic Park items I've reviewed in the past. With that in mind, I'm free to give an unbiased opinion on this action figure. As always, we'll talk about Accessories, Appearance, Articulation, and especially, Affordability. Buckle up, my friends and let's get ready for the ride.

ACCESSORIES: 8.5/10

Well... where do we start? As has been discussed many times on YouTube, the speculation is that Hasbro is attempting to use the Maximum Series as a means of competing with import figures. To that end, this Spider-Man comes packed with quite a bit. There are other Marvel Legends that weren't considered "Deluxe" figures that came with a lot of accessories. The Target Exclusive Black Widow springs to mind, as does the 60th Anniversary Amazing Fantasy Appearance Spider-Man. That being said, for pure count, this figure contains a lot to enjoy:

Two masked head sculpts, one with wide eyes, the other with one narrowed eye.
One unmasked Peter Parker head sculpt... YIKES!!!!

I'll talk more about these in the appearance section, but... by gosh... that Parker head sculpt is the stuff of nightmares. Thankfully some of the other Legends unmasked Peter Parker heads fit on this body. I'm putting this ghastly abomination in my bits box and forgetting it exists!

Moving on, in addition to the heads, Spidey comes with:

A pair of Fists
A pair of Wall Crawling Hands
A pair of Thwipping Hands
A pair of Thwipping Hands with attached web effects
A pair of Web Gripping Hands
A pair of ungloved Hand/Forearms with exposed Web Shooters
One Spider-Sense Effect Piece
Two Flexible Web Lines
One Web Shield
One Web Glob Effect
One Expanding Web effect
One Support Base for Glob and Expanding Web Effects

This is a really nice set of accessories to go with the figure. The weblines are a bit of a disappointment though. Being flexible is nice, but it's going to be hard to pose them for swinging shots, unless you have something either tied to an end or are holding the end, outside of your camera frame. There are a number of amazing crafters that make bendy weblines from thin wiring, which will work just fine. I, personally, use thin white twist ties for my weblines and they've turned out nice. The ungloved hands, while a nice touch, are just a bit big for proportion's sake. I like that they've included these but they're just a shade bigger than the gloved forearms which is kind of disappointing. Additionally, they only rotate at the forearm plug. The actual hands themselves are not moveable. For the first time, with a Spidey figure (that I can recall) we get a spider-sense effect. There has been some disagreement about the color, but I'm ok with it being in red. The piece sits relatively easily on the head sculpts and doesn't really look bad at all. I think this will be an enjoyable effect, which is going to make playing and photographing much more fun. I really like the web shield. It features the commonly seen wrist clip, which I recommend using with care. I think the pearlescent color scheme on the web effects is nicely done. There's a bit of a shimmery silver to it, which helps the webs stand out just a bit more and show a bit more detail than the clear or sheer white.

The expanding and glob webs are... something. I can get behind the expanding web effect, but the support base is too low, which means that when using it, Spidey MUST be in a fairly deep crouch. That looks good for some things but can become tedious if being used a lot. The glob web is just ridiculous. It just doesn't look good and the jokes about it keep on coming. This glob thing, the limp weblines, and the unmasked head bring the score down on what could have been a really good rating.

APPEARANCE: 8.75/10

I will give Hasbro credit where it is due. They attempted to make a '90's style Spider-Man based on a combination of Todd McFarlane and Mark Bagley comic art. I say both artists because there is enough of a nod to each, in my opinion, to see this as a blending of style.

However, there are some issues with the figure in terms of QC and design. This is a new sculpt and the figure does seem to be a bit shorter than some of the other Spider-Man figures from Hasbro. It's also leaner and lither, with more of a swimmer or runner's physique, much the way he was depicted by McFarlane and Bagley.

The expanded number of weblines on the figure are laid out remarkably well. There are certain areas where the tampography doesn't work out so well, notably on the head sculpt attached right out of the box.

While the seam on the head doesn't bother me, those webs are atrocious. The gap between the two lines immediately in front and back of the seam is ridiculous and the unevenness and lighter application makes the line behind the seam look terrible. I could probably get a fine point paint pen and fix it myself. You can also see how the front to back running lines are much darker and thicker on the front half of the head, but then thin out and become more faded running toward the back of his head. This is hugely disappointing for me as this is the head I plan to display the figure with.

Oddly enough, the other masked head is actually done better, which sucks because I really don't care for the way they did the eyes. Either make the squinting eye more distinct or make BOTH eyes narrow. Give us a highly noticeable difference in the eyes to better differentiate the two masked heads.

I've also heard other reviewers say that they eyes are too far apart, and I agree they could be closer together, but that's not a huge issue for me.

Another area of concern is the legs. Even with the drop-down feature, getting the legs close together is nigh impossible. The thigh gap is so bad on this figure, and it makes the hip design look even worse because of it. I really can't figure out why Hasbro can't get Spider-Man's legs right. Even this figure, with the "improved articulation" can't get into a full split without rotating the top of the thigh to an odd angle. I'll talk about this more shortly.

Lastly, the figure is far too glossy and while I really like the spider emblems on both the front and back... geez whiz... there are some design/deco issues when you pose figure in certain ways.

Those red leg extensions on the butterfly joints are god-awful. WHY? Just... why? Reduce the logo on his back just a bit so that the legs don't extend into the butterfly cuts, then you don't have to worry about making the spider turn into a tick* when the butterflies are used. Also... the belt... oh, the belt. When you engage the lower ab hinge and lean him forward the belt gets larger so that it doesn't break up the rest of the belt line at the waist. I understand it looks better than a big blue line, but man... there's really an easy way to fix this. Put a ball joint in at the waist, then you don't have to make paint alterations to make up for cuts in the deco. In fact, since I've mentioned articulation, let's go ahead and move on.

ARTICULATION: 8.5/10

I wanted, very badly, to give this a 9 or even 10 out of 10, but I can't. We were told by Hasbro that the Maximum Series has the BEST DECO, ACCESORIES, AND ARTICULATION.

I will admit that the articulation and engineering on this is better in areas than previous Spidey Figures, the problem is that there's a lot left on the table that could have made this so much better.

Let's start up top.

The head sculpts pop onto a ball hinge which enables the figure to look up and down very nicely. The problem I've run into is that on the second masked sculpt and unmasked sculpt, the fit is so tight on the ball peg that you can only turn the head sideways by also turning the neck. I may have to try and trim them down some to make the fit a little less snug. Now, we're supposed to get excited because Spidey has neck articulation. Guess what... it's the same neck articulation they've put on the G.I. Joe Classified line since it began. Why not use this on ALL Marvel Legends? And the neck is snug enough that even though it tilts side to side, the range is very limited. I've seen mods pop the neck off and trim around the inner ring a bit, to help expand movement range. I might try that, but I don't know yet.

The shoulders work nicely, though mine were tight, right out of the box. Thankfully the peg inside the shoulders must have been shortened to help improve the range of the butterfly joints, which really work well. The forward and back range is excellent. I was able to get the arms to slightly above a T pose and they do rotate a full 360 degrees. The biceps do pivot, though the left arm on mine was kind of gummy, and I was worried it would bend, warp, or even break. The double-jointed elbows bend in very nicely and the forearm peg does allow you to rotate the forearms if you are so inclined. All of the gloved hands hinge and turn, while the ungloved only rotate at the forearm peg.

The upper torso joint on mine was really tight. I could get some forward crunch, back bend, and side-to-side tilt, but turning it was scary. I ended up dunking the figure in hot water because of the tightness of the joints and was able to make headway with the arms and legs. I did end up putting a couple drops of silicone shock oil into the upper torso and now it twists nicely. The lower hinge increases the range of crunch and backbend but would have been so much better sitting on a ball joint. Why Hasbro doesn't make that standard on Marvel Legends is beyond me. That's how they've designed the Classified series, and those figures are superior in articulation, in my opinion.

Moving on to the legs. The drop-down feature at the hips is an improvement over previous Hasbro attempts. They allow for an amazing amount of forward/high kick. You can certainly come close to getting this pose with some of the other Legends, but I'll give them credit for making him pose much deeper than before. Sadly, he still can't do a good split, and I'm befuddled that for all the braggadocio about "NEW ARTICULATION," Spider-Man can't hit a true split. The thigh cuts work fine and the double-jointed knees do bend in nicely. My right leg is still a little tight at the bottom knee joint, but just continuing to work it seems to be helping. The boot cut is ok and thankfully, lines up with his shin unlike other reviewers I've seen. The ankle pivot and hinge is solid and the toe articulation is sturdy. Why the heck are his toes hollowed out though? Does that help with balance or something? I will admit, I've gotten this figure into some poses and was amazed that it was able to balance so nicely. You'll see in the following pictures.

Overall, this new articulation we were promised is really just a mishmash of engineering used on other figures, from other divisions. I'm grateful that Hasbro is finally starting to incorporate these features (moveable neck, drop-down hips) into Legends, and I hope they continue to do so.

AFFORDABILITY: 1/10

Ohhh, Hasbro... what are you doing? Maximum Series Spider-Man is announced, and Hasbro delays the release of pricing. The "Hasbros" do their thing on YouTube and suddenly the magical price of $49.99 is announced. I'm sorry, but there is no way in hell this figure is worth $50. You've got a standard Marvel Legend with G.I. Joe Classified articulation additions that would sell for $25.99 and you're trying to convince us that the accessories, together, are worth $24? Not even close. Not. Even. Close. I'm sorry, yes, I paid the price for this so that I could review it for you and there's no way I could, in good conscience, tell a collector that $49.99 is reasonable, especially now that Hasbro has dropped the mostly re-use Maximum Hulk for only $10 more! To compound the problem, Hasbro artifically created a FOMO by "SELLING OUT" of this figure on Hasbro Pulse. How does the parent company actually sell out of a Pre-Order?!? I can understand sites like BBTS or Entertainment Earth selling out as they are likely limited in the quantity they can purchase for resale. What makes this all the funnier is how within a day or two, all of the "Sold Out" logos were suddenly removed, and the figure was available for pre-order again. As of this writing, the Maximum Hulk has been available for 31 hours and hasn't sold out on Hasbro Pulse or BBTS. I'm assuming that's the same for other online sales platforms as well.

Overall, I will readily admit this is the best Marvel Legends Spider-Man figure to date. He can get into some pretty amazing poses and does bring back a lot of nostalgia in his McFarlane/Bagley inspired appearance. While not the greatest (Parker face) the accessories are fun and do bring a better level of play and enjoyment to the figure. Still, I just can't justify the price, and it drives the overall score down, unfortunately. Therefore, the Hasbro Marvel Legends MAXIMUM SERIES Spider-Man earns:

6.25 out of 10 ToyBoxes

As a standalone figure, I could have easily given this an 8 or better. Even priced as a Deluxe, I'd have been able to give a higher score. The figure itself and the accessories are good enough, but not worth the price.

Thanks, as always, for stopping by Dan's ToyBox. Until next time... GEEK OUT!!!