Wednesday, September 17, 2014

So I Walked Into A Bookstore The Other Day...



Don't you hate it when you go out some place, not looking to pick anything up, yet you walk out spending a some of your hard earned green backs? Neither do I.

I went to pick up some photos over by Union Square yesterday. Since I was in the area I decided to stop off in Barnes N Noble to use their facilities and see if there was anything interesting.While there, I stopped by the section that had POP figures. Unfortunately, I didn't see anything there so I moved along. While passing by this section where the Walking Dead stuff was, tucked between a couple of zombies I found this cool Spider-Man item:


Not sure where I would put this as I don't own a computer monitor, but it's going to look pretty sweet with the rest of my Spider-Man Funko collection.

So, I went to pay for the Spider-Man computer sitter when I noticed a huge display of POP figures right by the registers. Yeah, go ahead and put a huge collection of items that I'm going to want to purchase right by the register. Genius.

While standing on line, I peruse the Funko Pops on display when I saw them right next to each other. I knew it was fate that they would be coming home with me.


Anytime I can pick up a new Luke Skywalker item for my Skywalker collection, I am grabbing it. I had heard of a new Luke Skywalker POP in his Hoth gear paired up with a Wampa and I saw it at Barnes N Noble, but I decided to pass on it as it was a bit pricey. But I did find this Luke solo (No, not Han), so he came home with me.

But Luke was not alone. Right next to him was a POP I had been looking for:


Spider-Man, of course. Duh.

I had been looking for this Amazing Spider-Man 2 POP ever since the movie came out, yet I had trouble finding it. I was all set to order it from eBay like I did with the first Spidey POP, but lucky for me, he and Luke were chilling out, waiting for this sexy geek to grab them both and bring them home.

Since I'm here, Let's take a look at Spidey out of the box and check him out.


Right off the bat, I love the sculpt on this POP. unlike the last Spider-Man, the web lines are not colored in, but it doesn't take anything away from this figure. The Spider symbol is also larger on this POP then the last one as well.


Check out the eyes on him. Awesome job Funko.


Here's the back of Spidey. The paint on this figure is fantastic. There is nary a sploch, messed up line or anything negative to say about the paint application on this POP.


Heck, I even like the Spider on his back.


I always said two Spideys are better than one. I initially thought that the blue on the ASM 2 was lighter, but that isn't the case. The eyes are also wider on this POP. To tell you guys the truth, I can't decide which POP I like better. To me, both have great qualities that I love and because of that, I'm not going to even try to figure out which I like better, so NAHHHH!


What made this trip to Barnes N Noble even sweeter was that I had a 30 % off coupon, so this sweet shopping spree cost me less than $20.00. As Mel Brooks once said, "It's Good To Be The King".

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Infinite Marvel Legends Superior Spider-Man


When Marvel announced that they would be cancelling the Amazing Spider-Man book and replacing it with a new title called "Superior Spider-Man", I remembered feeling outraged. How dare you cancel one of the cornerstone titles in your universe, I remembered thinking. Then I found out that Peter Parker wouldn't be Spider-Man in the new book, It would be a reformed Doctor Octopus, inhabiting Parker's body. My radioactive spider blood boiled over and reached critical mass. I was pissed, to say the least.

Then I calmed down and read the book. I have to admit, Dan Slott did a good job writing this book, While I could never find myself rooting for Doc Ock, I kind of liked a more darker Spider-Man/Peter Parker who thought he was better than everyone else. I always knew that Peter Parker would return, so I just enjoyed the book until the return of my beloved hero.

One of the things I liked about the new Spider-Man was the costume. It's a pretty bad ass suit and I was kind of hoping that Parker would have kept it a bit longer before returning to the traditional red and blue suit, but that didn't happen. Still, I was glad to have the real Spider-Man back and didn't give a second thought to the Superior Spider-Man suit. Plus, we didn't have to see those spider legs that Ock put on the suit late. Thank God.

When Hasbro announced a new line of Spider-Man figures, I of course was interested in seeing which characters we were getting. When I saw that a Superior Spider-Man figure was getting made, I knew I would be adding one to my Spider-Man collection. When I saw the prices of the figures, I knew I would be finding another way to add one to my collection. Thankfully, I found one on eBay for 10.00, shipped, that was out of the package. I didn't mind cause I would be opening it anyway. I put in a bit and won it, saving myself 10.00 in the process.


Seeing this figure in person, out of the package, I was pleasantly surprised how good this figure looked. This has to be one of the cleanest Spider-Man figures I have seen in quite some time. The paint is brilliant. There is not one sploch or messed up line to be found on this figure. Because it was an opened figure, it did not come with the Goblin's leg like it did in the package.


I love the eyes Hasbro gave this figure. Almost translucent, Almost like the Spider-Man figure that was released a few years back that had light up eyes that conveyed Spider Sense (Still looking for the figure, btw). As you can see, the paint on this figure looks great. The red just pops out at you and complements the black paint well. They did a good job painting the spider on his chest, but the webs doesn't look right, especially on his head. They look crooked in the most noticeable place on the figure, so there's a strike right there.


The back looks as good as the front. Well painted and the spider on his back is painted as well as the one on the front is. But you can see the messed up web lines on the back of the head also. I guess the guy who painted them on has a problem with heads.

The articulation on this figure is pretty good. The head has a full head spin and can look up and down. The shoulders can go back and forth, but has limited up and down movement due to the neck piece on this figure. There are biceps swivel, bend at the elbows and wrist spin. There is an ab crunch, hip swivel, thigh swivel, knee bend, ankle swivel. The leg can also kick up, but can't go back at all. It just goes off to the side a bit. I'm not a huge fan of posing my figures, but it's nice to know that I can get some cool poses with this figure if I really wanted to.


Even though I didn't get the Goblin's leg, I did get the interchangeable hands that came with the figure. As you can see, I got a pair of thwipping hands to swap out with the figure. The hands come off rather easily, so I had no trouble sticking these onto the figure.



I like the idea of having interchangeable hands. I would have also liked it if this figure came with a set of closed fists and some webbing that could be slid under the wrists so it could look as if he was shooting webs from his web shooters, but I guess we can't have everything we want.

Plus, would it kill Hasbro if they added stands to these figures again?

Overall, I like the figure. I think Hasbro did a great job with this figure, some minor issues aside. I like the sculpting and paint job on this figure. The articulation on this figure is just enough for me and the interchangeable hands help me with posing, if I chose to a some point. I would recommend this figure to any Spider-Man/Marvel fan for their collection. Aside from the Marvel Select Disney Store Exclusive, this might be the only time this figure is made for a while, so get yours before, like Doctor Octopus, it fades away.