This time around, as
opposed to a motorcycle or a helicopter,
Spider-Man's alternate mode is a race car. It's a bit cartoony-looking
of a race car, as is the case with most Marvel TF alt modes, but for what
it is it still looks pretty good nonetheless. It has Spider-Man's traditional
red-and-dark-blue colors, which may not work traditionally on a race car
like this, but hey, it's Spider-Man. It's got some great "web" detailing
on most of its chassis, and the white headlights and bits near the back
help to break up the colors a bit, though a few more spots of white couldn't
have hurt. The "window" is painted on, and I don't normally have a problem
with that, but making it the same exact dark blue as his solid dark blue
pieces in Mech mode is rather lame, as it's a bit too "primary" to pass
as a window color, and the spider symbol RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of the window
is asinine-- how's he gonna see where he's driving?! There's also a few
minor robot parts showing through-- for example, the middle sides of this
mode have the shoulders and knees bunched up against each other instead
of a more solid side of the vehicle, which doesn't look all that hot. (The
parts that comprise his rear section can also be quite a tight fit in this
mode, making a somewhat straightforward transformation a bit more complicated
than it otherwise would have been.) On a lesser note, part of the rear
end is hollow, but that's not as big of a deal.
In Mech mode, Spider-Man
looks pretty recognizable as our web-slingin' hero, though a bit bulkier
than his motorcycle form, for obvious reasons. Th e design isn't all that
original when comrared to some other Transformers, but it works. The detailing
from vehicle mode carries over quite well to robot mode, what with the
spider insignia on the chest and whatnot. The blue is also a bit more visible
too, as you'd expect it to be since it's emulating his suit. His head doesn't
look as good as his previous solo Crossover toy, though-- the details aren't
as crisp and "robotic-y" and more like just Spider-Man's head stuck on
a mech. His arms are also pretty wimpy and short proportionally. However,
otherwise he's quite good-- nice proportions in the legs and waist, and
the sides of his race car mode work quite well as shoulder armor (though
they make his chest look a tad wide). His articulation is great, too--
he can move at the neck, shoulders (at two points), elbows (at two points),
wrists (at two points), waist, hips (at three points), and knees (at two
points). So given that he's not back-heavy or anything, you can get a good
number of poses out of him. You can also angle down his tailpipes (normally
folded up into his lower legs) to give him some added stability if you
need to. Spider-Man doesn't come with any weaponry whatsoever, unfortunately--
no missile launchers or melee weapons. There's "hints" of weapons, given
that there's two tailpipe-like details on the end of his lower arm pieces
that could easily be construed to be his mech's web-shooters, but they're
just details, nothing more. Really unfortunate, as he looks sorta naked
without any weapons.
Race car Spider-Man
is a pretty good toy in both modes, even if the colors don't make much
sense for his alt mode and the details aren't as "crisp" as on his motorcycle
form. However, what's needed to be there is there-- good proportions, details,
and articluation. This toy does what it needs to do well, but it doesn't
go beyond that-- it doesn't go the extra mile to really push the figure
into that "outstanding" category with something like an exciting, original
transformation and/or weapons. Recommended overall over Spidey's other
Marvel TF forms as of this writing (5/10)-- one of the better Marvel TFs.
Review by Beastbot