Spider-Man (Race Car) [Marvel TF Crossover]
Vehicle ModeMech Mode
Difficulty of Transformation: Medium
Color Scheme: Light red, dark blue, and some white, black, metallic gunmetal gray, and milky gray
Rating: 8.7

    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.



Spider-Man (Race Car) Bio:
When Spider-Man needs even more speed than his original battle suit can provide, he turns to this upgraded suit. It can drive or run nearly as fast as the battle suit belonging to Iron Man can fly. It is armored to withstand massive enemy firepower, but it’s still light and flexible enough to duplicate the web-slinger’s leaps and dodges.

Review by Beastbot

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