Marvel Legends Vintage Spider-man Wave
Spider-man
Gwen Stacy
Peter Parker
Green Goblin
Electro
Armored Daredevil
Spider-man
Featuring a new body design from Hasbro, this latest take on everyone’s favorite wall-crawler is extremely articulated and is insanely fun to pose. Considered by most to be the best Marvel Legends Spider-man figure yet!
The new body design has butterfly shoulders and a shifting mid-torso joint.
There’s also a moving hip joint, so you can raise Spidey’s legs higher than usual. Pretty cool.
Sadly, Hasbro decided to drop the waist rotation.
The alternate head sculpt is based on the classic Steve Ditko design.
Sigh… unfortunately, mine came with a huge blot on its forehead.
Personally I think I’ll prefer the default (cartoon-based?) head.
Seriously, this figure is tons of fun to pose thanks to the mobile torso, giving him a lot more form when he does his “swinging” pose.
My only gripe would be it’s missing extra “open” hands but this really is easily one of the best ML Spider-man figures ever.
Electro
A former electrical engineer, Max Dillon is struck by a bolt of lightning in a freak accident and gained electrical-based powers. Thanks to his new abilities, Electro is capable of generating incredible amounts of electricity, even absorb electricity to charge himself to become stronger and faster in combat. He is also capable of charging a person’s bioelectric signals to their brain, making them do what he wishes and even defeat powerful mutants like Nate Grey with said abilities.
A retool of the Electro that came in the “Space Knight Venom” wave, this time featuring Max Dillon in his “classic” Electro uniform.
He comes with effects parts hands.
Despite all his power, his one true weakness is water. Exposure to liquids while he’s charged will result in him short circuiting himself, which is often how Spider-man defeats the guy.
Personally, water weakness aside, I think this guy is the most powerful amongst Spidey’s rogues, if only he had the cunning to fully use his potential.
Peter Parker
Shy science-nerd Peter Parker is secretly the Amazing Spider-man! The headsculpt is based on Peter’s high school “glasses” look before he got his powers (he eventually didn’t need glasses after his powers kicked in and improved his body), while his outfit is a throwback to the 1990s Spider-man animated “jacket-wearing” Peter Parker.
Too bad the glasses aren’t removable (they’re glued in place). His eyes are actually painted underneath. Though, I guess if you really wanted a non-nerd Peter, you can always use the head that came with the Mary Jane 2-pack
He comes with his trusty camera, to take photos of himself in action as his alter-ego, to then sell to the Daily Bugle for a few bucks.
Alternate “Spider Sense is tingling” head included.
I wish it came with a “buzzing” effects part for added visual effect.
Green Goblin
Norman Osborn is a wealthy industrialist who experimented on himself with a formula designed to enhance his physical and mental abilities, but unfortunately, ultimately drove him insane, creating his maniacal alter ego, the “Green Goblin”.
Ugh… not really a fan of the execution on the eyeballs here. I’m not exactly sure where the design team is basing this from? Even the animated series never featured Goblin’s eyes like this.
Yes… nothing says “terrifying evil” like a villain with a pink man-purse.
Still, odd eyeballs aside, this actually looks more classic than the previous version from the Sandman wave.
Green Goblin from the Sandman wave
Interestingly, Stan Lee’s original concept for the Green Goblin was that it was truly a supernatural demon that was trapped for centuries and had escaped. It was through Steve Ditko’s inputs that the character was changed to being a regular man with technological enhancements.
Of course, a “Marvel Universe Goblin” ain’t a Goblin without his trusty “pumpkin bomb”.
Sadly, this guy doesn’t come with “pointing index finger” hands for simulating his finger lasers.
And of course, no one would dress up like this and walk downtown without being ridiculed at, so the Goblin needs to come with his standard issue glider.
Lastly, he comes with a Norman Osborn head.
Pretty decent. This head would look awesome slapped on a “green-suited” Professor X body from the Legendary Riders set for a more iconic “businessman” Norman Osborn look.
Overall, not bad, but I think the old Toybiz version(s) are still tops. Particularly the “crazy Norman” head. Try again, Hasbro.
Gwen Stacy
We finally get a proper figure of Peter Parker’s first love. The only other classic Gwen Stacy figure before this was the old Previews “Silver Age” Gwen from Toybiz back in the 1990s.
Her attire is somewhat based on what she wore in her iconic death scene in the comics, with a darker shade of green.
Gotta love how Hasbro did her headsculpt.
She comes with her “Midtown High School” textbook, a carrier bag and a rolled up copy of the Daily Bugle for accessories.
I always found it interesting that Gwen, one of the most popular girls in school, dated Peter Parker, a shy wallflower that never really stood out. It goes to show sometimes nice guys do get the girl.
Interestingly, Gwen’s death was not done with Stan Lee’s 100% clearance. He had carelessly said “OK” to Gwen’s death when Gerry Conway and John Romita Sr. pitched the idea to him. Stan, upset after the issue rolled out, later tried to bring her back, but the Marvel editorial board eventually didn’t agree to it as it would ruin the emotional impact of Gwen’s death and Spider-man’s loss.
Lastly, the set comes with an alternate Mary Jane head. I love the homage to the classic “John Romita Sr.” Mary Jane look. I’ll definitely use this head on the two-pack MJ body for maximum effect.
I didn’t have the time to dig out the MJ from the 2-pack, but this head would be perfect for that figure.
I think it’s really sad Spider-man never gets an actual happy ending. It’s always with the personal tragedies with Peter. Sigh, let the guy have an actual long-term, permanent win sometimes, Marvel (and no, keeping Aunt May around forever doesn’t count).
Armored Daredevil
Based on Matt Murdock’s armored look back in the 1990s. The new look was created by artist Scott Mcdaniel and featured protective plates for Daredevil’s uniform. After his identity becomes public knowledge, Matt adopts the alias “Jack Batlin” while he tries to piece his life back together.
The figure is a good homage to the vintage Toybiz (armored) Daredevil, but it sure is a strange inclusion in a vintage Spider-man carded line. I guess Hasbro couldn’t make a Daredevil-centric wave work? Go figure.
Hmm.. the shoulder plates limit his shoulder articulation.
His clubs are now located on his wrist gauntlets.
The ones on his amrs aren’t to scale though. Also, they tend to have paint transfer, so this makes it harder to remove them.
As usual, his clubs can be combined to form a staff.
I wish the staff was a bit longer though.
The set comes with an unmasked Matt Murdock head.
At first, I thought this was a reuse of a Cyclops head. Turns out it’s a totally new headsculpt.
The full wave
Gold
