As you may have heard, the great Stan "The Man" Lee passed away on Monday, November 12. I, like many of my fellow geeks, had hoped this day would never come and am still feeling a sense of mourning over his passing. For someone I never knew personally, Stan was an integral part of how I was molded into the person I am. I made a Facebook post the day after that explains this fairly well:
The X-Men and Spider-Man were my gateways to superhero comics and Stan Lee. They helped me get through high school, my parents divorce, my teenage years, and shaped me into the person I am today. I was Peter Parker, the nerdy loser that never seemed to win. Like the X-Men, I was a bit of an outcast that no one understood. And with these momentary escapes, I was able to cope. I will be forever grateful to The Man. Godspeed, Stan Lee. Soar high into the heavens, knowing you impacted so many lives. Excelsior!
And, in my attempts to process this, I did something I don't do very often. I made an impulse purchase. I'd been eyeing the Mezco One:12 Classic Spider-Man since he was released, but was afraid I might have missed out. Luckily, I found Spidey through Toy Depot Store and placed my order. This was my little tribute to Stan Lee, and I was excited to get him in hand and share my thoughts with you. So, here we go.
I'm just going to start out saying that I LOVE this figure! Spidey has always been a favorite and having a quality figure like this is a dream. As I mentioned, this is a classic Spider-Man, Mezco kept the costume very true to the classic red and blue look. In the usual Mezco style, Spidey has around thirty points of articulation and tailored costume. The blue parts of his costume are spandex-like fabric and the red parts are a pleathery material. The forearms and lower legs are molded, as are the neck and head. He also comes with two head portraits, the old school squint-eyed look and the more modern wide-eyed look. Four pairs of hands give you several posing options, as well as four projecting web-lines and a web-line for swinging/hanging. A spider themed base with posing post and magnetic post round out the accessories.
I'm going to start with the minor gripes that I have and get them out of the way. First, the ankle pivot isn't quite what I might expect of a Spider-Man figure. This is a really minor thing, and is most likely just due to my personal expectations. My friend James suggested heating them slightly with a blow dryer to see if it improves, I just haven't tried that yet. But, I'm still able to pose as I like. Second, the costume stitching on the sides of the torso look a little so-so. Like they might snag easily. Again, not a major issue, just the first time I've noticed the stitching on any of my figures. And those are my gripes. On to the positive.
Oh, the posing possibilities! You won't quite get McFarlane poses, but you can get pretty doggone close! Double jointed elbows and knees, a good ab crunch, and a nice range of motion on the neck and head give you plenty of room to work with. The swinging web-line is posable, along with hands for gripping the line, add to the swing poses you can create. A set of web shooting hands have notches where you can place the web shots to look as if they are actually coming out of his web shooters. (I thought this was a nice touch!) And if you'd ever wanted to pose your Spidey as if he were actually climbing the refrigerator, or any magnetic surface, you can do so with the magnetic posing post. Again, a neat touch. It has been so much fun playing around with this figure!
There you have it! I really love this figure! Even though I have those couple of gripes, I really can't complain about him. He's all I'd hoped for. If you're a Spider-Man or Mezco fan, do yourself a favor and grab this figure while you can.
Until next time, you'll find me in the toy aisle.