2017 Marvel Legends Symbiote Spider-Man Figure Review & Photos

Now that all the excitement and hysteria brought about by the mixture of the Marvel Legends Guardians of the Galaxy figures hitting Amazon and the first wave of 2017 Marvel Legends exclusives being leaked is over, I can get back to catching up on reviews. And today’s spotlight falls on a figure that’s still quite difficult to find in stores despite being double-packed in cases: the 2017 Marvel Legends Symbiote Spider-Man (Black Costume) 6″ figure!

2017 Marvel Legends Black Costume Spider-Man Figure ReviewThe Right:

Ah, Marvel Legends Pizza Spider-Man mold, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Ever since Hasbro created the Pizza Spidey mold in 2015, I haven’t felt much need for future Spidey’s to be anything but repaints of this amazing mold.

The SDCC 2016 Marvel Legends Spider-Man has replaced the original Pizza Spider-Man as my default Spidey since last summer, but now The Raft Spider-Man may have met his match with the new Black Costume Spider-Man Marvel Legends figure!

Spider-Man Marvel Legends Symbiote Spider-Man PackagedRarely will I mention case ratios in “The Right”, but it’s worth making a special note here to commend Hasbro on absolutely picking the right figure to pack two-per-case in this series. Symbiote Spider-Man has legions of fans, and when all is said and done, this will be one of the best-selling Marvel Legends 2017 figures without a doubt.

Marvel Legends 2017 Symbiote Spider-Man Comparison with Pizza Spidey The RaftThe Symbiote Spidey figure itself is a complete repaint of Pizza/The Raft Spider-Man, but that’s A-OK: the superb sculpting, articulation and proportions on that body make it my favorite six inch figure of Spidey ever, and there’s no logical reason for Hasbro to not reuse that exceptional tooling.

Marvel Legends The Raft Spider-Man vs. Black Costume Spider-Man ComparisonI was amazed by how accurate the white eyes on the mask look without requiring a new head sculpt–just painting the Raft Spidey head eyes fully white (including the black outlines) makes them the ideal size. It looks so good, I thought it was a new head for a second!

Marvel Legends 6" Black Costume Spider-Man ArticulationFor those who haven’t owned this mold before, the articulation scheme is spectacular: ball-hinge head/wrists; upper torso an crunch; ball-jointed hips; ball-hinge shoulders with butterfly swivel; double-hinge joint knees and elbows; swivel waist/biceps/thighs; and hinged ankles with ankle rockers.

Marvel Legends Spider-Man Black Costume Figure ReviewI suppose you could add on swivel calves and add a hinge to the ball hips, but the flexibility on this figure is already off the charts regardless.

Box Back Marvel Legends Hasbro Symbiote Spidey FigureAlso, while it feels a bit weird to praise a figure for not breaking in “The Right”, I did want to mention that while my Kamala Khan and All-New Spider-Man 2099 figures both broke already, Black Costume Spider-Man feels extremely solid and well-constructed. Hasbro’s bad some iffy black plastic in the past, but this Spidey’s construction is excellent.

Close-Up of Hasbro Marvel Legends 6' Symbiote Spider-Man FigureThe Wrong:

Considering that the existing tooling for this Spider-Man figure is already perfect and I actually prefer the black costume personally, I had hoped not to have anything to complain about in this space (okay, maybe I do enjoy complaining just a little). But as usual, I do have a couple legitimate nits to pick.

While I didn’t have any breakage issues with this Marvel Legends Symbiote Spider-Man figure (and don’t expect to it, as it feels pretty robust), the quality control on the paint deco didn’t fare as well.

Paint Deco on Back of Hasbro Symbiote Spider-Man Legends FigureThere’s some obvious spatters of white on the front of Symbiote Spidey’s black torso, black speckles on the front on his symbol, and also a horrible blur on the left side of the symbol on Spidey’s back. I’m going to hunt for a better one once these are more readily available in stores, but knowing that the (unseen in the package) back can be botched makes things more difficult.

Hasbro Symbiote Spider-Man Sandman Series Figure and AccessoriesThe other thing I’m really unhappy about with this figure is his accessories: two wall-crawling hands (plus Sandman Build-A-Figure weapons). This figure is a 100% repaint with no new tooling, no Pizza Slice, no interchangeable Peter Parker head and no web-shooting hands. For $20, this particular figure just doesn’t feel like a good value.

Hasbro Marvel Legends 2017 Black Costume Spider-Man Six Inch FigureWhile Spidey doesn’t need web-shooting hands while wearing the Symbiote costume, sometimes the Spider-Man Black Costume isn’t the Venom symbiote. Not giving us the proper web-shooting hands for this figure when he comes with so very little as it is is a strange choice, especially since it’ll likely be years before the next Marvel Legends Black Costume Spider-Man.

Hasbro Black Costume Spider-Man Marvel Legends 2017 6" FigureOverall: I actually thought this review was going to be about a paragraph long because, to me, buying this Marvel Legends 2017 Black Costume Spider-Man figure is a no-brained. I’m disappointed in the lack of accessories for the price and the imperfect paint job on mine, but make no mistake: this is the best 6″ Symbiote Spider-Man action figure ever in the sculpt, paint and articulation departments. Highly recommended.

GRADE: B+

Comments

2017 Marvel Legends Symbiote Spider-Man Figure Review & Photos — 19 Comments

    • I got out the ruler and triple-checked it, and the eyes on Pizza Spidey and Symbiote Spidey are the exact same measurements going straight across and diagonally, with the same mold lines and exact same sculpts. This is the same head–the red Spidey’s eyes being smaller is just an illusion created by the black outlines on them.

        • Correction: Symbiote & SDCC Raft Spider-Man DO have Scarlet’s head, which is why my measurements were perfect in the comparison. I’m losing my mind in my old age.

        • When he says Pizza Spidey, he means Raft Spidey.

          Raft Spider-Man, Scarlet Spider, and Symbiote Spider-Man all have the same head sculpt.

          Raft Spidey is the Scarlet Spider head with black outline and a web pattern.
          Symbiote Spidey is just Scarlet Spider’s head with red swapped to black.

          Pizza Spider-Man’s head is different. It has entirely different shaped eyes.

      • I promise, these are not Pizza Spidey eyes. the head is from Scarlet Spider/Raft Spidey. The eyes are different.

        • Haha, you’re right. I’m going senile–I forgot I was using Raft Spidey as my Pizza Spidey replacement, so I did all the measurements against Symbiote using Raft Spidey. I even said I’d replaced Pizza with SDCC in the article. Oy!

          • Shartimus Prime had a very funny moment when he referred to the Pizza body in one of his reviews it was for the Iron Fist figure XD The whole convo reminded me of it

      • The head is from Scarlet Spider/Raft spidey, not pizza spidey. the outlines are different. The nose on Pizza spidey is more pointed, and the chin on Raft/Ben/Symbiote is thinner and more pointed.

        • whoops, my computer glitched or something and i though my original comment didn’t post. my bad for this unnecessary second one

  1. I was at TRU yesterday and I don’t think I was able to see any of the Sandman wave. I did finally see Civil War though XD There were Strange figures. My brother ended up nabbing weeks ago the last movie Standard Strange. I’d be interested in getting Ms. Marvel from this line I have yet to see even her though. Nice review! I saw a video where someone got all of THESE IN ONE STOP. ONE GO.

  2. It’s not absolutely necessary for Spider-Man to look like a devil worshiper while spinning webs. In fact, I prefer that he not make that luciferian dirtbag hand gesture when firing off a webline.

    • lol what

      aside from your ridiculously puritan perspective on a character that has literally no connection to religion, you realize that the webshooting gesture isn’t the same as the devil horns gesture, right?

  3. Doesn`t the webbing come out the back of his hands when he uses the black costume? That might explain the lack of web-shooting hands with this figure.