Diamond Select Toys confirmed last week that an Amazing Spider-Man 2 Marvel Select Figure was on the way, and this week they’ve released their first photos of the upcoming Marvel Select Amazing Spider-Man 2 action figure! While it seems very unlikely based on what we’ve heard that there will be any super-villains released for Amazing Spider-Man 2 in the Marvel Select line, at least we’ll have Spider-Man wearing a fireman hat! The Marvel Select Amazing Spider-Man 2 figure is now up for pre-order!

I’ve been looking forward to seeing Diamond Select’s take on the new Amazing Spider-Man 2 costume since before the action figure was even announced, so my heart-rate had a little spike today when I saw that the first images of the Marvel Select Amazing Spider-Man 2 Spidey figure had shown up online.

As usual, Gentle Giant did a knockout job with the design and sculpting on this 7″ Amazing Spider-Man 2 Marvel Select action figure. The sculpting and paint deco on this figure are easily better than those of the Hasbro Marvel Legends Amazing Spider-Man 2 figure and the MAFEX Amazing Spider-Man 2 figure announced earlier this week. The texture of the costume and the webbing on it are the best-detailed we’ve seen for an Amazing Spider-Man 2 Spider-Man figure yet.

Where this Amazing Spider-Man 2 Spider-Man action figure does run into some problems, unfortunately, is articulation. Because Spiderman is inherently one of the most flexible and dynamic characters in all of comic books, Marvel Select’s articulation schemes that top out at 16 points of articulation are never the best match for poor Peter Parker.

Ordinarily I do prefer ball-jointed upper torsos to upper torso ab crunch joints, but in Spidey’s case it just looks weird because of the way that the costume gets broken up when Spider-Man twists his upper body. I’m going to have to really fiddle with this figure when I get him to determine how much the ball-jointed upper torso bothers me. But hey–kudos to Diamond Select for the ankle rockers!

To make up for the lacking articulation a bit, this Marvel Select Amazing Spider-Man 2 movie action figure includes some super-neat accessories. It looks like we’ll be getting a rare pair of alternate hands with this figure (something that doesn’t happen very often in Marvel Select), as well as some webbing Spidey can shoot and a way-cool fireman hat that Spider-Man can wear! I can’t wait to see the context for that from the movie!

The 7″ Marvel Select Amazing Spider-Man 2 movie figure is now available for order, with an expected ship date of June/July 2014. It is apparently the only 7″ action figure Diamond Select Toys is releasing for the Amazing Spider-Man 2 movie, which is a real shame, because this is my favorite of the 7″ or under Amazing Spider-Man 2 figures we’ve seen so far.

Are you impressed with our first look at Diamond Select Toys’ Marvel Select Amazing Spider-Man 2 figure, Marvel fans, or are you opting for the previously-seen 6″-7″ MAFEX or Hasbro versions of Spidey as he appears in the latest movie?