Banpresto has long been one of my favorite international toy manufacturers because of the huge variety of characters and sizes of low-priced anime figures that they produce. One of their most recent successful series is the Creator×Creator line, which has been composed entirely of anime characters… until now! Coming in Spring 2017, Banpresto goes Marvel with the Creator X Creator Spider-Man figure!

Even though superheroes are slowly taking over the entire world, I’m always surprised to see Marvel and DC characters infiltrating Asian toy manufacturing companies that I usually only associate with making anime and manga toys.

I’ve slowly become accustomed to seeing Bandai Japan and Square-Enix expanding to more superhero properties, and now it looks like I’ll have to acclimate to Banpresto doing the same, as following up on their super-deformed Amazing Spider-Man movie WCF figures, a Banpresto Spider-Man figure is coming in March 2017!

For those unfamiliar with the Creator×Creator figure series (which I imagine is most readers), the name of the series refers to the fact that the figures are collaboration between two artists (sculptor and photographer), who work together on the design of these figures “to create cool art displays!” (No, seriously–that description is straight from Banpresto themselves.)

The first Marvel Creator×Creator figure to be released will be Spider-Man, who will be about 8.5″ tall (around 20 cm) and sculpted in a dynamic leaping pose. It looks like the Spidey figures will be suspended above the sculpted terrain base by a metal pole, which ought to be pretty sturdy if previous CreatorXCreator figure releases are any indication.

The PVC figure won’t have any articulation, but I love the style and proportions of the statue!

Typically, every entry in the Creator X Creator statue line comes in two varieties: a regular color variant in “the usual colors” and a “Special Color Ver.” in alternate colors (usually in greyscale to simulate black-and-white manga colors).

As such, a Special Color Ver. Spider-Man figure is being released in greyscale, and I’ve gotta say–I really dig this look too–perhaps even more so than the regular red-and-blue Spidey! The colors remind me a lot of Spider-Armor Spider-Man (but without the armor, obviously).

Neither version of a Creator×Creator figure is typically any more limited or difficult to get than another, so I don’t foresee collectors who want the regular or Special Color Version having any troubles importing one once these are released.

There are no known plans for this Spider-Man Creator×Creator figure to be released in the United States at this time, and pre-orders have not opened up overseas yet for it either. Expect to see the figures priced at around $26-$35 each when they do eventually go up for sale. I’ll post updates to the Marvel Toy News Twitter and Facebook Pages when more information on how to score one of these Spideys is available.

Anyone out there besides me collect various Banpresto figures? Are you excited to see Creator X Creator Marvel figures, or would you prefer that Banpresto stayed inside their anime niche and left superheroes alone?