Back in October, collectors got their first taste of what Pop Culture Shock (PCS) Collectibles can do with their magnificent (and incredibly expensive) 1:3 Spider-Man PS4 resin statue. As gorgeous as that piece is (and it is gorgeous), it’s also out of the price range of 95%+ of collectors. But PCS also had a few affordable buns in the oven: super cheap GamerVerse Spider-Man & Rhino PVC statues are now up for pre-order! And that’s not all—value-priced PVCs of other members of the Sinister Six are seemingly on the way as well…

I’ve been following Pop Culture Shock Collectibles through their various ups and downs for close to a decade now, as I’m a huge Street Fighter fan and PCS has crafted some of the most amazing Street Fighter statues ever made. So when it was revealed that PCS had obtained a Marvel GamerVerse license, I definitely sat up and took notice.

My mind was pretty blown by the quality of the 1:3 PS4 Spider-Man statue PopCultureShock debuted at NYCC 2019 in October, but I just didn’t have space (and $1000+) to devote to that beauty. But it turns out PCS had already thought ahead for spatially (and monetarily) challenged fans like me—as they were already far along in development on value-priced 1:12 scale PVCs from the Spider-Man. PS4 game!

Pop Culture Shock is launching their Marvel PVC range with two characters—Spider-Man himself and Rhino—although the product details mention these are part of a Sinister Six diorama series, so presumably several more villains are en route as well.

The headliner that PCS is obviously hoping is going to sell a gazillion units across comic book, video game and specialty stores is Advanced Suit Spider-Man in red red, white and blue costume. This is pretty low in my list of favored costumes, but a lot of gamers truly love this design.

While Pop Culture Shock could have probably just cheated and shrunk down the 1:3 Spidey resin statue for this PVC, instead they designed a whole new figure with a different pose, base and detailing. Kudos to PCS for choosing a dynamic, leaping pose for this Spidey so he’s not just standing around in the “same old” static museum pose that’s been done dozens of times before.

At just 35 bucks, the price is definitely right on this Marvel Legends scaled PVC statue, but I really wanna see how well the paint deco looks on the finished piece before making any kind of judgment on this. On the other hand, I feel a lot more dubious about the villain solicited alongside Spidey…

A multitude of factors about this GamerVerse Rhino solicitation confound me. First of all, Rhino is also the only PS4 Spider-Man villain that Diamond Select Toys has done—and that Marvel Gallery Rhino is already released and discounted online. It would seem like the established juggernaut that is DST is already meeting any demand there would be for a value-priced Rhino PVC, so PCS Collectibles making him as their villain doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

In addition, the apparent February 2020 release date doesn’t seem possible, given that the solicitation photos that just came out this week are of a clearly unfinished prototype marked as “Product in Development”. As a whole, this PCS Rhino figure doesn’t look finished at all, and I can’t foresee anyway it’s going to be finalized and in our hands in two months.

$42 for a bulky, 7” PVC statue seems pretty reasonable to me, but the paint and sculpting details on the prototype we’ve seen look so questionably unfinished that I just do not know what to make of this Rhino. I’m certainly open to reserving judgment, but this is a hard pass for me thus far based off the solicitation photos. Everything about this feels basic and rough from the glimpses made available to collectors.

The Pop Culture Shock Spider-Man and Rhino PVC statues are now up for order, and are scheduled to ship out in February 2020. Spidey looks complete enough that I could see him shipping then, but like I said—that Rhino doesn’t look ready to go at all. I guess we’ll see!

What are your thoughts on this burgeoning new 1/12th scale line of Marvel PVC figures? Is there room in the marketplace for another PVC company with smaller statues and prices even lower than Kotobukiya and DST? And if this PS4 Spider-Man line continues (and that does appear to be the plan), what character would you like to see tackled next?