Today we’re reviewing the friendly neighborhood web-slinger himself, Spiderman, presented by XM studios. We all know his famous catchphrase, but let’s find out if his great power correlates to a great product.
Sculpt & Design – 4 out of 5 stars
Let’s start with the best feature of Spidey’s sculpt. The figurine comes with 3 portrait options. To prevent unsightly seams where the head and neck meet, XM has made the portraits interchangeable at the torso.
Spidey’s pose will remain the same in his upper body, but each part comes with a unique head design. The first is a MacFarlane style mask, the second a Romita style mask, and the third is a battle-worn mask that is ripped open to reveal a portion of Peter Parker’s face.
These portraits are great. The MacFarlane mask is exactly what you would expect, with the huge eyes that defined Spiderman’s look in the 80s and early 90s. The Romita mask encapsulates the angry, furrowed brow Spiderman wore during his tenure.
And the ripped mask? Underneath we see what may be intended to be the fact of Tom Holland’s Peter Parker. It’s certainly a younger Peter, maybe no more than 18 or 19 years old. If only Aunt May could see him now.
The base of the sculpture appears to be a portion of Oscorp towers, out of which two of Doctor Octopus’s tentacles emerge to reach for Spidey. From the sky overhead, two pumpkin bombs from Green Goblin appear to be headed straight for our hero. And there’s a rendering of some sand near the base of the statue indicating a possible attack from the Sandman.
Spidey’s pose is athletic and graceful. He appears to be swinging from a web he attached to Oscorp Towers and the placement of his arms and legs show his agility when swinging through the air.
The enhanced athleticism Peter Parker gained when he became Spiderman is evident in his flexed thigh muscles and his well-proportioned arms. He’s still slender though, just as one would expect from a hero who spends most of his time protecting his neighborhood rather than bulking up.
Doc Ock’s tentacles are masterfully sculpted, looking every bit as real and frightening as they do in comics and film/tv adaptations.
The inclusion of the sand is a little strange. It doesn’t look realistic. There’s not enough of it to really give you the impression of sand. The sculpture may have benefitted from excluding it.
One other nitpick? Spiderman is apparently swinging from Oscorp Towers, but what is the scale we’re working with here? Where is Doc Ock emerging from? Is Peter clinging to a teeny tiny antenna that…somehow also fits Doc Ock? It’s an odd location and the statue would have been better served by a more sensical background.
Paint – 4 out of 5 stars –
The painting on this statue is very well executed.
Starting on Spidey himself, the shadows and contours used on his suit are excellent. It’s obvious that the artist took care to find the light source and used that to make highlights and shadows.
His suit is painted beautifully, the colors rich and evocative of his comic book origins. The marine blue is especially lovely when paired with the uniform’s true red cowl.
The torso which includes the battle-torn mask also displays great painting ability. Peter has a determined look on his face which is highlighted by carefully rendered shadows under his eye and lower lip. He has what looks like a small cut on his cheek, and his one visible eye glares at the viewer in a honey-colored hue.
Peter’s hair, when visible, is a minor disappointment. Looking more like ripples of fudge than actual hair, it’s hard to determine whether the fault here lies with the painters or sculptors. I’ve seen XM Studios create beautiful, realistic hair before, but that is not the case with Peter’s hair here.
The paint on the crushed and crumbling Oscorp Tower is well-rendered. It’s a mix of olive greens and some grays showing where the building is being ripped apart. Doc Ock’s tentacles are similarly well done, appearing shiny and gleaming as they reach for our hero.
Green Goblin’s pumpkin bombs are painted well, even if they are an odd extra feature, and the same goes for the “sand” left behind beneath Spidey. The sand is painted well enough, down to the grain. But again this reviewer has to question why it was included at all.
Value – 4 out of 5 stars
XM’s choice to make their interchangeable heads swap at the waist rather than the neck is a huge plus to the value, as there are no funky seams where the head and neck connect. This was an extra feature that did not increase the retail price of the figure, which we believe makes the piece that much more valuable.
The edition weight is also made-to-order, a new feature by XM that is supposed to help balance the supply/demand on their figures. The cap for pieces manufactured is 700, but that stops at a certain point in time meaning the size could wind up lower than that.
With the inclusion of interchangeable torsos and a potentially smaller edition size, we think that XM has provided a good, if not great, value for this collectible.
Artists:
- Soefara Jafney Jaafar (Illustrator, Design and Concept Collaboration with XM Studios)
- Mufizal Mokhtar, Paul Tan (Sculpt)
- XM Studios Design and Development Team
Retail Price
SGD $1,099.00
Prestige Price
SGD $989.10
Product size : 55 cm L X 50 cm B X 73 cm H
Est. Box Size : 78 cm L X 56 cm B X 39.5 cm H
Est. Product Weight : 10.6 Kg
Est. shipping weight : 17.6 kg