Review of Spider-man Ultimates (Morales)
One:12 Collection Action Figure

Introduction

Every summer, Mezco Toyz creates a handful of exclusives for San Diego Comic-Con. In recent years, they've called these their 'summer exclusives', because you could also purchase them directly from their online store as well as their booth at SDCC.

This year there were two specific to the popular One:12 Collective series of action figures: Deadpool and Spider-Man. The Deadpool was done up in his X-Men duds, while the Spider-Man is specific to the Ultimates titles. Under the mask is Miles Morales rather than Peter Parker, and the suit is a unique look.

I attended SDCC of course (I've been every year for a very long time now), but I bought both figures from them through their store. Hey, it's easier than packing them up for the trip home, and they are less likely to get crushed or lost. Miles just showed up at my doorstep in the last week.

He was originally $80, the going rate for any of the exclusive One:12 figures, but he's long since sold out at their site. The secondary market is your route to ownership now.

Packaging - ***
Mezco doesn't quite go all out with the packages on the exclusives. There's no outer plastic sleeve with printed graphics, and the cardboard itself seems a tad thinner and weaker than the regular release stock. Still, it's quite an attractive graphic design, and it's completely collector friendly.

Sculpting - ***
This is Miles Morales, the first black Spider-Man. That actually doesn't matter too much with this release, since there's no alternate head sculpt. He only has a masked portrait, but you could probably swap in the extra head from the Marvel Legends release.

The masked head looks good, and the sculpted web lines and eye lens look great. There's several hands designed for various poses, and the sculpts work with the included webs. He stands about 6 1/2 inches tall, fitting in nicely with the rest of the line.

Paint - ***
The paint work is fairly clean (I believe the shadowing on the eyes is intentional and not merely bleed), and each of the individual web lines looks great. The webbing that's painted on the head and neck flows pretty well into the printed webbing on the costume too, especially in hand.

The only other paint work is on the hands, and it's quite clean there as well. The silver white look of the webs gives them a shimmery look, much like gossamer.

Articulation - ***1/2
The underlying body works really well here, without any cumbersome costume pieces to get in the way.

The ball jointed neck is particularly impressive, and you can bend the head back far enough for wall climbing poses. The shoulders, biceps, elbows, and wrists have plenty of mobility for web shooting and wall crawling, and the mid-torso, waist, hips, and knees give the lower body plenty of potential.  My only real nit overall is with the ankles, which need more rocker and forward/backward movement. It's a minor nit, and really only an issue in the deepest stances, but still an issue for me.

My other issue involves the wrists and the web streams. Getting the hands attached with the webs in place is very tricky, and makes it hard to use the three solid, non-bending web lines.

Accessories - **1/2
The exact accessories advertised with this figure have varied over time, but the final product comes with three sets of hands, three solid plastic web streams and one (double ended) bendy stream.

The three plastic web lines have a loop at the wrist where you can slip them over the post and pop the hand on to keep them in place. As I mentioned above, this is a bit tricky to get right, and even when you do, the two shorter web lines tend to come off the wrist at an angle. The fourth bendy line can do just about anything, encumbered only by your imagination.

The hands swap easily when there's no web line involved, and there is a set of fists, a set of web shooters, and a set of posed hands.

He has the usual One:12 Collective round display base and clear plastic waist support that can hold him aloft.  He gets one extra this time - a second waist support with a magnetic attachment that can hold him against any metal surface. It's not mentioned in the earlier marketing brochure, but it's a terrific addition.

Outfit - ***
I'll be honest right up front - I'm not a fan of this suit design. When it was all painted, like on the Marvel Legends version, I was fine with it...but in cloth it's less appealing. It's not the fault of the quality, because the webbing and logo are nicely cut and very tightly attached to the cloth suit. But there's just something about all that black cloth costume, with nothing to break up the consistency from the waist down, that makes it look like he's wearing his PJ's. Your mileage may vary.

I will say that it's great to see no sagging in the crotch once again, particularly with a full body suit like this. He also has the hard plastic soles, similar to Space Ghost, which provides better footing and balance for most stances.

Fun Factor - ***
There might be a few nits to pick, but this is still a highly poseable figure, and the inclusion of the web lines gives you even more posing options. This also bodes very well for the upcoming Spider-Men that they are releasing that will showcase his newest costume, as well as something a bit more old school.

Value - *1/2
The exclusives always have a lower production run, and this is a unique outfit. But $80 is a hard sell for a minor character, and I know a lot of people (me included) aren't huge fans of the suit design.

Things to Watch Out For -
When popping the hands on over the web lines, take some care. Those plastic loops are quite tiny, and could break with too much pressure coming from the wrong direction. Other than that, you should be good to go.

Overall - ***
I waffled around a bit on this one, almost dropping another half star. But that's largely an aesthetic thing, with my aversion to the pajamas...er...costume. The quality of the figure, from paint to sculpt to accessories to clothing, is top notch, just as you'd expect from the One:12 series.

This is also a perfect candidate for an 'exclusive'. Too often companies choose characters and variations that will be in far greater demand than they realize, making it tough for collectors and fans. This is a character that makes for a perfect exclusive, one that will be in demand for specific Morales fans and for those of us OCD enough to be completists, but not a necessary addition for every collection.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ***
Paint - ***
Articulation - ***1/2
Accessories - **1/2
Outfit - ***
Fun Factor - ***
Value - *1/2
Overall - ***

Where to Buy 
Mezco's online store (or their booth at SDCC) was the place to get this figure originally. Starting price was $80. Your best bet now is to search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Other One:12 Collective figures include the summer exclusive Deadpool, the exceptional classic Punisher, the regular release Punisher the Toy Fair exclusive version, Shazam, the classic Daredevil, the Flash and Reverse Flash, the BvS Superman, the comic based Joker, Green Arrow, the Frankenstein Monster Diorama, Frankenstein Monster, the BvS Batman, the Bvs Armored Batman, Captain America, Star Trek Kirk, the Mirror, Mirror and Cage variants of Spock, Sulu, the Toy Fair exclusive Spock, and the regular release Spock as well. Other One:12 Collective figures released so far include Dredd and his Lawmaster, the NYCC exclusive Judge Dredd, the DKR Batman and Mutant two pack, the Batman exclusives, and the initial DKR Batman.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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