Review of Morales Spider-Man, Silk, Electro
Marvel Legends action figures

Introduction

When it comes to Marvel Legends these days, when it rains it pours. When one wave hits, another, with little time in, between comes crashing in. For example, tonight I'm finishing up my look at the Space Venom wave, based on the Spider-Man license.  Last week I checked out Spider-Man, Spider-Girl, and Hobgoblin, and tonight I'm wrapping up with Electro, another Spider-Man (this time it's Miles Morales), and Silk.  I'll be getting to Space Venom too, the build-a-figure, but I plan on combining him with the recent Juggernaut and Dormammu.  In fact, the Dormammu wave, based on Doctor Strange characters, is already shipping as well! Here comes the rain.  I have the entire wave in my hot little mitts, and I'll do the first review next week.

These figures will run you around $20 each depending on the retailer (and any sales they might be having), and I've already seen them at Meijers, Target, and Toys R Us.

Packaging - ****
These remain one of my favorite mass market packages, although there are those that would take advantage of their collector friendly nature - you can open them up, remove the figure, and put it all back later for storage or sale, all without nary a rip or tear - to rip off retailers and collectors alike.

The back also does a nice job with some character personalization, a series inventory, and a chart showing which BAF piece comes with which character.

Sculpting - ****
There's something particularly wonderful about all three of these figures - they have two portraits, every one!

Electro is my fav of the trio, with an unmasked head sculpt that sports an angry grimace and a masked portrait that sports a more diabolical smile. Both are excellent, with deeply cut lines and sharp definition. This is a rare case where I like them both so much that it's tough to choose which one to use on the shelf.

I also love his sculpted electrified hands.  They work in a ton of poses, and compliment both of the distinctly different expressions. He stands about 6 1/2" tall, the usual for a standard ML.

Spider-Man has a masked face of course, with some nicely sculpted definition around the large eyes.  The alternate head is Miles Morales, the first black Spider-Man. I think they did a good job capturing the artwork with this alternate head, but I would have liked a little more detailing in the costume itself. This Spider-Man is on the smaller teen body, coming in at 5 3/4" tall.

The final character is Silk, another product of that busy little spider that bit Peter Parker. She has two portraits as well, one with her 'mask' (a bandana around her lower face) up and in place, and the other bare. Both face sculpts are very pretty and feminine, but exude power and strength as well. The hair sculpt could be a little less 'tootsie roll', but they compensate with a good paint job. She's about the same height as the Spider-Girl in this wave, around 6 1/4".

I mentioned it already with Spider-Man, but none of these three have anything special, sculpt-wise, going on with their costumes.  I'm cutting them some slack on that one though, since I'd rather have them spend the cash on the alternate head sculpts.

Paint - ****
I really looked hard for issues with the paint on these three, and came up empty.  The eyes, eyebrows, and skin tones look great on all the portraits.  I like the highlights on Silk's hair, and all three have clean lines with almost no slop on their detailed costumes. Even the transition from red to black in the lines of Silk's 'web' works well.

Electro's costume is even more difficult to do well, thanks to the tricky yellow color, but coverage is consistent and edges are crisp. Spidey's costume, one of the cooler modern versions in my opinion, is accurate right down to the red fingers.

Overall it's an outstanding paint job on the three I got. Of course, these are mass market toys, and you could get one that isn't quite that sharp thanks to the vagaries of production. But the last few waves of Marvel Legends have been much more consistent in their paint quality than some past releases, and certainly better than the industry average.

Articulation - Silk ***1/2; Spider-Man, Electro ****
I'm trying to find something to complain about with these figures - I really am. And I'm coming up short.

All the usual Marvel Legends articulation is here, and the harder, sturdier plastic means the figure can not just take great poses, but hold them long term.  Swapping hands and heads was no problem, and certain joints - like the rocker ankles - really add a lot to the posability.

Silk loses slightly thanks to the long hair and the less articulated torso.  That's a problem for the ladies in the line in general, since the men have both the cut waist and the ab-crunch, while the ladies have the rolling ab joint.  It's decent, but doesn't provide the same quality of posing as the two independent joints.

And yes, her long hair tends to restrict the neck, but only slightly.

Accessories - Silk, Electro ***1/2; Spider-Man ****
Quantity and quality are what gives these figures high marks in Accessories.

All three come with a Build-A-Figure piece for the Space Venom figure.  That's an automatic **1/2 stars in this category.

As I mentioned, all three have an extra head sculpt. Big points from me.  But with both Silk and Electro, that's pretty much it.  To go with Silk's alternate un-masked face, there is a small loose bandana that fits around her neck. That's a great touch of course, since without it she'd look a bit odd. One more set of hands for both these characters would have boosted them that extra half star.

Miles has the extra head and BAF piece, and he adds four more swappable hands, just like the Peter Parker Spider-Man I reviewed earlier. This gives him a set of fists, a set of web shooters, and a set of 'sticky' fingers.  They swapped easily and look great.

Fun Factor - ****
These are the best action figures on the pegs at your local Target right now, no doubt about it. They are sturdy enough to hold up to serious play, and the articulation and accessories make them a treat for kids and adults alike.  With many of these waves including figures that are both movie themed and comic book themed (the Doctor Strange wave is a great example), they provide the adult comic fan a great opportunity to introduce the kids in their lives to some alternate comic book versions of their favorite characters.

Value - ***1/2
With these running $20 at most retailers, and available for even less when there are sales and specials, the price is right.  With dropping oil prices, one has to assume that production costs are dropping as well (remember, rising oil was the most cited reason by companies for increasing the prices in the first place), but rather than cut price, it seems Hasbro is adding more to the existing figures. Since the market has seemingly adjusted to the $20 price point, getting the additional articulation and accessories, along with improved paint, is a compromise I'm happy to make.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not much. Obviously you'll want to pay attention to the paint if you're picking them up off the peg, because even with generally consistent quality, a mass market toy still has the occasional blip. You'll also want to grip the forearm of the figures (only Spidey out of these three) when swapping hands, just to avoid putting too much strain on the elbows. Otherwise you should be good to go.

Overall - ****
I'm really impressed with the recent waves of Marvel Legends.  The quality of the plastic and joints has improved, the quality of the paint work has improved, and number and quality of the accessories has improved. That means that even when they produce three characters that I have little personal interest in - like these three - it's still easy to recognize what a great job they've done.

Next week I'll start my look at the Doctor Strange/Dormammu wave, with my fingers crossed that this level of quality will continue.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ****
Sculpting - ****
Paint - ****
Articulation - Silk ***1/2; Electro, Spider-Man ****
Accessories - Silk, Electro ***1/2; Spider-Man ****
Fun Factor - ****
Value - ***1/2
Overall - ****

Where to Buy 
These are starting to pop up at Target, Toys R Us, and Meijers for $18 - $20 each, depending on sales. Online options include these site sponsors:

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Just last week I checked out the first half of this wave, including Hobgoblin, Peter Parker Spider-Man, and Spider-Girl. Before that I had the Juggernaut wave with one review of Cable, Havoc, Kitty Pryde and Phoenix here, and the other half with Rogue, Deadpool, Wolverine, and Iceman here. Before that I ad the back half of the Giant Man wave (with Giant Man, Captain America, Iron Man, and Nuke), but in between I've looked at one of the 12" figures under the banner - Spider-Man - as well as the new full scale prop replica Captain America's Shield.

I covered the first half of the Giant Man wave as well, including Red Guardian, Black Panther, and Nick Fury. Just before that I covered Red Skull (BAF), Taskmaster, Sharon Carter, and Demolition Man. The other half of that wave included Captain America, Mockingbird, Whirlwind, and Cottonmouth.

I also have my look at the most recent ML Spider-Man wave, including Absorbing Man, Ben Reilly, Spider-Gwen, and Venom in one half, and Speed Demon, Beetle, Jack O'Lantern, and Morbius in the other. Prior reviews include the terrific Hulbuster  BAF, the Blizzard, Vision, Valkyrie, War Machine, Thundra, Doctor Strange, and Iron Man.

I let the BAF's build up for awhile last year, and covered a whole bunch at once in this review. Prior to that, I covered the Rhino wave, including Kraven, Chameleon, Misty Knight and Ghost Rider and Scarlet Spider, Superior Venom and White Tiger,  the Ant-Man wave in part 1 with Giant Man, Bull Dozer and Grim Reaper, and part 2 with Ant-man, Wasp, and Tiger Shark. and the Avengers (Thanos) wave, in part 1 with Hulk, Hellcat, and Iron Man MK43, and part 2 with Captain America, Batroc and Spider-Woman. Before that is the 'Hobgoblin' series which I've started with part 1 here, and the 'Allfather' wave, including Captain Marvel, Sentry and Thor and Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Machine Man and Iron Fist. I also checked out the Toys R Us exclusive three pack of Coulson, Fury and Maria Hill from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

There's a lot more Marvel Legends reviews than that, and you should also hit the Search Reviews page, to find them. Also, there's likely to be more applicable reviews done after this one was published.

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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