Review of Green Goblin - Spider-Man 3
Sixth Scale Action Figure
Hot Toys
Date Published: 2011-11-23
Written By: Michael Crawford
Overall Average Rating: 3.5
out of 4
Please share with your friends!
|
Introduction
If there was a Spider-Man movie that everyone could agree on, it would be the third installment. And no, it wouldn't be a
good agreement - I think everyone has that film at the bottom of the trilogy.
But Hot Toys decided to start there with their Spidey license, and I can't really blame them. Still, could you imagine a movie
based Doc Ock or Green Goblin from Hot Toys? Yea, that'd be mighty sweet.
Hot Toys already released their Spider-Man from this film, and it's a great figure. I reviewed
it awhile back, and I suspect that a lot of big Marvel fans will have him on their 'best of' list for 2011.
Now they've followed up with the New Goblin, the Green Goblin's son dressed up in his own X Games style uniform. I'm betting
the demand for this figure is going to be low, largely due to the modern costume. He looks more like Twilight meets Shaun
White than a classic Marvel villain, and I don't think that's going to help him win sales.
He's on the low side when it comes to price though, coming in at $170 on the top end, but closer to $150 at a number of
retailers. He's just started shipping, so you may find him popping up at your local comic shop as well.
|
Packaging - ****
This box was designed to go with the Spider-Man box, with a complementary design. Where Spidey had his red and black box
completed with a nifty 3-D symbol on the front, the Goblin's box has a great black and green color theme and his mask on the
front, once again a separate piece. That extra tactile feature is a big plus in my book.
The box itself is a more traditional shoe box style, and has several layers of plastic trays inside to hold the figure and
accessories safe. There's no twisties, no bands, and nothing to damage or destroy to remove the figure.
There is also a basic set of instructions, and these have improved over time. They're still a little light, but you'll be
able to understand most of what you need to do.
|
|
Sculpting - ***1/2
This is one of those sculpts that is extremely realistic, and almost...*almost* there when it comes to likeness.
The textured skin looks just as good as it always does, giving the portrait a life-like quality that just can't be beat. Add
in some very finely stranded hair, and you get what looks like a real miniature person.
The figure comes with two heads - the standard James Franco version, and the masked version. One thing you can say about
Goblin's mask that is all too often not the case for superheroes - you can't tell who he is with it on. I much prefer them
using two head sculpts to get the masked and unmasked look, rather than trying to implement a removable mask.
The Franco version does look like him, especially in the nose and mouth. The eyebrow shape seems just a smidge off to me, but
you'll still quickly recognize him. He's a guy who has very unique eyebrows, and these seem a tad too generic for the purpose.
But the main fault I find with the portrait is that it looks more like Franco today than Franco of 5 years ago. He was around
28 when they shot Spider-Man 3, and still had his boyish looks. Here he looks more
like the age of the character in 127 Hours. This is a minor complaint, mind you, and
you may think he looks plenty young enough here.
|
|
Paint - ****
Let's remember, this is Hot Toys. The surprise here isn't that the paint is perfect - that's the expectation. Anything short
of that would be the real surprise.
The skin tone is as realistic as it gets, the edges of the eyes, eyebrows, lips and hair are all perfect, the shading is
impeccable - it's everything you expect from a Hot Toys paint job.
There's not quite as much here in terms of quantity of detail as with some releases, but the work that is on the accessories
is good as well, especially the hover board and bladed weapons. There's a little slop on the buckles of the boots, but it's
quite minor.
|
|
Articulation - ****
It's a TrueType, one of the best sixth scale bodies on the market, and the costume does little to restrict it. The double
jointed ball neck works great, the heads swapped smoothly, the hands swapped fairly easily, and I didn't have any trouble with
breakage of the wrist or board pegs.
I did find it quite difficult to pose him in any really good flying positions, but that was not the fault of the body, but
rather the display stand. Get the right stand, and you should be able to create some really cool in-flight poses.
|
|
Accessories - ***1/2
For a Hot Toys figure in the $150 range, he's surprisingly well equipped.
I already mentioned the second head as part of the previous sections, but it's worth noting here as well since it ups the
score in this category too. I think going with the second portrait instead of a removable mask is much preferred, although it
does cost Hot Toys more to do.
He has two additional hands, one right and one left, both in different gripping poses. The left will work great with the
pumpkin bomb, while the right is better suited to the swords and knifes. The hands he comes wearing are closed fists. The
hands swap pretty easily, but since there are only two extras and there are also two extra wrist pegs, I'd suggest just
attaching those pegs to the hands. It's easier to swap when you remove the entire wrist from the arm, rather than working with
the small post inside the hand, and you're less likely to break a wrist as well.
Speaking of the pumpkin bomb, there's one included with its modern sculpt and design. There's also one that is expanded, with
deadly knife-like wings.
There are three small bladed attachments for his right forearm as well. The blades on these actually move up and down, and
they attach by removing three small pieces of green plastic from the forearm straps and sliding these in place in their stead.
It works well, and allows for both looks depending on your mood.
There are also three bladed weapons - a short knife that fits in the hip sheath perfectly, a mid-sized sword that fits in the
back pack sheath perfectly, and a long sword that he can carry in his right hand. I love the designs of the blades and hilts,
and these, along with their modern military style sheaths, are my favorite aspect of the overall figure.
|
|
Then there is his hover board, complete with light up feature. I'll dwell on the light up aspect in a category further down.
The board has an excellent sculpt, with lots of small detail work. The drive located on the bottom can rotate 360 degrees,
allowing you to turn it however you feel it works best for the overall pose.
There are two small, black posts that are threaded and actually screw into the board. These have balls on top, allowing the
boots to attach at not one but two different places on the soles. In theory, it should work great.
In practice, it does work but not quite as well as I'd hoped. While the posts screw into the board, they also pull free
easier than the balls do when they are attached to the feet. That means they tend to pull out when you are posing and
manipulating the figure, which can be a bit frustrating.
Still, the board is a great looking addition, and I'm surprised it turned out so well at this price point.
There is no standard display base, but there is a large base with clear post and black clamp, complete with Goblin name
plate, that you can use for flying poses. It doesn't work great, but it does work. I can't get the clamp tight enough on the
clear rod to work with extreme poses, and even if I could, the fact that the clamp can't turn side to side greatly hinders
it's usefulness. I would recommend getting something more like a Whippy
Superpose for sixth scale if you want to get some really good flying poses. Or at the very least, you could substitute
the rotate-able clip from a Whippy for the black clip already supplied.
I also got a chance to play that fun game "guess the accessory". There's a small clear stand included, and it took me far
longer than it should (a reflection on me) to figure out what to do with it. It works as a small stand to hold up just the
board a little off the ground, Marty McFly style. Not really sure it's all that useful in its present state, but given some
intelligent design, I bet you could incorporate it into a homemade stand that would allow for a cool pose or two.
|
|
|
Light Feature - ***1/2
The board lights up, thanks to three small watch style batteries (included, thankfully). The drive for the board is held
together with a screw, and the batteries rest inside. Turn the drive to one side, and you'll see a very tiny and unobtrusive
on/off switch.
There are several small LED's that light up. There are two on either half of the board on top, as well as a couple that light
up the clear circles under his feet. They work pretty well, although they don't seem quite as bright as some others we've
gotten from Hot Toys. It may also be a battery issue, as I've found more often than not that the batteries they supply are
fairly weak and need to be replaced early on.
|
|
Outfit - ****
Do you know the definition of 'mixed emotions'? That's when your mother-in-law drives your brand new car off a cliff. Or when
you love a costume that you hate.
That comes into play for me with this outfit. I hate the costume. I hate the design. I hate the goofy snowboarding theme.
Everything about this costume is what's wrong with re-imagining a classic outfit with modern styles that will be out of style
before the movie hits the theater. You could almost see the brass sitting around a table coming up with this one - "ooo, I
hear X Games are big with the young people, and Goblin rides some sort of a snowboard looking thing - let's make him look like
a snowboarder! Genius!". Ugh.
And yet, I have these mixed emotions, because I have to admit that Hot Toys took what they had to work with and hit a home
run. The costume looks great, with detailed ski boots, snow pants complete with calf zippers, a very cool upper body
vest/harness that holds the mid-sized sword and provides some basic body protection, elbows pads that look great in their
bright green mockery of all that is sane, and a shirt of sorts that has the woven, patterned look of the movie down pat.
The tailoring is great - everything fits tight and snug, but none of it restricts the body in any major way. I'm loving the
Hot Toys version of this costume far more than I ever loved the on screen version, and the cognitive dissonance this is
creating is going to have to get rationalized away for me to remain sane. Assuming of course that ship hasn't already sailed.
|
|
Fun Factor - ***
Other than the dangers of breaking the board (mentioned below), this is actually a decent toy. He won't hold up to back
yard play, but he will handle any sort of basic handling and posing, and there's no rubber on the suit that would cause me any
long term worries.
|
|
Value - ***
With a light up sled and a fair number of extras, this is one of the better Hot Toys values released recently. In fact, it's
getting rarer and rarer to get any Hot Toys figure down around $150, and I expect that not to change in the near future. While
some retailers are still trying to get around $170, many are dropping this much lower, likely due to lower demand right now.
|
|
Things to Watch Out For -
Be extremely careful with the little posts/balls for the feet. They are really only supported on the board by three little
plastic spokes and some thin plastic covers, so pressing down on the feet too hard while posing and attaching the figure could
result in breakage.
|
|
Overall - ***1/2
It's nice to get a companion villain for Spidey, even if it is my least favorite over the three movies. His dad would have
been cool, and Doc Ock would be smokin', but as they say...it is what it is.
Somehow Hot Toys manages to make a dopey movie character into a surprisingly sweet action figure, due to the attention to
detail in the costume and accessories. Add in the lower than usual price tag, and you get an above average release of a rather
average character.
Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ****
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - ***1/2
Articulation - ****
Accessories - ***1/2
Outfit - ****
Light Up Feature - ***1/2
Fun Factor - ***
Value - ***
Overall - ***1/2
|
|
Where to Buy
Online options include these site sponsors:
- Sideshow has
him for $170.
-
has him at just $153.
-
has him at $153 too.
-
has it at $155.
-
has it at $155.
- or you can search
ebay for a deal.
|
Related Links -
I covered the companion Spider-Man from Hot Toys
earlier, and other Goblins include:
- the only other toy of the New Goblin I reviewed was the cool Room
Guards by Thinkway.
- one of my favorite old school Goblins is the Green
Goblin from the 9" clothed Spider-man Origins series.
- Marvel Legends had their share of Goblins, including this cool Green
Goblin.
- when the comics killed off the Green Goblin, the came back with the Hobgoblin, done up ML
style here. He was also done up as a mini-bust.
- not to be outdone, the Green Goblin also had a
very cool mini-bust.
You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case
any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.
Discussion:
Want to chat about this review? Try out one of these terrific forums where I'll be discussing
it!
Enjoyed this review? Be sure to head back to the main page to find thousands more just like it!
|
|
Please share with your friends!
|
This product was provided for the review by the manufacturer. Photos and text by Michael Crawford.
|