Review: Marvel Legends Retro Wave Web-Man 6 Inch Action Figure

Written By Dan Hickman • Toy Editor

Marvel Legends Retro Wave Web-Man 6 Inch Action Figure

Hasbro’s Retro Spider-Man wave continues to impress and with this offering is reaching deep into Spider lore. I’m really digging the fact that Hasbro is starting to make even more obscure characters, especially given that this figure’s first and to date only appearance was in the pages of Spidey Super Stories! Without further adieu, let’s take a good look at the inimitable Web-Man!

After luring Spider-Man into a trap, the villainous Dr. Doom uses his “Twin Machine Mirror” to create an opposite replica of the heroic web slinger.

His costume is the opposite of Spider-Man, exchanging the color scheme, blue boots, mask, red pants, etc… Web-Man possesses all of Spider-Man’s amazing powers but where Spidey is good, noble, self-sacrificing and a genius, Web-Man is evil, greedy, self-centered and… a complete idiot.

Web-Man manages to successfully trap our hero, but due to his utter incompetence and lack of any intelligence, is easily thwarted by Spider-Man.

Sadly for Web-Man, once Doom’s mirror was destroyed, he also ceased to exist.

Marvel Legends Retro Wave Web-Man 6 Inch Action Figure

When I was a child, I used to draw Spider-Man and then reverse the colors… imagine my surprise when I found issue 25 of Spidey Super Stories and saw Web-Man!!!

When I first saw this figure show up online, I was overjoyed.

It was really a pleasant surprise to learn that Hasbro was making a figure out of this very obscure character.

I hurriedly pre-ordered one from the Big Bad Toy Store and eagerly awaited his arrival.

Much to my delight he and my other pre-order, the retro Sandman figure, both shipped at the same time and arrived on the same day. (That’s what’s known as foreshadowing.)

How does Web-Man stack up in the realm of Marvel Legends Spider-Man figures?

Can he earn the coveted Triple A, Accessories, Appearance, and Articulation? Let’s find out.

Review: Marvel Legends Retro Wave Web-Man 6 Inch Action Figure

Marvel Legends Retro Wave Web-Man 6 Inch Action Figure

Web-Man comes with three pairs of hands.

Thwipping, fisted, and *gasp* WALL CRAWLING HANDS!!

Wait, why does Web-Man come with wall crawling hands when the Retro Spidey doesn’t?

Oh yeah, he’s the opposite.

I would have liked to see some webbing with the character, but I’m very happy with him having wall crawling hands.

To me, Spidey or Spidey-like characters with wall crawling hands are just as bad as Iron Man figures without hinging repulsor blasting hands.

So, I’m thankful to see these included with this figure.

Not much else to speak of, so though he’s rather weak on the accessory front, I’m going to give him an A anyhow, simply because of… well… you know.

Marvel Legends Retro Wave Web-Man 6 Inch Action Figure

As far as Web-Man’s looks are concerned. He lives up to the expectations I had developed upon first seeing him.

As the opposite of Spider-Man, his blue and red color scheme is reversed, as mentioned above.

All the red parts on Spider-Man are blue on Web-Man, while all of Spidey’s blue costume pieces are red on his counterpart.

This figure is on the same body mold as the Spider-Man Video Game Advanced Suit figure, which as we know uses the Sunfire Body Mold.

I was surprised that they didn’t use the retro Spidey body, which has far more articulation to it but neither here nor there.

Overall, the paint apps on this figure are pretty darned sweet.

To be honest, the only real discrepancy that I found was around the abdomen, the blue was a bit more transparent over the red plastic, making it just a touch darker than the blue on the rest of the figure.

You really have to look close to see it though, so it’s not as bad as it could be.

My figure was clean all over, the weblines were mostly clean, though I did see some sketchiness on the back of the figure.

I think it would have been really nice to have pinless tech on this figure, especially since the arm pins were blue and showed up horribly against the red inside of the arms.

It would be better to start seeing more of the pinless tech used, moving forward, if for no other reason than to eliminate the odd appearance on the inside of figure arms.

I also am not a huge fan of the way the mask is painted on this figure (or on the advanced suit video game figure for that matter.)

There is just something about how the eyes are painted that I cannot reconcile.

I feel the eyes are too small, and when looking at the figure from the front, it makes them look awkward.

This might just be my personal preference and I understand they are going with a specific look, but maybe giving it a similar appearance to the retro Spidey would have helped.

I also would have liked to see a deeper blue to more closely match Spider-Man’s costume hue, but again, being an evil opposite, the color tones would also have a subtle difference to them.

Is this enough to bring down my opinion of his appearance?

No, these are just some minor gripes with an otherwise smart-looking adaptation of the comic book appearance.

I’m digging the look, so let’s go ahead and give him an A for appearance.

Review: Marvel Legends Retro Wave Web-Man 6 Inch Action Figure

Marvel Legends Retro Wave Web-Man 6 Inch Action FigureMarvel Legends Retro Wave Web-Man 6 Inch Action Figure

The Sunfire body mold does offer some great articulation but for Spider-Man, it’s definitely lacking.

I was surprised and kind of pleased to see the neck cut, similar to the retro Spidey, which increases the range of upward head tilt.

Unlike the retro Spidey, though, the hinge color helps camouflage the cut and actually makes it look natural.

Unfortunately, like the retro counterpart, tilting the head too far results in a major gap under the chin.

This can be countered by deliberate camera angles to hide the opening but is still a touch frustrating.

The head can look down quite nicely and does turn easily, side to side.

He has the great butterfly shoulders which allow for some really fun punching/cross arm poses and the joint moves freely.

Both shoulders rotate nicely and will elevate above the traditional T pose, which looks good. Web-Man has an upper bicep swivel which works as it should, double jointed elbows that will bend in very tightly and wrists that hinge and pivot on all six hands.

Web-Man features an upper ab crunch which only bends forward and backward.

There is no diaphragm pivot and there is no lower ab crunch either.

He has a waist swivel which works great, but does lead to some odd looks when turned too far.

His legs don’t split nearly as well as I’d hoped, but they will kick forward very well and have an upper thigh cut which turns easily.

His double jointed knees bend in pretty far, but will now allow for heel to butt action and he has a boot cut which is kind of unnecessary.

Finally, his ankles hinge very smoothly and Web-Man has that awesome Marvel Legend ankle pivot.

When I first got him out of the package and started posing him around, I was disappointed when I realized it wasn’t using the retro Spidey body.

You can emulate poses back and forth, but the retro Spidey has so much more articulation to it that Web-Man just cannot match.

Even though I’m bummed, he didn’t have any glaring articulation problems.

All of my joints moved freely out of the packaging.

The neck cut helps with head movement, so at least he can get into some better Spider-Man style poses than some of the other offerings from Hasbro.

I’ll give him the A for Articulation simply for the type of body mold, he does exactly what he’s supposed to do.

Review: Marvel Legends Retro Wave Web-Man 6 Inch Action Figure

The Hasbro Marvel Legends Retro Web-Man action figure is a pleasant surprise and certainly an unanticipated offering.

I really like that Hasbro is broadening their library of figures, by diving into some of the more esoteric characters.

Web-Man is a great addition to the toybox and at the price point of about $25, he’s worth a solid 3.75 toyboxes out of 5.

You can find him and preorder many of the new Marvel Legends figures at Big Bad Toy Store.

Thanks for checking out the toybox and, until next time… Geek Out!

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