The figure is plainly seen in the blister, along with all of the accessories, and at the bottom it lets us know that he has interchangeable heads.The back gives us a larger photo of the figure inside and also lets us know that his skateboard attaches to his backpack.

The packaging also tells us about the figure stand he comes with, lets us know the figure is super articulated, gives us pictures of other figures available in the line, and gives us a bio for this new Spider-Man figure, based on the story presented in the movie. The packaging is very eye catching, and extremely informative of the figure inside, both what I would consider pre-requisites for good packaging.

SCULPT – The body is almost the exact same sculpt as the previous movie Spider-Man figure. The two differences are his hands, and his alternate head. The previous figure had an open grasping right hand, and a “web slinging” left hand. This figure has a grasping left hand, and his right hand is balled up into a fist. It seems weird that he wouldn’t come with the same hands as the previous figure, but I guess if you already bought the first one, you could use a blow dryer to heat up the wrists and switch out the hands at your leisure.

The body is a pretty faithful recreation of the suit used in the movie. He looks like a red and blue basketball, which is what Andrew Garfield looked like as well. There’s texturing all over the suit, from the dimples in the blue areas, to the webbing in the red areas. The only gripe I would have is the same one I had with the previous figure. His webbing is sculpted in negative relief, whereas in the movie the webbing was in positive relief (raised) off of the suit. It seems weird they wouldn’t do that here.

The head is actually a good likeness to Andrew Garfield. It’s not perfect, but when you look at it you can tell it’s him. The shape of his face, his forehead, eyebrows, and especially the shape of his mouth are well done. He’s got that same weird pompadour-like haircut that Garfield sported in the movie, and his expression seems to be a standard stoic expression, pretty much perfect for any pose you’re wanting to put him in.

PAINT – The figure is, not surprisingly, painted in a red and blue color scheme. The colors are very close to the shades used on the movie suit; they’re very vibrant. The spider insignias on his chest and back are detailed, as well as the silver around his boots. There’s a bit of bleeding in some areas, with the red going onto the blue, and vice versa, but it’s mostly something you wouldn’t notice unless inspecting the figure up close. The most noticable flaw is some blue paint on the red of his right shoulder.

My real complaint with the paint job on this figure is the lack of detail. Specifically, speaking of the webbing on his suit. It’s not painted in at all. Usually something like that is sculpted in negative relief to help the painters, but they didn’t even bother doing so. It makes the figure look unfinished, and is something I noticed missing right away.

Thankfully, the head is painted very well. It’s got a clean, smooth paint job. The hair is done in a dark brown with this light brown, almost bronze dry brush. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure why he has bronze highlights. Kids these days, I suppose. His skin is painted a nice flesh tone that seems appropriate for Andrew Garfield. The eyebrows are painted on well, as are his eyes. And his lips are a different color from his skin, as they should be. There’s an incredibly tiny paint flaw below his right eye, but if it wasn’t for the macro lens on my camera, I’d never have noticed it.

ARTICULATION – Peter has a hinged neck, ball jointed shoulders, bicep swivels, double elbows, swivel-hinged wrists, floating ab joint, ball jointed hips, thigh rotators, double knees, and hinged rocker ankles.

He’s got a very good amount of articulation. It all works well. The figure is made form a soft resin though, so you might have to “break in” some of his joints to use them properly. His head can swivel left and right as well as look up and down thanks to the hinge. The double elbows and hinged wrists really add to the posability as well. His shoulders have a pretty good range, though they do seem restricted. You can’t get his arms to sit perfectly at his sides, and they don’t go up incredibly far either. They can be turned of course, but it’s kinda tough. It’s a very tight joint.

His floating ab joint has a good range of motion, allowing for front and back tilt, as well as side to side. Unfortunately his hips are those weird kind that sit inside the pelvis at a 45 degree angle, so in order to change his poses you have to twist the ball joint, then twist the thigh rotator back in the opposite direction. It’s easier said than done sometimes though, because the thigh rotator likes to stick to the hip.

His ankles are excellent. They’re the more recent style of rocker ankle Hasbro has been employing, with a peg in the lower leg that sits in the foot at a 45 degree angle, so when you tilt the foot, it simulates a rocker ankle and has a very good range of motion.

ACCESSORIES – Peter comes with a display base, a skateboard, a backpack, and an alternate masked Spider-Man head. I’ll be honest, the display base is pointless. I could do without it. It’s not Spider-Man themed, and is only a waste of space as far as I’m concerned.

The alternate Spider-Man head is an excellent addition, and is the exact same head as the one on the first figure. It looks great on the body of the figure, and blends in nicely with the suit. It’s also very easy to switch out the heads, and I’m glad Hasbro ended up including both, for those who missed out on the first figure. Now you can have both versions of Spider-Man at once.

His skateboard and backpack are very cool additions that are good representations of the Peter Parker character in the movie. It lets us know that he’s still a kid in school, and he loves to skateboard. The backpack slips onto the figure easily, and the skateboard can be attached to the backpack via the elastic band on the back. Peter can also hold the skateboard under his arm.

The skateboard itself is decently made, but if you’re expecting Tech Deck quality, you’ll be disappointed. It’s straight plastic all the way. The wheels do turn though, which is nice. But it feels flimsy, and looks too small for the figure. You can pose him standing on it, but because of the way the figure is articulated, and the fact that the skateboard is too small, you’re probably not going to get any crazy skateboarder poses out of him. Like I said, very cool addition, but I’m almost tempted to just go out and buy him a Tech Deck.

FUN – This figure is a lot of fun. The articulation and accessories make the figure worthy of a very good amount of fun to be had, and for me personally reminds me of the old days when action figures were chocked full of accessories. Sadly for the most part those days are gone, but it’s nice to get a reminder of that bygone era every once and a while. I Think any kids playing with this figure would have a lot of fun as well, though the small parts should make someone cautious about giving it to a kid that’s too young.

QUALITY CONTROL/THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR – Just those minor paint flaws. Some of the joints may be warped in the package as well, due to the incredibly soft resin the figure is made from. If so, just use a hair dryer to heat it up and make it really soft, then reposition it right and keep it that way for about half a day to ensure it fully cools, and it will be better than new.

OVERALL – If you’re looking to buy just one figure from the Amazing Spider-Man, this figure might just be for you. He’s got the interchangeable Peter Parker head, as well as the neat backpack and skateboard accessories.

Unfortunately he doesn’t come with any web lines like the first figure did, nor does he come with any web slinging hands like the first figure did. If this release had those, I’d say this would be the ultimate movie Spider-Man figure to get, since you would have all the accessories necessary to display him however you wanted.

Even without them though, this is a really good release. The extra head looks great, and it’s nice that Hasbro included other accessories as well to make it even more worth it to pick up for those who already had the first release figure. The sculpt of the figure is almost completely movie accurate, and the articulation is great for the most part.

There’s some paint detail missing, and those hip joints are annoying, but otherwise I’d call this a solid figure. The figure isn’t perfect by any means, but it’s not horrible either. If you’re looking for a decent, inexpensive movie Spider-Man figure to pick up, this one might not be a bad choice to pick up.

FINAL SCORE: 3 / 5

Where to buy:

• Amazon has 2 left in stock at the time of this writing.