DEXMBER PILE: MAFEX Spider-Gwen

 We upgrade what matters the most.I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. First amongst the collection is Spider-Man, and first amongst Spider-Man is Spider-Verse. So when it comes to chooseing Best Possible vs. Good Enough, it’s gonna be Spider-Verse stuff, especially main characters, who get the upgrade to Best Possible when circumstances permit.

For Peter, I have Maximum Spidey. There are certain features that could cause me to upgrade to an import, in the right Peter, but right now I’m sticking with Maximum. For Miles, I got the MAFEX in Japan. But for Gwen, all I had were three Marvel Legends - one really bad, two… OK. But neither of them are using the best body Hasbro has available for the women, so I splurged and got the MAFEX.

It’s very good, but I’ll start with the nitpics. I could do with a bit more crunch in the diaphram and ball waist. It feels like it should go deeper. Similarly hips, while excellent, don’t QUITE have the full range I’d  like. So it makes the ledge crouch pose a little awkward and weird and that’s a key pose for any Spider. I mean, it’s still leaps and bounds above the Marvel Legends crouch, but it’s a 50 to 90% improvement, not a 50% to 100%.

Also, the web-swinging hands, designed to hold the long, L-shaped webs (vs. the medium and small web lines with the wrist hole) aren’t tight enough to grip the web lines securely. Well, OK. It’s secure from falling out of the hand, it’s not secure from flopping around  and spinning once it’s in the hand. That’s an easy adjustment with some poster-tac or, as above, with a little bit of bending the wire up and around the fist and finding a point where it catches, but it shoulda been tighter.

OK. Everything else is glorious. The magnet that holds the hood in place. Tho masked and two unmasked heads. Tons of hands, including the magnet hands and feet like the MIles has. Six web lines. The unmasked heads look incredible. I mean, the Hasbro unmasked heads aren’t bed at all, but these, damn. Didn’t really showcase them in a pic but trust me.

She also comes with a big upgrade to Spider-Ham, who I have two of as unarticulated slugs in slightly different paint jobs. This one has a ball-jointed neck for head posing and a total of five interchangeable arms , including thwips, hands on hips, and holding his cartoon mallet. Not a TON of options, but options nonetheless. 

So, yeah. I don’t feel the need to go Big Upgrade for any other Spiders at present, although if the Bandai Spider-Man INdia keeps going on sale I might get tempted. It’s not a huge leap beyond the Marvel Legends, though. Now, if MAFEX wanted to make a comic Spidey with the incredible pull-out butterfly shoulders they used in their Andrew Garfield Spidey, we might need to talk. Or if Bandai werent’ asking A HUNDRED AND THIRTY GODDAMNED DOLARS for a second movie Peter B Parker with pink bathrobe and Mayday In A Baby Bjorn… ah well.