ML Absorbing Man BAF: Spider-Carnage/Ben Reilly

I remember when I was young and I saw this costume; I LIKED it then and I am okay with it now. It's different but still pays homage to classic. I did not mind Ben Reilly taking over as Spidey either because change was good. Hasbro recreated this guy and here we are with this Spidey and a good little twist of fate: he has a variant that makes him 'almost' a completely different character altogether: Spider-Carnage! So, let's get right into the review.

 

This Spider-Man is the running variant for the Spider-Gwen figure. "Edge of the Spider-Verse" is what this is called and technically, he was one of the main fighters of the Spider-Verse saga. He was not Spider-Carnage though, but Ben Reilly was badass.

It's almost as if I am reviewing two figures; almost. The one thing I will say right off the get go was that it was a really smart idea for them to do this; it's a great homage to the character and a point of his short-lived comic book life that some fans really remembered. So on to the figure. The mold is familiar. This Pizza Spidey might be the standard mold for all the Spider-Men coming out. I'm not entirely against it, but they need to do something about that torso. The lanky frame works, but one can't forget that Spidey is also a slightly more on thicker side most times(depending on the artist).The paint is something I can complain about. While the red looks great and the blue really makes both colors pop out, the black, ESPECIALLY on the spider emblem does look a little weak. They needed to add another coating. The sculpting on all variations, Carnage included, are something we have seen before with Spidey-Reilly being the Pizza Spidey, and the Spider-Carnage being the Carnage we got from the Ultimate Green Goblin BAF. While I'm not entirely uber impressed, I do like the foundations of this figure so in turn I do like how this figure looks aesthetically; for the most part.

I have already talked about the accessories somewhat. He has that one set of hands for the Carnage and then the head. His hands are pretty gracious just like the Pizza Spidey. One thing that would have added to the fun factor and give Hasbro more credit for 'thought' is the variant legs for the Spider-Carnage. He had symbiote oozing up his legs and if that was part of the variant leg, it would have made things better. I could have sacrificed some of these hands for those legs. And he comes with a pair of Absorbing Man's arms; the metal and the plain left fist.

I won't lie--I had tons of fun posing him about. I found myself using his Carnage variant more though, so most likely he will be in Spier-Carnage form. This mold should be very familiar so I won't get too much in-depth with him. Either Carnage or Ben has the same movement since the head and the hands don't really change anything aside from looks. Again I wish his legs could do more Spider-y things, but again, until Hasbro does away with that debacle, I think I'm going to be saying this a lot. The 'y' joints seems to be more adequate for Spider people, but it might take away some of the aesthetics; but I guess let's be honest, I don't repose my figures as much as others so it should not be that much of a hassle.

One thing I noticed with this figure and all the other figures that have this mold (minus the Scarlet Spider since the torso is different) is that the shoulder joints have such a wide range of motion. At times 'too much' I think and it takes away from the grand look. Regardless, it's appreciated.

Damn it I'm a clone of Peter and Cletus' Symbiote! CLONE! CLONE! 

You know I've been wanting a Ben Reilly Spidey since I was a kid playing with his toys. As I grew apart from Spider-Man (mostly his costume), I started to swing away from wanting this figure. I do have the older Ben Reilly Spider-Man from the Ares BAF days and honestly, I didn't even open that one. So when it's here now I find myself posing it as Spider-Carnage in my Spider-Verse shelf. Funny. All in all, I really like this figure. He is a variant and technically he is not required to finish Absorbing Man; but he does come with his worth and the arms for Absorbing Man does tie in with the BAF's personality. Other than that, pretty cool figure.