Monday, February 17, 2014

ML Sentinel BAF: 1st Appearance Spider-Man


Wow, it must be the Spider-Man season all over again! I bought another one? No actually this one's been in my position for a long time now. As I have mentioned in the past I'm still partially a 'in-the-box' kind of collector and the 1st Appearance Spider-Man of the Sentinel BAF was one of those. Not anymore! Toybiz may have stopped becoming part of the Marvel Legends line a long time ago but some of their greatest toys have yet to fill my game room and this BAF is one of those I NEED(want).


Of course the classic Toybiz Marvel Legends case: hard transparent plastic that is anti-silence when opening! These cases are probably the reason why some of my Legends figures from Toybiz stayed hanging for too long. Classic design and good for display, keeps the figures sealed in nice and safe, and they are durable! Check out the fancy stickers on the front and the informative dossier of the character on the back! Health stats, strength, etc! It also shows the figures that completes the BAF. Speaking of the figure…


Right off the get go it's quite easy to see that it's for sure a Toybiz figure with body. I'll go into the articulation in a moment here but the skinny frame, the extra details, and the sometimes awkward fingers definitely screams Toybiz! While I'm not a huge fan of the lanky frame, I do say that Toybiz adheres to how Peter was when he first donned the Spider-Man suit. In fact, everything about this figure does capture the first time appearance of Spidey way back in Amazing Fantasy! The symbol, the eyes, the color, and of course the web pitts(though not exactly the best interpretation because it looks like he is wearing some kind of cloth behind him and not just on his pitts). All in all, it's still a good piece of work, not going to gripe too much about the little things since it is an older figure.


While the BAF series of Toybiz didn't go overzealous on the accessory department, one thing I can say is that they had some decent ones to tag along the figure. A comic book, the stand(I still find myself enamored with these stands by the way), and of course a piece of a BAF(usually a huge one) that happens to be the upper part of the Sentinel. Not much to really say, though I will admit that the comic book is a good icing.

"Uh oh, somebody's been a bad lizard!"
I can't help but think that whenever I put this Spidey in a 'wall crawler' pose! Oh well, let's move on! The articulation is one of the highlights of this figure and pretty much just about every figure that Toybiz came out with! I can almost really say that this Spidey can do whatever Spider-Man can!


The basic articulation that we can all expect from Hasbro(not talking about the newly implemented ons from the Spider-Man infinite series) and then some. Some of the things that some collectors miss are the finger articulation. This Spider-Man for sure has them and I must say that his hands looks odd and having a closed fist is damn near impossible to have. There are times I can do without the finger movements and would just prefer alternate hands and this is one of those said times. He's also missing the ankle pivot that makes certain poses especially for Spider-Man more natural.


Compared to today's brand new Spider-Man toy how does first appearance Spider-Man hold up? If one just looks at the notion of 'first appearance' compared to the modern day Spider-Man, one will truly have an answer. It's not the first appearance of Spidey in the plastic form, but it is ONE of the first few Marvel Legends and I must say it still holds up. Detail wise it still has that intricate and vintage feel to him that doesn't make him look bad right next to the newest mold of Spidey. While missing a few good things in the articulation department, this Toybiz can still be a good competition to Hasbro. All in all, it's a good toy still considering how old it is!


Truthfully, I am in no dire need of any more Spider-Man toys. If he didn't come with the Sentinel piece, I probably would've kept him in the case and displayed. Now don't misconstrue, I am VERY pleased with this guy, it's just that I don't think he will be the first Marvel Legend I'll be looking for every time I go inside my game room!

The Sentinel however might be pretty high up there on the BAF line up… we'll see!

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