You know that here at OAFE, we're mostly positive. We don't give bad toys a free pass, and we don't overlook flaws, but we still try to tell you what's good about toys more than what's wrong with them. You read movie reviews, music reviews, tv reviews, whatever, you see people who seem to have nothing but contempt for the subjects they cover. That's stupid.
Fans aren't immune to this, either. How often do you see someone complaining about how "terrible" a comicbook movie is just because characters don't look right? (If you've read any discussion of Wolverine, you've seen it a lot.) A character is more than their visual, and anyone who can't see that is a fool.
That said, we've been trying like hell to stay positive about the new Spider-Man costume.
We could deal with the first picture of the the new suit - like GI Joe showing off Snake-Eyes first, it was clearly calculated to appeal to existing fans by hiding the true extent of the changes. The angle of the gloves, the style of the webbing, the lack of a belt... it was all stuff we were more than willing to overlook. But the more photos are released, the harder it is to stay upbeat.
Look at these shots posted on PopSugar:
That's just... what's the point? Spider-Man's costume is hands-down one of the best ever designed, which is why the previous movies stayed so close to it: no matter what you do, you're not going to improve it. This costume seems to have been redone for no reason other than to set this movie apart from the last three, and that's not good enough. It's change for the sake of change, and that's never good.
This thing, with its silver booties, stripes down the outsides of the legs, weird blue swirls all over the arms and hands, and conspicuously dark spider-batch, just looks like one of those weird costumes that would have been released in a 1990s ToyBiz series: close enough to be recognizable as Spider-Man, but just on the edge of "cheap drugstore knockoff" territory.
We're not saying the movie's going to suck, or that the costume ruins the character. But sweet Christmas does it look stupid!
Here's the thing with this costume - I think its cool that feel comfortable/confident even to do reimagining. Spider-man is probably second only to Superman in terms of untouchable designs, but it doesn't change the fact that... there is definitely room for improvement or at least re-envisionment.
When I look at this new suit I see and think one thing - it'll make a good toy. And really, when it comes to spider-man, thats all I care about.
The problem I have with this suit (which, by the way, is the same one i had with the tobey duds, but significantly mulitplied here) is HOW IS A HIGH SCHOOL KID SUPPOSED TO MAKE THEM BY HIMSELF!?
And assuming its an off-the-shelf mod.... well... then its just becomes something like the Tumbler & Armor in the Nolan-Batman movies where you're just forced to assume that Wayne Corp has IRONCLAD NDA's for all of R&D people, cause... damn. Its real hard to keep a secret when you have teams of people building you things.
That will make a good toy? The normal costume would make a better one...
In the comics (At least in the old Lee/Ditko and Romita days), they often showed Peter sewing, either to make a new suit, or mend the holes in them. He grew up with an older couple after all, so it isn't hard to imagine Aunt May taught him to sew.
Knowing how to sew is one thing - I know how to sew. What I don't know is how to vacuum-form a rubber bodysuit with textured panels and raised webbing details...
When I saw the first picture of the costume, I immediately thought, "Huh, it kind of looks like the costume from House of M," but these pictures are... well... the costume looks...garish, to say the least, I mean, if you really need to be different, they could have brightened up the colors, maybe have more rounded eyes, oh wait, they did that, never-mind, but I suppose they decided to have silver... foot... things, black eyes (god help the designer if that's not the lighting, stripes, random splotches of blue, all different shades, and the most abominable of all the features, the Great Silver Spider-Crotch of Terrible Costume Design (tm). But hey, maybe the movie'll be incredible, and make up for the whole thing.