Spider-Man 2099

Marvel has no shortages of alternate futures. Days of Future Past, Earth X, Future Imperfect, MC2, the Guardians of the Galaxy, wherever Bishop and Cable come from... dozens of potential futures, each more potential than the last! And, of course, we musn't forget one of the biggest future series, Marvel 2099. A secret experiment changed Miguel O'Hara's life forever. Granted extraordinary powers, he dons the mantle of Spider-Man and takes the fight against evil to the dark, polluted streets of New York City in the year 2099. Incredible strength, agility, and his trademark webslinging give him his edge, but his intelligence is what helps him survive. The future is a dangerous place, but luckily Spider-Man is the most courageous man there. Just because Hasbro's new Spider-Man Origins figures are (almost) all repaints, it doesn't mean they're the same as they used to be. This figure was once Series 8's Web Attack Spider-Man - better known as the Ben Reilly Spidey. Obviously, this is a bigger change than swapping white for silver (like the Black Costume Spider-Man). Miguel's spider-suit was originally a Dia de los Muertos costume, which is why the chest symbol looks like a skull, rather than a spider. The paint is pretty good, with nice crisp edges that present the design well. The interiors of Spidey 2099's joints are red plastic, which is nice to see: for once, you don't have to worry about the paint scraping off. His torn and shredded cape was originally the fabric from a hang-glider, so he can drift on thermal currents. It's held in place on the figure by rubber bands around his elbows and shoulders, but it works much better than most of the stupid "spider-shawls" that they've put on Peter Parker figures in recent years. The Spider-Man 2099 figures suffers in the articulation department - a problem he shares with Web Attack Spider-Man. It's really strange, too: above the waist, everything's good, but it goes to hell when you drop below the belt. He moves at the fingers, wrists, forearms, biceps, shoulders, neck and head. So far so good, right? Now add in the waist, peg-jointed hips, single knees and hinges ankles. Really? That's it? No balljointed hips? No thighs or shins? Not even rocker joints in the ankles? Why? What the hell? He doesn't even have an action feature to screw things up; they just dropped the ball. There's no excuse for this. The sculpt is good, but the fact that he's pretty much stuck in one pose makes him look goofy. His right knee is twisted painfully, and his left leg juts way out to the side. When you pose him with both feet flat on the ground, he's in this strange "surfing" pose. None of his costume elements are sculpted, which is why the base body is a prime candidate for repainting. But you know what? Parachute Spider-Man didn't have sculpted elements, either, so why not use that? It make sense that they wouldn't want a chest joint screwing up that giant emblem, but his legs are solid blue - why nothing there? Spidey 2099 has no real accessories, but he does have a Spider-Man Origins disc base. Of course, given the fact that he's woefully under-articulated, it's pretty much useless: you can't get his feet close enough together to stand on the base, which means it's a waste of plastic. They would have been better off spending the money to retool his legs and add in some articulation. This is an okay toy, which may or may not be worth getting. The figure for this review was provided by one of our regular readers, rbailen - which is good, because I don't think anyone was planning to buy one. There's nothing majorly wrong with him - not like there was with House of M Spidey - so we can't give you a firm "don't buy," but neither is there anything particularly great here. The bottom line is that if you want a Spider-Man 2099 figure, wait for a sale to make sure you get your money's worth; you might be disappointed if you pay full price. -- 03/01/07

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