Back in the 1990s. Toy Biz wielded the Marvel license like, well, the hammer of Thor. With hit animated series airing on Fox Kids, comic book sales existing within a huge collector bubble, and general awareness and media fanning the flames of pop culture, it's no surprise that, eventually, Toy Biz would give Spider-Man his own toy line. (The animated series helped.) Prior to this figure, Spidey came in a line of Marvel Super-Heroes action figures, and interestingly Toy Biz made one quite similar to this one in that previous Marvel line. But we're not talking about that one-- we're talking about this one, which is beefier and has a larger head.
Standing about 5-inches tall, which was basically the standard for the post-Star Wars era of action figures from the mid-1980s until about the end of the 1990s, this figure's articulation was a big deal when it hit stores. While by today's standards this figure is pretty average, or even awful, it was unusual for a figure in the 1990s to have more than five (or in the case of most Toy Biz figures, 10) joints. Heck, even six was pretty unusual-- and this one had 15 points of articulation, plus a nice muscular sculpt that eschewed the smaller heads while embracing the style of the then-new animated series on the teevee.
Ankle and wrist joints were still something special back then, and I think this figure has more in common with the early 1980s G.I. Joe line than anything before or sense. The hard plastic construction seems to have a rubber band in the torso, or some form of elastic material. I worry that this means it's just a matter of time before it breaks, but hey, at least I got my pictures in first, right?
When I first bought this figure, it was my favorite Spider-Man-- easily the best Toy Biz had on the market, and we continued to see growth and improvement in Toy Biz' sculpts, accessories, and articulation. In 2001 Toy Biz cranked out a line called "Spider-Man Classics" with massive display bases, insane articulation, and wonderful detail-- all for about ten bucks. The line was the predecessor for "Marvel Legends," and the rest is history-- but this Spider-Man is a nice bit of pre-history and a reminder of a time where the realization of Marvel's big-screen.shtmlirations were still a few years off.
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