Superhero Times: a service of Action Online
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Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber on December 28, 1922) is an American writer, editor, former Chairman Emeritus of Marvel Comics, and memoirist.
With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.
Now, thanks to Hasbro and the San Diego Comic-Con this year, we get a version of Stan "The Man" Lee in a Marvel Legends style that ffers a very unique twist: Stan can BECOME Spider-Man!
This figure, exclusive to the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con, is great. The packaging is awesome. It comes first in a large, white shipping box that is adorned on the front with a great black line drawing of Stan ripping his shirt open to reveal the spider-man costume underneath. Other than the line drawing and Stan’s signature, the box is mostly plain. A silver seal closes the top and bottom flaps of the box. After breaking open the bottom seal and pulling the inner box out you find a spectacular and colorful packaging for Stan!
The front of the box shows some great comic cover art on the left side of the box of Stan rescuing Spider-Man. On the right side of the box you get to see Stan in all his glory through a nice window. Back to the left side for a second. Upon a closer examination you find that the cover art flips open. The underside of the panel at the top features a comic of Stan getting hired at the Daily Bugle and then not only saving Spidey but stealing his web shooters and swinging away while waving. A great little bit of nostalgic Marvel comics from Stan’s heyday, but an original little tale created for the box.
The other cool thing about the panel is it hides another small window that shows us the two alternate heads. One of Peter Parker and one of Spidey himself. A pair of Spider-man costumed hands and feet, and a freshly removed mask that this figure or any other Marvel Legend for the most part can hold.
The sides of the Box show the Spider-man figure with the Spider-man head and the Parker head on. And the back of the package features a color version of the drawing on the shipping box of Stan and a little bio of him, as well as some pictures of the different heads and body combos you can get with this figure.
Opening this box and pulling the separate packing pieces out, you get Stan packaged in a small box, and the other pieces packaged in a felt-like holder. Stan is enclosed in the package with a few twist ties. The cool thing here is that one of the twist ties is strung through the package to make it look like he is swinging from a web line. A nice little touch. The other pieces are fitted nicely in their own little holder.
Stan is dressed in removable clothing, a blue shirt and tan pants. Removing these items reveals the spider-man body underneath. Stan’s hands have no articulation to them, no movement at the wrists of the fingers. That’s fine really. His feet also are pretty static, that and he’s wearing brown loafers and what appear to be brow, wool socks. This is a figure of an old man after all!
Popping the hands off just above the wrist and placing the Spider-Man hands on is simple. I had no problems changing these off on the figure. His feet were a different story. It took some careful coaxing to get the Stan feet off to replace them with the Spidey ones. They pop off just below the knee joints. After this is done, you have Stan Lee disguised as Spidey. But you can go a few steps more! He can hold the mask in either of his hands thanks to a small knob sculpted at the top of the mask.
Now, the head pops off easily, and the other two heads go on easily. You can choose either Peter Parker, Stan or the Spider-Man head. All three pop right on and off with no problems.
The articulation on the Spidey body with the Spidey hands and feet are your normal Marvel Legends fare. The figures are jointed together at the top knuckle. The feet are jointed at the ankle and the toes. The body and arms of course are along the same lines as the other Legends figures.
The three heads are very nice and detailed. The Stan head is nice as it has his trademark glasses on, and a little bit of grey at the sides of his head, as well as his mustache. The Parker head is kind of simple. Brown hair, normal Parker face. I almost want to say this head has been used before on a different figure. I might be wrong. And the spidey head is awesome. Nice, old school eyes on the costume is what I like the most. Really gives the whole thing that same nostalgic feel that the little comic does.
Posing my figure though was a little rough. Everything was so tight on him I thought moving him would break him. That was the only drawback to this otherwise amazing figure.
If you can still find this exclusive, pick him up and add him to your Marvel Legends collection. He’s a great action figure and a nice nod to "The Man" himself!
CLICK HERE for more images of the exclusive Stan Lee action figure.
Review and Photos by Jason Devall
