REVIEW: Upper Deck's SPIDER-MAN Subcast

Spidey gets ensnared in the designer toy scene...

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With myriads of Marvel products on the market, it is no easy task for fans to decide where to spend their hard-earned cash. Whether it be spread across a series of figures or saved for a single statue, the expendable income of the fan community is always being pulled in different directions. The playing field for new products seeks to connect characters with every type of collectible; and when new, unique products hit the market, they catch everyone’s attention. Even if the new design or collectible type isn’t in line with one’s particular taste, the idea of something fresh in an oversaturated market is always worth a look.

One of the most unique collectible lines of the last year to feature Marvel icons comes to fans from the halls of Upper Deck, a company most known for its sports trading cards and collectible athlete-based vinyl figurines. Teaming up with creative mastermind, MiQ, Upper Deck has delivered to fans highly stylized and detailed versions of 4 of Marvel’s biggest icons. Released under the trademarked, Upper Deck banner Subcasts, these polyresin, collectible statues stand between 6”-9” and are sure to be unique, interesting additions to any fans collection! Below, we'll be checking out Spider-man!

Upper Deck’s Spider-man Subcast comes in a stylized box with a Spider-man-inspired color scheme of red and blue, with webbing designs and dozens of small spider’s etched into the box. A gloss was added over many graphics on the box, giving them an eye-catching sheen and enhancing the overall packaging presentation.

Once you get past the outer packaging, the polyresin Subcast itself is bagged and held in a Styrofoam unit, which holds the figure securely in place. No twisty-ties or tape need to be removed, so Spidey can be returned to his packaging exactly as shipped for secure transport or storage.

Spidey's sculpt is fairly basic. It doesn’t look bad, but it also isn’t as unique and immediately attention-grabbing as the other superheroes in the Subcast line, nor as a piece in and of itself. In fact, Spider-man is a bit subdued for the wall-crawler. Having said that, however, Spidey also looks the closest to an urban vinyl figure, with his relatively static pose and skewed, but not over-the-top, sculpt. In fact, the look on Spidey may be exactly what Upper Deck and MiQ were going for — a familiar and identifiable high-quality statue that would blend perfectly with an urban vinyl collection.

On top of the sculpt, Spider-man features bright and bold paint of his classic colors, so he would fit perfectly with the usually bright and skewed urban vinyl collectibles on which he is based. The 4-color scheme, utilizing flat, but striking washes, looks great and enhances the sculpt.

The $74.99 price point for Spidey may seem high, but you’re really paying for material and weight with the cost. If the figure was cast in cheaper material, the cost would be substantially lower, but it seems that Upper Deck’s goal was not to mimic the urban vinyl scene with a rotocast/vinyl figure but rather to homage the underground with sturdy, high-quality statues. So, the price may be heftier than some fans would prefer, but you are getting your dollars' worth in material alone.

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Overall, this is my least favorite of Upper Deck’s Marvel Subcast line, but it’s not because it is a lacking piece in and of itself — it’s simply not as dynamic and imaginative as the others. In and of itself, the piece is still solid. It seems to capture the idea and essence of the Subcast line perfectly; and for that, I think it's still a solid piece.

To order the Spider-man Subcast from Sideshow,

Check out the full Spider-man Subcast picture gallery HERE!

Review and Images by C.J. Stunkard

Review Sample Courtesy of Upper Deck