Marvel Legends Retro Symbiote Spider-Man Action Figure Review

Since the COVID variants are starting to sound like actual supervillains now, it's back to pre-ordering toys in the safety of my home for me. Which is nice, since it feels like Christmas every time a new figure arrives at my doorstep and I don't need to interact with anyone outside.

Speaking of new figures, I just got the Marvel Legends Retro Symbiote Spider-Man figure, and I gotta tell ya, there's not a lot of today's action figures that got me feeling like a kid again like this one, which means this warrants a review!

I don't have any nostalgic affection for the Retro series card backs since I was not a huge Spider-Man fan growing up (and I never saw these in the pegs as a kid), but from what I've seen it's an awesome homage!

Out of the packaging, Retro Symbiote Spider-Man feels great in hand. Joints don't feel loose, and the proportions are as lifelike as they come. We've come a long way from those big ToyBiz shoulders! The eyes and spider symbols at the front and back are sharp and well-applied. Thank goodness, because I don't think I can stomach searching for another figure of this guy considering this will most probably be the most sought after figure of the wave (read: expensive on the secondary market).

I've been camping on my doorstep for months waiting for this fig, because this body mold has been touted by fans as one of the best that Marvel Legends has ever engineered. 

And now that I have it in hand, I have to say they were right.

Posing the Retro Spider-Man mold is a joy. It's got articulation where it counts without sacrificing sculpt, and the figure's engineering rivals even those expensive Japanese imports! Even as I write this I couldn't put the figure down. This is peak Marvel Legends, and I'm glad I was born just in time to witness it. 

Accessory wise, Retro Symbiote Spider-Man only comes with some interchangeable hands. In a surprising turn of events, Retro Symbiote Spider-Man has what might be the most sought-after Spidey accessory: wall-crawling hands!

Its absence in the original Retro Spider-Man release was a glaring omission, one that prevented said release from becoming the definitive Spider-Man toy. It's nice then to see these hands included in another iconic Spidey!

The prerequisite "web shooting" hands are here as well. Pretty standard fare, and at least you can pose Spider-Man both in his symbiote suit (which shoots webs from the top of the fist) and in his normal black costume (in which he uses web shooters normally)!

If I have any gripe with this figure, it's with the white spider symbol on the torso.  Mine feels weird and sticky. Even out of the package the white paint used is already dirtied by god knows what, and handling the figure for posing made it even dirtier!

I shouldn't have to wear special gloves to handle this beauty, but I hope it's just a fluke in my copy. 

But that's just being nitpicky over such a well-made action figure like this. As a major improvement over previous Spider-Man releases (wall-crawling hands, finally!) and a sharp looking toy of an iconic Marvel costume, Marvel Legends hit a home run with Retro Symbiote Spider-Man. More figures like this, please Hasbro!

Rumors of a re-release of the first Retro Spider-Man have been swirling about given that this year would be the 60th anniversary of the character.  I hope it's true, and there better be wall-crawling hands included or we riot!

Thanks to Hobby Korner for hooking me up with this figure! I hope you found this review helpful. Stay safe out there and thanks for reading!