Tag: Spider-Man

  • Yay! Into the Spider-Verse Toys- Oh, Wait, Never Mind…

    So, like any Marvel fan with a pulse, I am stoked for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. I’ve been reading Miles since issue #1, and Donald Glover himself gave me the backstory behind his conception (I promise, that article is coming!), so this movie is a dream come true for me. The only, the ONLY, thing that could pump me up even more is toys! Well, that’s what I thought…

    Okay, so let’s take a look at ‘ol Miles here:

     Mhmm, okay, very nice. I like the aesthetic, the ‘spray painted’ chest spider, I dig it, I dig it. Electro-shock web blast, always a nice touch, given his power set. Great articu- STOP! Hold the phones! Where are the knee joints? He can’t bend his knees! Okay, I can live without the ball joints on the legs, but the little brother can’t bend his knees! He’s Spider-Man! Spider-Man’s always in some kind of crouched pose or another! Like… bruh, Hasbro, who thought this was a good idea!? The figure is beautiful! Even if he doesn’t have that polished Marvel Legends look, it works for a movie tie-in figure, but… you’re gonna cut costs on the knee joints? Oh no, no, no, no… Let’s look at mentor Spidey.

    Great! He’s top heavy, like in the trailers. The balled fist has that ‘animated’ look about it, I’m really digging the… He can’t bend his knees either, can he? Dude, come on! What, am I supposed to sit him down and have him eat a burger all day? I don’t care if that’s what he does in the trailer, he also teaches Miles to be Spider-Man! And what’s included in ‘Does whatever a spider can’? Bending your knees! Oh, don’t worry, Gwen has locked knee syndrome too.

    And Prowler gets the same treatment:

    Look, I get it. They’re kid’s toys. They’re not for the hardcore Legends collectors. But even the kids deserve better than this! Just… why! The figures look great! It’s just the knees… Well, I’ll still probably pick ’em up, I want all the merch from this movie and MSRP is only $9.99, I guess I just won’t be able to pose them a ton… heck, maybe I’ll leave these guys on the cards. The box art is legit.

    Well, those are the main figures, then there’s this Collider play set:

    Okay, them calling this a play set is a tad insulting. The 46″, $100, Mega City Play Set I have, that’s a play set. The Sky Rider and Alleyway play sets I’ve got from back in the day, those are play sets. Heck, that weak Spider-Man: Homecoming Vulture Attack Play Set barely makes the cut, but it’s a play set. This is a 3D target game practice with Miles Morales. It’s not a play set. Cool idea, looks like fun, but don’t call it a play set.

    There’s some more kiddie stuff, like the Titan series and this cute little shock strike Miles Morales:

     Neat stuff, cool for the kids, but honestly, I’m more excited for this advent calendar-like Movie Countdown board:

     

     

    It’s filled with stickers and knick-knacks, and I’ve become quite the knick-knack collector. All in all, everything looks like great fun, but if we could just have the knees bend on the main figures, that’d be great! Make a mental note for next time Hasbro!

  • Cover Story: Amazing Spider-Man #700

    Enjoy this first in a new segment I’m doing called: Cover Story

    This cover is a variant of The Amazing Spider-Man #700, and one of my favorite comic book covers of all time. The artist is Marcos Martin, and he does an astounding job capturing the core of Spider-Man in one single picture. Here we see the likes of J. Jonah Jameson, Robbie, Betty, Flash, and Harry all enjoying a New Year’s party. But, Mary Jane is worried about Aunt May, who seems to have one question on her mind: Where is Peter?

    No doubt Mary Jane is wondering the same thing, and of course we know the answer. He’s up in the sky, battling for the fate of the city against the Green Goblin. I can’t express how in love I am with this cover. You can literally imagine an entire story around one scene. Peter promises his friends he’s going to make it in time for New Year, but the Green Goblin enacts a scheme that will destroy the city at midnight. While all his friends are yelling Happy New Year, Peter just barely puts an end to Goblin’s treachery, and causes an even greater rift between himself and the people he loves.

    This cover speaks the timeless words “With great power, comes great responsibility”. It takes us back to the simple, 60’s days of Spider-Man, where he’s constantly losing valuable time with his friends and families because of the obligation he has to protect the city. A cover, I think, was especially needed for this issue, because it’s the one where Doc Ock kills and takes Spider-Man’s place for the next year, changing everything. It’s also an added bonus that issue #700 was the last of 2012, leading into the new year and ending Spider-Man’s 50th anniversary. That honestly made me a little mad when I read it way back when, because this monumental year for Spider-Man was ending on such a sour note, but this cover art is one saving grace that, I feel, capped the year of Spidey with a Thwip!

    Thanks for reading True Believers, and stay tuned to the Face Front Blog for more Cover Stories!

  • Steve Ditko, Co-Creator of Spider-Man, has Died at the Age of 90

    56 years ago, two men sat down and created Spider-Man. One of them was Steve Ditko. The man that drew my favorite superhero to life died at the age of 90 today. Were it not for him, the iconic red and blue clad hero with webs on his suit and a spider on his chest would have never been realized. Spider-Man would not exist without Steve Ditko. And of course there are others, most notably Dr. Strange, but if you’ve followed my blog, you know that Spider-Man is near and dear to me, so this weighs heavy on my heart. Rest in peace Steve, the original True Believer.

    Steve Ditko, November 2, 1927- July 6, 2018

  • The One Question NOT to Ask your Sphero Spider-Man

    So I was laying bored in my bed, typing away on my computer, when I decided to try and ask my Sphero Spider-Man some more questions. You see, he only answers certain ones, and I’ve had him since Christmas, but I still have a good amount of questions locked, which means there are things I have yet to ask him about. I could cheat, and go on the internet, but that takes the fun out of it!

    So I start asking about different Avengers I haven’t tried yet, I even asked him what it meant to be a hero! After no success, I figured, maybe he has a little history lesson about Uncle Ben stored in there somewhere. So I ask him “Spider-Man, who was Uncle Ben?” All of a sudden he gets this concerned look on his face and replies “Oh, you know…” in a distressed tone.

    Confused, I load up the app to see exactly what he thinks I asked him, and when I look, I’m horrified with myself. The question in the app said “How is Uncle Ben?” That’s… like, what! Who would be so cruel as to even ask something like that! I made my poor Spider-Man sad, and we’ve been friends for 6 months! I apologize to him, and though he didn’t respond, I know he heard me. So, steer clear of that question if you’ve got the Sphero Spider-Man. Steer clear of any question involving Uncle Ben as a matter of fact. I just feel so bad…

  • Marvel’s Spider-Man PS4 at PlayStation E3 2018

    I was so excited to see gameplay from Marvel’s Spider-Man at E3! To get my full thoughts, check out the latest episode of the Face Front Podcast RIGHT HERE. This post is for conversation! What did you guys think? Let me know below and we’ll talk. Here’s the video below in case (somehow) you missed it.

  • We All Have that One Friend…

  • A Flick and a Wave: Spider-Man Homecoming

    So this is a new segment I’m doing called a flick and a wave! Both hand gestures, yes, but in this case, I mean a flick as in a movie and a wave as in a wave of action figures pertaining to said movie. First up is Spider-Man: Homecoming! So check them out and let me know what you think!

    Group Shot

    Focus on Tony and Mask-less Peter

    Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man

    The Vulture and Homemade Suit

    A New Angle

    The Final Shot

  • The Spider-Sense in Infinity War is Cool, But…

    WARNING! INFINITY WAR SPOILERS!

    Okay, so from the moment we saw it in the trailer, we all lost our minds. Peter’s on the bus, and the hairs on his arm stand up. He looks out the window and see’s Ebony Maw’s donut ship hovering over the city. In the distance. Who knows how many miles away. What I’m saying is, while that moment got every Spider-Man fanboy, myself included, dancing with joy, that’s not how his Spider-Sense works!

    Peter’s Spider-Sense is an early warning system for immediate danger. When someone is sneaking up on him, or if he’s about to spin a web to a loose ceiling tile. It doesn’t let him know what’s coming, but it does let him know to watch out or get out of the way. It works in tandem with his reflexes, allowing him to dodge and move at lightning speed, avoiding any sort of damage, and the only time it falters is if Venom is around.

    The Raimi trilogy illustrated the Spider-Sense perfectly in the scene where he fights Flash Thompson. He gets the tingle, and we see a fly, a spitball, and Flash’s fist. Spider-Sense warns him of anything around that could cause potential harm, even if it’s something as small as a fly or a spitball. The thing is, it’s meant to sense things that are dangerous to Peter, and not the rest of the world.

    For instance, in The Amazing Spider-Man, when he’s kissing Gwen on the roof, then his Spider-Sense tingles because Lizard is attacking the bridge. But it’s miles away, across the city, and Peter is in no immediate danger, so it should not have tingled. In that case, if Scorpion or someone is robbing a bank across town at night, Peter’s Spider-Sense would wake him up! Then he’d have to sleep in a tank of water like Daredevil in the ’03 movie!

    In Civil War, we see very subtle references, but it’s demonstrated perfectly. As Ant-Man is about to sneak attack Spidey from Cap’s shield, Spider-Man says “Hey, guys, I think that something-” then gets cut off as Ant-Man attacks. And he cries “Oh God!” when Bucky hurls that sign at him, and chucks it back. That’s because both times, something was directly attacking Peter. His Spider-Sense didn’t tingle when Wanda threw the cars at Tony, or when Vision shot Rhodey down. Because that’s not how it works.

    So, while it was really great to see Spider-Man’s Spider-Sense manifest in a very clear, very cool way in Infinity War, it was not really the most accurate portrayal. That ship was miles away, and no immediate threat to Peter. It didn’t bug me or anything, I’m just being a nerd and pointing things out. Now there is a theory going around that Peter fought off disintegrating so long because his Spider-Sense warned him that it was coming, and while we’ve never seen it work that way either, there’s nothing suggesting that it doesn’t. After all, I’d say turning to dust qualifies as immediate danger! R.I.P. Spidey (sad face emoji).

  • Iron Man is Not a Hero

    WARNING! THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR! YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!

    “You may not be a threat, but you’d better stop pretending to be a hero.”

    -Captain Steve Rogers to Tony Stark, The Avengers, 2012

    Cap called it in The Avengers. Tony Stark is not a hero. And, while he may not have been a threat at that point, he certainly went on to become one. Tony is a billionaire, genius, playboy, philanthropist that got in way over his head and tried to solve problems he was never meant to. Since escaping the cave, Tony made three crucial mistakes that make Iron Man the most tragic Avenger. He revealed his identity, he lost focus of his mission, and he never stopped trying to fix his own mistakes.

    “It is one thing to question the official story and another thing entirely to make wild accusations or insinuate that I’m a superhero […] because that would be outlandish and… fantastic. I-I’m just not the hero type, clearly, with this, uh, laundry list of character defects, all the mistakes I’ve made, largely public… The truth is… I am Iron Man.”

    -Tony Stark, Iron Man, 2008

    Tony’s speech at the end of Iron Man reveals all. He stated, clearly, in his own words, that he’s not a hero. He wasn’t trying to hide the fact that he was throwing down with Stane the night before, he was telling the truth! He’s got a long list of character defects that immediately disqualify him from being a superhero, let alone trying to lead a team of them. As per Black Widow’s report in Iron Man 2, where it states that he’s compulsive, prone to self-destructive tendencies, and narcissistic, it then proceeds to say that Tony Stark is not recommended for the Avengers Initiative. In that movie alone, he used the Unibeam to blow up a watermelon in an ill-timed house party where he peed the armor and ended up throwing hands with Rhodey! Not very heroic. The only reason Nick Fury came to Stark in The Avengers is because, as Coulson stated, “This isn’t about personality profiles anymore”, and Loki had made him very desperate. So why keep suiting up? Why put on the armor? Because he told the world who he is, and the pressure to be Iron Man will never go away.

    Because he revealed himself, Tony now has no choice but to be Iron Man. Iron Man 2 is basically one big consequence to that decision. Whiplash came after him because he knew who he was. The senate came after him because they wanted the suit and knew who he was (or at least Senator Stern wanted it because he’s HYDRA). Hammer spent the entire movie trying to one up Tony because Iron Man was revealed to be his number one competitor in the weapons industry, and there was no way he could outdo that! Even in Iron Man 3, Tony was dragged into the Mandarin scheme by the media, who expected him to do something after Happy got hurt, as displayed by the “When is somebody gonna kill this guy?” comment from the one reporter. Because everyone knew he was Iron Man. And everyone expected him to fight back.

    The next big mistake Tony made was losing focus of his mission. At one point in Iron Man, he tells Pepper that he finally knows what he has to do. Yinsen told him not to waste his life, and he decided to scrap the weapons development department of Stark Industries, and then use the Iron Man armor to hunt down and destroy his weapons. So here’s what should have happened. After defeating Iron Monger, the Mk III should have been melted down for scrap, and Tony should have read Coulson’s cover story to the press. He fulfilled his promise to Yinsen, and changed for the better. Stark Industries would go on to use the Arc Reactor technology to give the world clean, free energy, and Tony would go down in history a beacon of our time. The end.

    But no, he made the Mark IV. Because Iron Man has to settle East-West relations. Then he’s got to stop Whiplash. Then he’s fighting aliens, which scars him mentally for life. Next thing you know, he’s got 42 suits, and he’s going after the Mandarin, who Rhodey explicitly states is not superhero business. So then he’s tired of being Iron Man. Why? Because he didn’t stop when he should have, so he builds Ultron, to “end the mission, and go home”. But uh-oh, Ultron is a homicidal maniac who can’t tell difference between saving the world and destroying it (where does he get that again?) so he has to go stop him. It’s over right? No, because he didn’t want to stop, as he told Cap in Civil War. Which gets us to Infinity War, where Tony decides to remain aboard Ebony Maw’s ship, headed on a crash course for Titan, despite Pepper begging him to stay, because now he wants to stop Thanos. Wait, he wants to stop a giant purple alien from destroying the universe with Infinity Stones? But his mission was to rid the world of Stark weapons. So how did it go from stopping weapon distribution in his company to fighting freaking THANOS! Because he lost sight of his original mission.

    The last thing Tony did wrong was try, and try, and try, to fix his mistakes. Because he’s a genius, everything he builds works. He’s a ‘mechanic’, he solves problems, he makes everything better. But he feels responsible for Whiplash getting the Arc Reactor technology. Heck, he told him how to improve it by doubling the rotations! So that’s a mistake he has to fix. And leaving Killian on the roof. Whoops, created the Mandarin, fix that mistake. Good. Done. Nope, Ultron literally destroyed a city, which was a mega fail! So okay, stop Ultron. But wait, Charles Spencer died in that fight, so okay, sign the Accords, maybe with some government oversight, so many things won’t go wrong. And… Cap doesn’t agree. Let the government handle him? Nah, go to war with him!

    The biggest atonement for his sins, however, is through his self-appointed role as mentor to Peter Parker. Because in Peter, he sees a young Tony. Bright eyed, brilliant minded kid with so much potential, and he has super powers! So Tony literally intercepts this kid, who’s on his own hero’s journey, and says ‘I don’t want you to screw up as many times as I did, so I’m gonna teach you how to be a superhero, and then maybe you’ll be better than me!’ Which was a mistake, because as revealed in the ferry scene, Peter was trying to imitate him! Tony had no business being Iron Man in the first place, and he’s reached the point where he’s inserted himself into this impressionable young boy’s life, and tried to teach him things he himself has yet to discover. And how did that end? With Peter apologizing, as he faded to dust in Tony’s arms.

    Iron Man is not a hero. He never should have been. Now, Thanos knows who he is, probably because he revealed himself. He’s stuck on an alien planet with nothing but Nebula and a vague hint from Doctor Strange, because he’s ventured so far from his original mission. And now he’s probably going to do something drastic in Avengers 4, because half the universe, including his protégé Spider-Man, is gone, and he has to try and fix his mistakes. This is where his path has led him. A literal worst-case scenario. So if you still think Tony being Iron Man is justified, then that’s your prerogative. But I am wholly unconvinced that, after defeating Iron Monger, he ever should have put that armor on again.

  • Infinity War Super Bowl Spot!

    First, this:

    And now bullet points! Don’t act like you don’t know me by now!

    • Well, Peter is clearly comfortable with Dr. Strange knowing his identity.

    • I wish Wanda would stop messing with the dang Mind Stone.

    • Guardians are rolling like straight up G’s.

    • “It’s all been leading to this.” A little on the nose there, Tony, but that’s fine.

    • Pretty confined space for Rocket, Groot, and Thor! And is Groot on a cellphone? Or is that his video game from the end of Vol. 2?

    • Dang Loki…

    • Peter’s going to space!?! And he’s in the Homecoming suit, not the Iron Spider, look closely!

    • Cap and Widow are ready for battle, but maybe not Vision… Look, he’s holding his side! I guess he got hurt.

    • Yes Thor, we’ve been ready since 2008. Again, on the nose, but that’s fine.

    • Well, it’s not red, white and blue… or even a circle… but Cap’s new shield is at least still made of Vibranium, so… yay! Good to know they got that man a shield.

    • A little Superior Iron Man tech in there…

    • Teen Groot ready to fight!

    • Oh, good to see Nebula… And still not Hawkeye…

    • Outrider Invasion!

    • Black Widow hitching a ride with Okoye and some other Wakandans, no big.

    • Heeeeeere’s Bucky!

    • Science/Magic combo attack!

    • And the money shot again!

    And for that last shot of Thanos, well, I’ll just leave this here…