Ben Reilly is getting a lot of love lately in the comics so it’s fitting that Medicom, under their Mafex toy line, join in, creating one of their best Spideys to date!
Similar to his “brother” Peter, Ben comes in a red-framed window box, allowing you to see all the included accessories. I love the Marvel character box in the upper left corner, giving it that comic book feel. As with Peter (Mafex 75), Ben gets his own unique art, complete with dialogue balloon. Various logos, Ben’s spider, and shots of the figure posed adorn the sides of the box, with the back reserved for showcasing the different headswaps and a few more poses for good measure.
While the packaging is sensational, what you really wanna know is if the figure matches that quality. YES. Ben is my third Mafex (the other two being Spider-Man comic version and ITSV Miles) and he surpasses my expectations. While similar in packaging and design to Spider-Man (comic version), the figure comes more organized in the box, with clear plastic tabs linking the hand pairings together, making for less disruption when you initially take the figure out of the box. Trust me, it’s no fun having Spidey’s hands and feet go flying when you’re trying to get a different piece out of the packaging.
The figure’s plastic seems to be softer, but still high quality, making it very easy to swap out the included hands, feet, and heads. The blue of Ben’s costume is very vibrant, particularly when paired next to Peter. It’s very eye catching and stands out when displayed with other figures.
Ben Reilly comes with three heads-one with wide eye lenses (similar to Mark Bagley), one with a more standard eye size (Sal Buscema influenced?), and a Ben Reilly head, which, yes, looks very similar to the Peter figure, only with blonde hair and a different hair style. There is also a folded mask accessory included, for the unmasked Ben to hold.
In addition to the fists that come on the figure, Ben comes with six additional sets of hands.
- Wall-crawling
- Wall-crawling with magnets
- Relaxed
- Relaxed with peg to hold mask
- Web-shooting
- Web-line holding
Ben also comes with an additional pair of feet with magnets at the bottom, enabling him to stick to your fridge or metal surfaces. Furthermore, he comes with six different web-lines, featuring three different lengths. Topping it off is a clear plastic base.
The sculpt on this figure is excellent. It’s the same buck as the Mafex #75 Spidey, meaning it’s a clone of that figure. The external web-shooters are sculpted on, so some of your web-shooting poses won’t line up with the nozzle. The web lines and spider on the costume are sculpted in as well, with paint apps being near-perfect on my figure and more filled in than on my Peter Parker version. The various joints are all tight, allowing for poses to hold. With the amount of articulation, you can get some pretty extreme Spidey poses to match your favorite artist (though some of those McFarlane/Larsen ones are challenging to get just right).
For me, this is the definitive Ben Reilly Spider-Man figure. The colors are bold, the costume is accurate, and the variety of accessories and poses that can be achieved are plentiful. Having the extra heads lets you trick up your Spidey mood and the magnets, while it would be nice if they were a little stronger (Ben seems to need both feet and a hand to stay on the fridge well), are a welcomed touch of fun, offering some freedom from the plastic base. It’s another home run for Mafex, whetting my appetite further for when their Black Costumed Spidey comes out later this year!
