Toys / Comics to Toys / Marvel Legends

Spider-man Classic Hobgoblin

By Hervé St-Louis
September 15, 2003 - 16:46

Marvel's Hobgoblin is one of Spider-man's classic villains and nothing short of an excellent action figure should have been made about one of the wackiest fiend of the web spinner. Fortunately, the Toy Biz Spider-man Classic Hobgoblin is a great piece worthy of his comic book counterpart.

Likeness

The Hobgoblin presented here is probably closer to the one drawn Mark Bagley than John Romita. He is skinnier. His expressions are exaggerated, his features crazier than the clean Romita character. This is good. This is the type of figure that does not need to be in a vanilla pose. The Hobgoblin looks sloppier. His cape is torn in several places. His clothes are too large.

Sculpt

This is a great sculpt, although the character is very skinny. The sculptor sculpted patterns on his fabrics in. The cape is really sweet and detailed. The character almost looks like a walking skeleton. The only problem is fixing the helmet properly on his head. It tends to cover either one of his eyes which hides some great features.

Paint

The paint job is extremely detailed. For example, the inside of Hobgoblin's cape is blue green, while the outside is brown, like the rest of his costume. Toy Biz often shades areas of its action figures. This adds much realism to the figures. Of course, the Hobgoblin benefits from this.

Scale

The Hobgoblin is a small six-inch scaled action figure. It almost seems as if he were the same size as Spider-man. Compared with Morbius, he is much smaller. However, he fits well with most Marvel Legends action figures and even DC Directs. Because he looks like a freakish scarecrow, it works. He does not need to be larger than Spider-man to infuse fear.

Stability

Because the figures' limbs are so thin, and filled with articulation, the figure's stability will suffer. However, you can try to pose him by flexing some articulations. Nevertheless, Hobgoblin's cape will probably interfere or help the figure stay up. On his glider, the figure is very sturdy, however, his large and heavy cape will push his upper body backward. He you want Hobgoblin to do the limbo, keep the cape on.

Articulation

This figure has at least 25 points of articulations at the neck, shoulder blades, shoulders, biceps, elbows, forearms, waist, hips, thighs, knees, calves, ankles, and toes. Several articulations are ball-jointed. The shoulder blade articulation allows the figure's arm to reach forward. Because the Hobgoblin's cape hides this articulation, it does not interfere with the sculpt.

Plastic

The plastic used by Toy Biz is solid and will survive manhandling from kids. The rubber parts, such as the cape and the hat are resistant enough. However, the cape slips from the peg on the back of the figure's back often.

Props

The Hobgoblin comes with his glider, a removable hat and cape. The slider consists of one piece with rubber straps where the figure's feet are inserted. There are lots of groovy details on the glider. It looks less like a high-tech construct and more like a possessed artifact. It's full of blemishes and scratches. The only thing missing in this sets are small pumpkin bombs like those the character uses in the comics.

Packaging

The figure came in a blister pack with information about other figures from the line on the back cover. Most of the card's art highlights the fact that this is a Spider-man product. Packing crews twisted the thighs of the figure and bended other limbs.

Cost

Like most Toy Biz six inch action figures, one can buy the Hobgoblin for about $7 USD. This is a very good price, when one considers the quality and articulation of the product. It is comparable to DC Direct and Mattel products in scale but with much more articulation, a better paint job and more durability.

Availability

At first the Hobgoblin was hard to find, although available in large surface retail stores rather than comic book stores. Scalpers would buy most before real collectors or kids would. Eventually, the figure's distribution increased and since, fans can get them reasonably. Toy Biz often releases similar figures in four packs after a few months. This is a great way for collectors to get it.

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12