Daily Figure Review #59: Doc Ock Deluxe Figure (Spider-Man 2 Package, 2023) Marvel Legends
The last new Legends figure I received in 2023 may be the best of the year, though it has its flaws. I’m talking about Doc Ock, part of the Spider-Man: No Way Home wave of figures, but a deluxe release in Spider-Man 2 packaging.
Regarding the branding of this figure, I can’t deny that I’m a bit disappointed that with all the No Way Home figures we’ve gotten, this is a Doc Ock that only appears in the movie for a couple of minutes. I loved the look of the Stark nanotech-infused tentacles that Ock sported for most of No Way Home and wanted that in figure form. I can only guess licensing issues for Alfred Molina’s likeness stood in the way (much as I assume the same is why we got Andrew Garfield’s likeness on an Amazing Spider-Man 2 branded figure). Molina may have signed his likeness away back during the Toy Biz days for Spider-Man 2 figures but not been willing to do the same for No Way Home. That’s the only thing that makes sense for the packaging.
But I love the movie Spider-Man 2 and am excited to get Molina’s Otto Octavius in any 6-inch plastic form.
This is a deluxe release at a very reasonable price of $39. Given that a regular Legends figure is $25, I wouldn’t have been shocked to see Doc Ock sell for $50 or more. The fact that he comes with four giant tentacles makes this figure large and well worth the asking price.
The tentacles are truly the selling point of this figure. The plastic covering is ridged, giving them a nice tactile look and feel. They are wired so that you can bend them in any direction. The wires are stiff, so it takes a bit of force to get them into the desired pose, but once you have them posed, they stay that way. We’ve had several comic and TV animation-styled Doctor Octopus figures lately, and none have had tentacles this impressive and sturdy. The tentacles have interchangeable pincers at the end, and the figure ships with six. Two are fixed in a gripping pose, two are articulated, and two are oversized “feet.” They are overly large and slightly out of scale, but that is worth it for their stability when standing Ock high on his robotic “legs.” That’s right–you can balance this Doc Ock on his tentacles and have him suspended in the air without using a flight stand. The ease with which he stood wowed me immediately.
The body of the figure itself is pretty standard. The long, soft plastic trenchcoat inhibits much leg mobility. The arms and legs are pinless (always my preference). And he has four interchangeable hands–two loose “grip” hands and two fists. The detailed trenchcoat has a silver zipper molded and painted down the front. The “tearing” of the coat where the tentacles popped out the back is another nice touch.
His glasses are not removable which obscures a bit of the Molina face sculpt. The facial likeness is excellent, though perhaps not as spot-on as Willem Dafoe’s face on the Deluxe Green Goblin figure. There’s something about the jaw that pulls away from the Molina likeness. I think perhaps the neck is too thin for Molina’s pudgy appearance in Spider-Man 2 and that makes him not quite perfect–but close enough for sure.
So now the downside… As I continued to pose and play with this figure, the wires in the tentacles became more malleable. While this made them easier to pose, I found it near-impossible to get him standing on the tentacles again–they started to slide out from under the weight of the figure. This makes me think that if displayed standing on the tentacles in the long term, these will slide out and cause a figure avalanche on a shelf.
Unfortunately, the figure is also hard to stand on his own two feet. The tentacles coming out the back are heavy and create a center of gravity well behind the figure’s body. I had to use a figure stand to get him to stay standing for very long, and even then, the tentacles had to be stretched in front of the body to pull the center of gravity forward.
It’s a great figure, just hampered by its ability to stand on either set of its own two feet. Yet, despite that flaw, it’s still one of my favorite figures released in 2023! It looks awesome when posed with the recently released “Friendly Neighborhood” (Tobey Maguire) Spider-Man figure.
