Welcome back, Spidey fans! Summer is here, and by the time you read this, I’ll be on vacation at the beach! Knowing this got me thinking about what to write about for the July Spider-Tracer article, and I had a nice flashback to my childhood. Back in 1997, ToyBiz released a series of water-themed Spider-Man figures, though, ironically, Hydro-Man wasn’t included. I thought this would be the perfect time of year to take a look back at these figures, so let’s get right to it, shall we?
For this article, we’ll just be taking a look at the first set of Web-Splashers figures, though it was a concept ToyBiz returned to a few times over the years. These figures all featured inflatable rafts and air pumps that I seem to recall not working all that well. Up first, we have…
Black Sea Venom
While I usually prefer canon looks, there was no denying how cool this figure was! If you ever wondered what the Creature from the Black Lagoon would look like with a symbiote, then wonder no further! The thing that I thought was really great about this guy was his left hand; it featured a second Venom head in place of where the hand should be! The jaw on that arm was articulated and it was a lot of fun to play around with. Venom also came with a symbiote-covered stingray which acted an inflatable raft for him to float around on; I think it was the coolest of all the inflatable rafts in this line, but that’s just me.
Sea Diver Spidey
Send in the Spidey variants! Here we have Spidey in a diving suit, complete with a removable helmet for breathing under water. His raft was a floating sea spider. I mean, sure, Spidey might need a suit to breath underwater if he’s expecting an extended stay under the water. Also, if you ever wanted to see Spider-Man with flippers on his feet, then this figure is for you!
Deep Sea Dr. Octopus
This may be the oddest look Doc Ock has had to date, and for a guy with four tentacles (usually) on his back, that’s saying a lot! This Doc Ock sports a one-eyed optical mask, tentacles growing out of his left forearm, and he’s super buff with scales. While he doesn’t have any tentacles on his back in this form, he does include a tentacle raft to float around in.
Sea Hunter Spidey
This Spider-Man figure featured removable flippers that slid over his tiny feet, webbed fingers, a removable diving mask, red raft with webs painted on it, some strange spider that clipped onto his back (I think), and… sticks that help him paddle through the water? I’m not sure what these are and if anyone has any idea, let me know down in the comments section below. It’s worth noting that this Spider-Man also included a big spider painted on his chest on what was an otherwise classic-looking costume (save for the webbed hands, of course).
Shark Trap Spidey
So, I have to admit, for just another Spider-Man variant, this one was pretty cool as a kid. He featured a translucent aqua body suit. Sure, it makes little sense (unless it’s a cloaking feature, but, then why wouldn’t the whole figure be translucent, you know?), but it looked great to six-year-old me. This Spider-Man variant featured a trident and a raft that acted as a shark trap cage. The shark always looked more like a piranha to me (with a Venom-inspired face, because… why not, I guess?), but hey, at least the Spidey figure was interesting to look at and play with.
Did you guys have any of these figures, whether as a kid or as a collector? If so, which one(s) were your favorites? Let me know in the comments section below!
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I have a childhood memory of spotting that awesome Venom in Toys-R-Us back in the day, but not being able to get it at the time. I then never was able to find it again afterwards. I did get the Doc Ock from this and then both Hydro-Venom and the Carnage figure from its sequel series. I always saw that Doc Ock as a cool design for a multi-verse alternate of the character.
I have Carnage in the web splashers series, it was kind of strange as he looked all crystallized and he was floating on symbiote mount on water.
That Venom is so cool!
While I haven’t any of these specifically, I recall owning two Spider-man figures adapted for water enviroment that came with a red spherical pump, so they may be from further iterations of this line.
One was some kind of water version of a black costume, while the other was a bulked-up Spider-man with webbed hands and a dorsal fin(!). About the latter I remember my parents gifted me with one at Epiphany, without realizing they did the same with both many years prior. 🙂 Such a sweet memory.