Spider-Tracer: Spider-Force

 

Welcome back, Spidey fans! I hope you’re all having a great summer! While last month’s Spider-Tracer article looked at a Spider-Man toyline associated with water and swimming, I thought we could look at another summer theme for this month: Bugs! With that in mind, let’s go back again to 1997 and look at another Spider-Man toyline from ToyBiz, one entitled: Spider-Force!

 

Spider-Force was an odd name for a line boasting “Transforming Insect Armor” when you consider that spiders are arachnids, not insects. I mean, I get that the majority of the figures in this wave were insect-related, but still… Anyway, as I stated, all of these figures came with bits of armor that could snap onto the figures, and when you didn’t want the armor on them, you could assemble the pieces into a separate bug (or arachnid) creature. The bug armor feature provided the appeal needed to sell this line to kids (it certainly hooked me at the time), but the villains and Wasp with their comic-inspired looks were what sold this line for collectors.

 

Cybersect Spider-Man

 

 

You didn’t think we’d get another wave of Spider-Man figures without at least one Spider-Man variant, did you? Surprisingly, unlike the Vampire Wars line, this is the only Spider-Man variant present. This was the only figure from this wave that I didn’t own as a kid, since I already had a ton of Spider-Man figures by this point. This Spider-Man gets Cybersect armor, and it only has 6 legs, just like… an insect. Yeah, I still don’t regret passing on this one.

 

Beetle

 

 

Beetle gets his first action figure with the Spider-Force line, and they went for what I would argue is his best look. I wish he’d come with alternate, classic wings, but sadly, this didn’t happen. Still, Beetle was a cool figure. He had a nice sculpt, and a great paint job. We wouldn’t get this version of Beetle as an action figure again until the 2017 “Spider-Man: Homecoming” wave; a whopping 20 years! But the wait was well worth it.

 

Swarm

 

 

Swarm gets his first, and as of this article, only action figure (Hasbro should really fix this). Not only did Swarm get armor that, as I recall, fit nicely on him (and it was one of the better designs), he had an interchangeable hood and cape to give him a more accurate comic look (I recall the hood being a pain to put on and take off). Swarm had one of the coolest sculpts in the entire wave, which was done in a translucent yellow plastic. To bring out such a nice sculpt, ToyBiz gave him a bit of a brown dry-brushing of paint to highlight the details. For being a Nazi composed of bees (I can’t make this up, people), Swarm’s figure was a lot cooler than it had any right to be.

 

Tarantula

 

 

Tarantula gets his very first action figure, much like Beetle and Swarm did, in this wave. Of all the characters, Tarantula’s armor made the most sense for him (despite it being “Transforming insect armor” for another arachnid-themed character). How so? During Roger Stern’s incredible Spider-Man run, the original Tarantula became a giant tarantula monster thanks to the Brand Corporation. Now, while this armor looks nothing like the transformation in the comics, it was still a nice reference to that story. Tarantula was a good figure, and even came with his trademark pointy shoes. Strangely, he had soft goods strings on the back of his mask. Tarantula received a new figure in 2009, but it left a lot to be desired. I’d love to see Hasbro tackle him again sometime soon (maybe in a wave with Swarm, hmm?)

 

Wasp

 

 

Wasp gets her second action figure in this line, the first of which only came out a year before in an Avengers box set. However, this was her then-current look of the 90’s, back when she became a wasp-human hybrid. Yeah… it wasn’t a great time to be a Wasp fan. Anywho, while this 90’s design may not be Wasp’s most memorable, this figure captures it in plastic perfectly; it’s a really, really nice figure. What’s nice is that the wings from her armor can be plugged into her back and they look perfectly comic accurate on her. If only Beetle had gotten something similar. While Wasp being in a Spider-Man wave of figures may be a little weird, she perfectly fits the insect theme they were going for. I honestly wouldn’t mind seeing Hasbro remake this version of the Wasp due to how much I enjoyed the figure as a kid (nostalgia is a powerful thing!).

 

Did you guys have any of these figures? Who would you most like to see get a redo from Hasbro? Let me know in the comments section below!