The Amazing Bag-Man

Back in 1984, Spider-man realized that one does not pick up aliens on backwater planets in distant star systems. During Secret Wars, while trapped on Battleworld, a planet created by the Beyonder so he could play with 616’s superhero population, Peter Parker finds a black costume and decides it’s a good idea to wear it. Back on Earth, he visits the Fantastic Four and Reed Richards discovers that (gasp!) it’s alive!

They take it off our friendly neighborhood wall-crawler, who unfortunately didn’t bring a change of clothes. What’s a superhero to do? Borrow a pair of shorts, an appropriately geeky T-shirt and some flip-flops and go down the elevator like a normal guy?

Of course not.

He borrows one of the FFs spare long johns and puts a bag over his head.

And that’s how we got The Amazing Bag-Man, ladies and gentlemen. I still can’t decide if the whole thing is ridiculously silly or insanely clever. It doesn’t help that Parker brown bags it again later on as The Bombastic Bag-Man in another title. However, the fact that this obscure piece of Marvel history has gotten its own 4” figure does cause me to lean a little bit more toward somewhat cool.

 

The Amazing Bag-Man is part of Wave 19 (or Wave 3 of Series 4) and is numbered as #014. It also comes with a Collectible Comic Shot, just like Professor X, Daredevil, and Beta Ray Bill, but it’s of the cover to Amazing Spider-Man #658. It sports some awesomeart my Marko Djurdjevic, but it’s of the white Future Foundation costume. I guess it’s understandable as this figure is just a variant: the Future Foundation Spidey is the regular issue.

It’s weird how the last batch of Marvel Universe figures to turn up here (the Philippines) turned out. We got a mix of figures from 3 separate waves, with 3 different variants, but none of the regular Spider-Man figures (we got the Miles Morales Spider-Man and not the regular red and blue Ultimate version). It looks as if we missed out on Kraven, Astonishing X-Men costume Beast, She-Hulk, Punisher, Kang, Scarlett Witch, Angel, Nighthawk, Nova, Hercules, and Puck. I’m still hoping that they’ll all show up later on.

Anyway…

The figure is based on the Jim Lee Cyclops body, which has already been used for Daredevil, Bullseye, and Adam Warlock, plus the aforementioned white guy. Since I’ve been out of the loop for a while, I may have missed a few. It’s a fantastic mold with tons of useful articulation, though it can be a little bit flimsy after you’ve played with it a while.

He does get a few nice changes to the original figure though. They changed his feet to make him comic accurate, a step that I’ve got to acknowledge. Hasbro could have easily just given him boots, but they went the extra step and sculpted bare feet complete with toes. They’ve also given him a new head, which again, could have been lost. It is after all covered with a bag. They could have just have easily used any other head in their library, or done away with a head all together and just sculpted the bag out of solid plastic.

You can even remove the bag if you’re careful. It’s glued to his head by a small patch at the back. A little cautious worrying away with a knife will get that sucker loose in no time, at which point it makes almost as great an accessory as Smart Hulk’s glasses!

 

 

As I don't really follow the Fantastic Four, I have no idea if there are any plastic versions of the team with these duds on. I'm not about to buy another Fantastic Four boxset just so that he's got perfectly matched playmates. As long as they're all in blue, I think I'm fine.

I would fork over serious cash for a Nova Flame Torch, though. Got to love those translucent action figures.

 

So is this a good buy?

It's not for the casual collector, I'll give you that. I figure if you’re a completist for Marvel Universe, Spider-Man, or The Fantastic Four, then you'll need to secure yourself one of these. Otherwise he's probably an easy pass.

However, considering the fun factor involved here, I would give him a strong, personal recommendation. This is a well-made, well-articulated figure that sports some great additions to the basic body. The blonde Peter Parker   head alone would be great for customs. Re-paint this guy in skin tone and you've got a perfectly naked man.

I think it'd be a laugh riot to have a display with a streaker in the background.

One thing I do hate, is the hands. They've used a gripping hand for him, and I don't see the sense in it. It's Spider-Man guys. Use his thwip hand dammit, and either a fist for the other one. You did the same thing for The Amazing Spider-Man line's Ultraposeable Spider-Man, and look how annoying that was. Perfectly good figure, and you went and gave useless hands.

Still, he's a fun figure. Definitely a good buy.