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Name: Super Man Spider
Distributor: KAZI
Model: 87001, 87004
Pcs: 112+, 143+
I think I made my opinion of Spider-Man pretty clear the last time we talked about him. He's a hero that I WANT to like, one of the most energetic, agile, and comical of the original 60s Marvel universe. And as Spider-Man, he's a lot of fun. ...As Peter Parker, he's unbearable. I am SO sick of his self-loathing, ignorant, heedless, irresponsible attitude, where he thinks that the world around him doesn't exist while he's "in the zone", then is suddenly shocked by the fact that his actions had consequences and his only recourse is to beat himself up until he can find someone else to blame for his problems!
For a guy whose tagline is "With great power comes great responsibility", he's one of the most irresponsible people I've ever seen! He never learns, never grows, and never plans ahead, so he'll forever be making the same mistakes he did when he first started and WE'LL be the ones paying for it...
Again, I'm speaking of the comics pre-One More Day. I'm not necessarily referring to the various TV and movie universes, each with its own take on how he acts and reacts, and I know nothing about the newer comic runs, including this parallel Spider-Gwen thing. As far as I'm concerned, Spider-Man is dead to me. ...As well as Marvel as a whole, but I digress...
Still, seeing as how I featured a Spider-Man Plug n Play game two months ago*, and since Spider-Man Homecoming has hit home media, I guess we should also take a look at the Spider-Man brick sets I have lying around. I only have a handful, so might as well tackle them all at once.
*It's always wonderful to be reminded of how rarely I can update...
We'll start with the slightly-less legal side of things with these Spider-Man sets from KAZI.
Yes, the same company responsible for those fidget spinners I did a while back. I told you a more in-depth look was coming up, so here it is. ...I try to keep SOME promises sometimes...
At first, KAZI was a little hard to find information on. A quick web search just left the engines scratching their heads, save for some listings on AliExpress and DHGate. However, I eventually found that they have an official store on AliExpress, which also serves as a basic homepage for the brand.
Including a VERY poorly translated "Brand Story" About page. You think my paragraphs devolve into walls of text? Try looking at this and coming out with anything legible... Basically, it boils down to "Building bricks are good for developing intelligence, we create a few of our own, and we sell and grow periodically."
Further down the page, it states that KAZI is owned by KY Toy Industry Co., Ltd, or, as it's more commonly known as, KaiYu Toys.
KaiYu* Toys is a Chinese toy company located in Chenghai, where most of these Chinese building brick companies seem to be based as the previously-seen Square Toys and LOZ Toys are also headquartered there.
*Or Kai Yu, as it seems to alternate back and forth.
On their "About Us" page, they boast over 20 years of experience, plus their own plastics production and skilled technical force.
Of which none are web designers, apparently, since the links on the sides lead to nothing...
Besides KAZI, they also own the building brick brand GBL(or Gao Bo Le). Why do they have two different building brick lines? ...The same reason this blue-skinned, spikey-haired guy is riding an AT-ST to fire a crossbow at a Beast Wars figure.
Strangely, they have ANOTHER building brick brand under the name "Bozhi", which isn't featured on their homepage and is only present in an overview of all their products. ...Though seeing as how the name is applied to what are clearly Lego bootlegs, maybe they didn't want to make it THAT obvious.
They also own a brand of regular plastic vehicles and knockoff Transformers figures called Rong Da.
As well as one called Ying Long, which features... Absolutely nothing. I smell a tax dodge...
But enough about the other brands. What about KAZI?
KAZI is one of the more prolific knock-off building brick names, with dozens of sets labeled with their logo.
Most of it falls in the standard generic building brick categories, like Military, Fire, Police, Construction, etc.
Though they also have lines based on Pirates and Transformers, so that's a nice change up.
They also have a category on the KaiYu site under the name "Betsey Johnson." And instead of it being full of gaudy brick figure apparel, as you'd assume something with that name would be, it's actually a line of anime sea creatures...
Now you'd probably have to be a fish to be attracted to a dress like this, but I'm not sure if advertising your marine brick sets under the Betsey Johnson name would attract the audience you're seeking...
They also straight up trick you by listing a category as "Starcraft", then filling it with generic space sets. ...Too bad. I was looking forward to constructing additional pylons.
As far as I can tell, unlike the Bozhi brand, they haven't straight-up bootlegged an existing set from another company. ...However, they're clearly not afraid to produce original lines based on existing properties they most likely don't have the license for. Like these NOT-Disney's Cinderella sets.
Or these NOT Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 sets. ...Which clearly say "Red Alert 3" on the boxes...
And, of course, Spider-Man. ...Which they seem to LOVE producing sets of!
Strangely*, all Spider-Man sets have been removed from their main site. But that doesn't mean they're out of print. Far from it!
*Or not, considering they're blatantly advertising that they're selling unofficial Spider-Man toys.
Just a quick search on AliExpress or eBay brings up several different KAZI Spider-Man sets, mostly featuring the title character in different vehicles.
Including, of course, spider-shaped rides.
I'd remark about the fact that Spider-Man isn't exactly a superhero associated with any vehicle and Peter Parker is a usually broke photographer/science teacher who doesn't exactly have two coins to rub together for a hero-centric ride. ...But this is far from the first time he's been paired with a vehicle.
Including other building brick sets, as I'll feature next.
And with that, let's actually talk about what's in front of us today.
For starters, I'm apparently a huge liar, since these aren't "Spider-Man" brick sets. They're "Super Man Spider" sets. And yes, that's what the Chinese text above it says as well.
So clearly, the set should look like this.
Now here's a surprise for one of these unofficial sets, especially after the Fidget Spinner Showcase: The Model Numbers actually have a sequence and they're not all the same! ...And this is where it gets slightly more confusing.
Not only are there numerous unofficial Spider-Man sets from Kazi, but they're apparently also grouped into subsets. What I have here are the "87000" series, specifically 87001 and 87004.
But there are sets that have different numbering, such as this set, which belongs to the "6000" series. How many are in this series, I have no idea.
I was tempted to get at least the 87002 and 87003 sets shown on the back of the box, but due to time and budget constraints, plus the fact that the current two give me more than enough to work with, I decided to go with what I have. Maybe I'll get the other two later. ...But most likely not.
Another welcome return to this blog that these boxes have? Exciting box art! You can clearly see what each box contains and what sort of action they had in mind for both.
It makes a welcome change from just a shot of the model standing there!
For this set, Spider-Man is flying a biplane through the skies of some stock city scape, motion lines emanating from the propellers and front of the plane to show just how fast he's going. Behind him is the villain, also traveling fast and shooting lasers at Spider-Man, nearly hitting him with each blast.
While here, Spider-Man and the villain are locked in mortal combat in the alleyways of a dark, Old Eastern town, Spider-Man's spider robot shooting lasers out of its front cannons that the villain counters with his laser gun. There are clear ghost images surrounding them both, showing that they're not only moving in the fight, but that certain parts are articulated. Not THAT'S how to sell a brick set! ...Heck, that's how to sell us any kind of toy! 2 years of marketing class at college taught me at least* that much.
*Or possibly at most
They're so proud of this artwork, that's the only art they have! They just repeat it on the top and back of the box.
...Though they couldn't afford the stock footage's salary for the back of the box.
However, they did attempt something a little clever with their reuse of the artwork, as they split it for the sides so that one side has Spider-Man and the other has the villain. It's a cheap alteration, but nice that they even bothered with it.
Almost makes me forget that the cardboard for these boxes is so coarse, you could cut tomatoes with it...
But it's not a knockoff Chinese brick set without a bit of reused Engrish promotion, and today's offering tells us that this set helps "By developing intelligence, and inspiring potential. To make children grow up with happiness." Again, it's the same in Chinese. If you're making MY proofreading and formatting look good, you're in trouble...
What I especially love about this packaging is that it boasts "112+/143+" pieces, as if THEY'RE not even sure! ...Was there a sale on Egg Foo Young that day, so the guys in charge of counting stopped 2 minutes early, gave the printer the number they had counted up to, and told the printer "Eh, just print it and put a + sign next to it. These crazy Westerners will buy anything we make, so the + sign will just make it more weird and appealing to them." ...Well, guilty as charged, so can't fault their logic there.
I'm almost tempted to count them myself, but it's possible they counted every segment(e.g. counting the tires and rims separately), so my number will probably differ. ...Plus I have better things to do than count each individual piece in a brick set.
Like watching Skylanders Academy for the third time!
The bottom of the box gives us the same address and contact information from the KAZI Finger Spinners, so we'll skip that. Lack of Engrish.
But yes, even for KAZI, there's a "0-3" warning
But a "6+" on the front
Anyone between those ages is webbed up. And that spider's looking a little hungry...
Alright, true believers! It looks like our friend Spidey is ready to go into action! Let's speed his return with some quick formatting. Excelsior!
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And one terrible bootleg Stan Lee impression later, we have our line of terrible knockoff Spider-Man sets! ...It was quite a chore to put these together, not helped in the slightest by the instructions...
These instructions are CROWDED! All the steps of a 100+ piece brick set are jammed onto one sheet of paper, with very little spacing. It's incredibly difficult to keep track of what the next step is and what pieces go where.
And I don't mean "one sheet" as in both models get their own sheets. No no, I mean that there's ONE SHEET! The instructions for one of the models is on one side, and the other model gets the back. So they're cramming two different models onto one sheet of paper meant for a much smaller set! ...I guess this is proof that they barely gave a sheet...
Just TRY to follow these instructions without having to concentrate on what step is what to the point your face is pressed flat against the sheet!
Not helped by the fact the sheet is folded and crumpled beyond belief! This isn't something I did, this is how the instructions were packaged... ...What's the point of making an instruction sheet/booklet this size if it's not going to fit in the box?!
I especially love, though, that instead of putting the instructions to put together the minifigs at the beginning or end, as most brick set instructions do, they smack it right in the middle of the sheet, so you have to basically work around the less important minifigure section while keeping track of where you are in putting together the model! ...I think these may just be the most incompetent instructions we've had yet on this blog! They make the Pokemon Freely Joint Micro Blocks look like a toddler's board book!
Just let the poor quality of the instructions serve as an indicator for what you'll be getting with this set, because along with the confusing instructions, they've included some of the worst quality bricks I've ever come across!
If you just see these bricks from a distance, you might think they're not that far off from standard building brick quality. ...But once you actually touch them, you'll find that this about as cheap as building brick plastic can get while still holding a solid shape! It's VERY cheap-feeling, nearly uncomfortably so, with an oily residue that comes off on your fingers! Your finger will simply flow along the sides of these bricks if you rub it against them, that's how greasy and cheap these are! Simply by rubbing one spot for an hour or two, I'm convinced you could noticeably wear one of these bricks down!
Besides the overly cheap feel these bricks have, other low-quality traits of cheapo building bricks are all present here as well. Most notably that there was no attempt to keep stud sizes standard. On quite a few bricks, especially the translucent ones, you can clearly see stress lines from having to shove these bricks on a stud clearly made slightly too large for it to fit on!
Heck, with the glider model here, the flames have actually cracked the little binoculars piece they were inserted into!
Oh, and it's a crap shoot on if the little claws on the glider will actually keep the wings in place, or just have them flop around like a dollar-store rubber bat.
The worst offenders, however, are the joints. They can either fit too loosely to stay in place or too tightly to move. And that just creates more stress on the plastic!
On more than one occasion, the joints would click so tightly, that trying to take them off would actually snap one of the bricks! And they never worked right after being superglued back...
Add onto that obvious sprue fragments, molding lines, and plastic runoff, and you really have to wonder why KAZI wanted to take credit for producing these bricks...
So let's move on from complaining about plastic quality for a minute and look at the models themselves, starting with the biplane/glider "87001" set. ...Of the sets, this one is the more believable. We've seen the glider in multiple Spider-Man movies and media, and I can believe that Spider-Man could build a plane to lead the villain on a chase. ...He wouldn't normally have the funds to do so and he'd probably end up destroying it at the end, but it's possible.
Obviously, this isn't the first time Spider-Man's been paired with a plane. Though I haven't found anything where he's flying one in a movie, show, or comic.
But here's a comic where he has a Spider-VAN! That's something...
The plane is a standard biplane model, something that you could easily use for any set and it would fit right in. It's really just the color scheme that makes it blend in with the Spider-Man universe.
Oh, and the spider symbol on the front of the plane. ...Because the colors wouldn't make it obvious enough who's flying this plane...
The two engines both have spinning propellers and are able to swing left and right as they're attached by a small rod to the brick behind them.
Though if those are the engines, then what are these green cylinders on either side of the backs of the wings? Exhaust ports? Lasers? I'm asking because we're not shown anything coming out of them on the box artwork.
Maybe they're Kryptonite crystals for his next bout with Superman? Only a science major would attach Kryptonite to plane wings!
And, as we all know, the best way to steer a plane is with a steering wheel...
Next, we have the goblin glider. ...Not a terrible interpretation either. It's a little bland, given the low count and genericness of the pieces, but it does look like what it's trying to be, and the mix of gray and green colors does give it a high-tech goblin look.
I'd point out that, being a glider, the footholds are supposed to be on the wings, not the center. ...But seeing as how this is a Lego knockoff, it's virtually impossible to design a glider to work that way with contemporary brick figures. ...Only the most relevant complaints on this blog, folks!
According to the front of the box, these pieces are supposed to be laser cannons. ...I like it. They can clearly serve that purpose and they add to the aerodynamic build of the model. It's something cheap, yet fits the build in both the real world and the universe this supposedly exists in.
Same goes for these jets on the back. ...Though like I pointed out, there's a crack in the engine, so he might want to get that looked at before he's suddenly flying a giant ball of flame. ...Actually, at that point, the giant ball of flame would be flying HIM!
My favorite part, however, are these little detail bricks on the bottom. You can probably tell that these are the little joints that attach to a box to create a hinged piece. Only here, they're used to stand the glider up! ...This is why I love to collect these unofficial sets. These underground developers sometimes find unique ways to think outside the box.
Or maybe the spider symbol on the plane was a decoy and it actually pops off to reveal something designed specifically meant to grab the glider by seizing one of the pieces on the bottom? ...See, I can think outside the box too!
So after their epic air battle, it's time to take it to the ground and pull out the big guns. ...Now this is where the comic book style comes into play, with wildly imaginative vehicles of mass destruction that are, of course, built specifically with their riders in mind. Time, money, and practicality be damned. If you're any level of genius in comics, you can just throw these together using parts scattered around your workplace or some junkyard and still have time to catch Game of Thrones.
Believe it or not, there actually IS a canon Spider-Man vehicle shaped like a spider! The Spider-Copter, which can be found in several comics AND the Disney Infinity 2.0 game as a Power Disc! ...I legitimately didn't expect to find anything when I searched for the various vehicles of Spider-Man.
Speaking of vehicles, here's Spider-Man's mech warrior Leopardon from his Japanese giant robot show. ...Yes, that happened. And it led to what would eventually become Power Rangers, believe it or not.
Now in comparison to the more mainstream Spider-Man spider vehicles, this one looks a lot more cobbled together. It has something to give it mobility, a weapons system, something on the back I have no idea what it does, and a control panel and chair. ...That's it. They weren't going for advanced cosmetics with this one. ...But I think that's more a Batman thing than a Spider-Man thing.
However, you can drop the laser guns down to really give it a spider-like appearance. ...A goofy, hillbilly spider-like appearance, but it's there.
The vehicle has three sets of legs, and the front and back are hinged to give each leg about 90° of movement.
But, since this is supposed to be a spider and they only gave it six legs, the Design score will of course be a 0/5. Cause I'm evil like that.
In all seriousness, I DO like this design. It's a cheap but creative version of a vehicle that I could see Spider-Man associated with. Not in the main cannon, but since Spider-Man with a vehicle or accessory is a lot more exciting to buy than just a Spider-Man, it gives you more for your money.
However, I have NO idea what this is. I understand it's supposed to resemble a spider abdomen and add to the overall cosmetic, but in terms of functionality, what purpose does it serve? The only thing I can think of that this part can serve as is the engine. ...But then why is it hinged? And wouldn't that just make it a huge "hit me here" sign for the villains.
And on top of the green laser cannons on the front, there are also these two spear things on the front legs. ...Are they guns too? Spear launchers? Overglorified hood ornaments? They look more like something that could break off in battle than actually serve a purpose.
Look at me trying to find logic in the comic book universe...
The next "vehicle" is much easier to comprehend. ...Mostly because they straight-up bootlegged Doc Ock's arms.
Seriously, there's nothing else they could be mistaken for. They're four robotic appendages that are attached to the villain's back. They KNEW what they were doing when they included these!
Admittedly, it's not the EXACT same thing. The Lego figures features different hands and a different way to attach the arms to the figure, but it's quite obvious this is what the designers at KAZI had in mind when they created this accessory. I'd say they got the wrong villain, but, as I'll explain later, I don't know what villain they were aiming for in the first place!
But theft aside, these are easily the best part of these sets, and the major reason why I had to buy these back when. This was a time before I had this blog and I was just starting to collect knockoff brick sets, so I wasn't collecting with the intention to show them off and I had to be really convinced about a set before I bought it. And when this popped up, I KNEW I had to have it!
Each arm has 4 joints, including the hand, allowing for a good amount of poseability. They can stretch roughly 180° around front and 90° around back, but it depends on how flexible the subpar plastic is in the bricks included...
Instead of being attached with a backpack-like brick, these attach to the back of a Lego-esque figure's legs, meaning the brick figure must have 4 holes on their legs for these to work.
Sorry, little official Lego guy. Can't do nuthin for ya.
However, this method does mean that the figure will be permanently slightly hunched over. ...That can't be good on the back...
It also means that the figure will be slightly hovering above the bricks and won't properly connect to any studs. To rectify this, they put this small transparent brick on the bottom of the machine, meaning it'll stand, but it needs a bit of space to do so. ...I like it. It keeps the model poseable on a brick plate and is barely noticeable. It's something I wish more cheap brick producers would have considered for their sets. ...We'll be getting into a few of the more awkward ones shortly...
I guess if I had to complain, I really wish the wrists had more movement, as they're just the same joints the rest of the arm uses. They could have done the same thing the official Doc Ock minifigs do and just be a claw inserted into a socket, because that would give the hands 360° rotation and be a LOT easier to pose. ...But it's likely they had a limited range of bricks to work with and, considering the quality of the plastic, the socket probably would have cracked in half when the claw was inserted... Can't win either way...
But at least they included this piece of debris for the arms to throw when the minifig feels like going on a rampage! That makes up for everything! ...Ok, it doesn't, but these are so cool, there's not much to complain about anyway!
So those are the vehicles of the sets. How about the minifigures that pilot them?
They're the exact same figures for both sets, one Spider-Man and one villain. ...And the quality on these minifigures isn't any better than the bricks...
They have the same problems common with cheap brick figures. Joints are either too loose or too tight, not guaranteeing that the pieces will all fit together and making posing these things a nightmare...
Not even the hands will fit in the arm sockets, and trying to force them in only leaves stress marks on the arms...
This is probably because, for some strange, frustrating reason, they molded the arms to be too long and curve downward! ...How do you even make a mistake like this?! Just make a hand mold, cut the arm peg off at a point, and stick them in the socket! This should be about as easy as manufacturing a standard 2x2 red brick...
The paint job's also quite poor, as you can clearly see the white paint escaping the mask's eyes and that some of it has rubbed off before even being packaged...
Specks of white have somehow even made it to the back of the mask! While making the video, I kept trying to wipe them off, thinking it was fragments of the putty I use. ...Again, how do you even make a mistake like this?
Also, uneven plastic runoff on the legs...
One of the Spider-Men can't even fit properly on any of the vehicles...
Anyway, let's talk about the figures themselves. Starting with Spider-Man, we have quite a nice, custom mold. To the point where I'm debating if this is nicer than the official Lego minifigure. ...Despite the quality flaws I've already mentioned.
They've used a custom head for these figures, one that's much more human-like and "masky" than the normal Lego figure head. That alone deserves a bit of applause for actually creating an original head design instead of using the traditional Lego mold.
That means I can't stack anything on top of his head, but for such a detailed and original mold, I don't feel like I need to.
They got around the problem of how to displace the air when a head without air holes on top is put on by making the socket square instead of round. ...And it surprisingly works very well, to the point where I wouldn't have noticed they changed the shape if I didn't actually check.
The torso is where differences start really popping up. First of all, the spider logo is white, for some reason. I did search for a costume variant where it's the traditional red-and-black suit but with a white spider, but couldn't find anything. Maybe there's something, but it just looks awkward white instead of black.
Also, it's clearly been layered on top of the background, as you can see the black showing through it.
Then you have... Whatever these blue triangles are on the sides. My best guess is that they're pockets that are sewn into the front. ...Which seems like quite a design flaw if you ask me. Put something in those pockets then swing through the skies or perform acrobatics while fighting a villain, they'll fall out in the first few seconds...
But, most interestingly, there's a fabric line right at the waist, showing that it's at least a two-piece outfit. There's a bit of debate as to how many pieces Spider-Man's costume is, but the way this is designed, it's much less seamless than the regular Spider-Man outfit.
In fact, with how much more this resembles a sweatshirt than a spandex top, comparisons could be made to the Spider-Man Homecoming costume! ...Maybe KAZI should sue Marvel?
The back is also a bit different, as it's the same webbed pattern as the front, but with a black circle containing a red spider. Usually, the back is a solid blue with either a red, cartoonish spider logo or a much larger version of the front logo. ...Now I'm just dying to see what a real suit comprised of these details would look like...
The legs are normal Lego-esque legs with the normal red-and-blue Spider-Man pattern.
However, the studs that connect them to the torso are absolutely tiny. You don't even need to pull downward to detach them. Any crack anywhere will work just as well. In fact, I think it's the terrible plastic quality that's keeping them attached more than the studs themselves...
And now, the moment you've all been waiting for: the villain of the sets. ...Yes. Somebody approved this design...
What even is this guy?! Green skin, spiky purple hair, sunglasses, black gloves, a black sleeveless jacket?! It's like the Green Goblin went through a mid-life crisis and joined a biker gang! A Japanese biker gang!
And your guess is as good as mine what his torso is! It looks like he's wearing a black vest, completely unbuttoned, with the middle of his chest exposed and a large cummerbund around his waist!
I think we may have just unseated Gambit as the strangest casual wear ever...
Also, if we're assuming that green is his actual skin color. ...He's not wearing pants... Or maybe he's wearing a thong...
The hairpiece is interestingly made out of rubber, similarly to the hair from the Lite Brix sets. A very soft rubber, so you can squeeze it with your fingers and there's quite a bit of give to it. Still, it holds its shape, which is more than can be said for the plastic...
And with the hairpiece off, you can clearly see they went for a more traditional Lego-style round head instead of a custom job.
Heck, even the legs are inconsistent with the Spider-Man figure, as these are hollowed out on the back instead of solid like a regular Lego character! It's like two different companies made the minifigures for these sets!
In fact, that might be the case, though they're still produced by the same parent company. GBL, one of the other building brick lines from KaiYu Toys, also produced these Jurassic Park knockoff sets, and you can see that the figure here has the exact same hair mold. However, I don't own one of these sets(yet), so I don't know if the legs are the same Still, it's as good a theory as any that GBL and KAZI were both used to produce the minifigures for these sets.
Before we go, I guess he does need a name besides "the villain", so we'll give him the name of...
THE UNSTABLE BUBBA EMERALD! ...I hope I don't have to explain why.
So, Unstable Bubba Emerald #1, you take your bombs and your glider and go fight Spider-Man in his biplane
And Unstable Bubba Emerald #2, you take your gun and robotic arms and trash Spider-Man and his Spider-Bot.
...And you can go home.
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Quality: The quality of the plastic, bricks, and minifigures is wretched. Besides leaving a greasy residue on your fingers when you so much as touch it, there's clear sprue remnant, plastic runoff, rough edges, warped studs and sockets, and an inconsistency in mold sizes, so bricks will either not connect or connect so tightly that they produce stress marks or even cracks. Plus, as I pointed out, some some of the bricks, the joints especially, can fit so snugly that they break when I try to remove them! The minifigures have joints that are either too loose to stay or too tight to move, the painting is splotchy, and it can be a chore just to get them to sit or stand. The only points I can give them is that the plastic feels solid enough to make a connection and not warp through pressure alone. It is some of the cheapest plastic and molding I've ever seen, and considering previous entries on this blog(such as Racer II and the Inside Out minifigures), that's saying something!
Design: They've designed pretty well constructed models that fit the superhero universe just fine, though they're possibly a bit watered down due to their budget set factor. The glider looks like a glider, something you'd expect a company like Lego to include in one of their Green Goblin sets, just not as flashy or custom built as their take would be. The biplane is pretty standard and could fit in most any set, but the colors and addition of the spider logo show that some thought went into making it fit the Spider-Man motif. However, the spider robot and Doc Ock's arms are what REALLY stand out. The spider robot really does look like something Spider-Man would build and pilot(most likely either in toy form or on one of the shows meant for a younger audience), and I'm impressed that, if you position everything correctly, it DOES look like a spider. Plus it's nice that they included hinges for the legs. And while the idea for the robotic arms is clearly stolen, they did make them original enough to keep them from being a straight-up bootleg and to fix the problem an accessory that attaches to the minifigures legs would cause. Overall, I think the designs showed a lot of thought and they hold together just fine. ...Based on how they're constructed, not the quality of the bricks...
Creativity: I thought the glider and biplane set was pretty standard, though I'll give them points for putting Spider-Man in a plane to begin with and the glider scores some for using bricks usually associated with another brick separately and with a different purpose than intended. The one with the spider robot and the robotic arms, however? ...Yeah, pretty darn creative! The spider robot really does look like a spider, with fangs, articulated legs, and an abdomen that serves no purpose, but is it ever a good cosmetic addition! The arms as well, even though we've seen this concept before, work quite well and it's surreal to see them used by somebody NOT Doc Ock! I really like that they bothered to custom mold a head for Spider-Man, and the small changes they made to his outfit did get me thinking. ...Mostly about what they even were, but they were interesting nonetheless. ...In fact, on that subject, what was even the villain they included?! What thought process did they have to go through to pick out these seemingly random pieces, stitch them together, and say "Yep, this guy looks like somebody Spider-Man would go up against!" It's those choices that really make these sets stand out and truly earned the villain the name Unstable Bubba Emerald.
Readability: These instructions SUCK! They're crammed together tighter than sardines and it's REALLY easy to lose your place or skip a step. Why did they think it was necessary to shove instructions about the minifigures right in the middle of the sheet? And why was the sheet so crumpled up?! These instructions are barely legible and you'd have better luck just looking at the picture and faking it.
Packaging: The cardboard these boxes are made of is REALLY coarse and thick, nearly sharp and serrated enough to cut steak... The artwork, on the other hand, really isn't that bad. It's generic "put the sets in front of a background with some Photoshop effects,", but they DID manage to create an action scene for both of them, something that shows what the idea is behind the models and would get you pumped to buy these! Plus the name "Super Man Spider" is a lovely bit of Engrish I'm always happy to find on these knockoffs.
Compatibility: The models are made with standard building bricks, so they'll work with Lego and similar no problem. Same mostly goes for the minifigures, though Spider-Man's custom head prevents anything from stacking on top of it. ...In the way it's supposed to, at least.
Overall:
I want to make it a higher score because I love the creativity they put into these, but the terrible instructions and plastic quality REALLY brings these sets down a few points. I love the original Spider-Man head mold, the spider robot, the mechanical arms, and the Whatzit villain minifigure. I just wish they were in a better set or were made with higher quality pieces. Still, if you're interested in getting a Spider-Man brick set that plays by different rules than Lego(or Mega Bloks) and you think you can overlook the lousy quality, check these out and see if Super Spider-Man can do whatever you think a Super Spider can.
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