The second of three more recent comic book Spider-Man sets is the Spider Crawler, and boy is there a lot to say about it. Of the three sets, this by far presents the most creative design, with a fully posable crawler and two fun side builds to enhance the possibilities of play.

Building Experience

This set took around half an hour to build and was a pretty enjoyable build because of the various types of builds included in the set. Some designs for the crawler were quite repetitive, but all in all I enjoyed building this set.

Minifigs

The Spider-Man minifigure is the same one that is included in the other two Spider-Man sets as well, and is the most recent non-MCU Spidey (not including the ComicCon PS4 figure). I've stated before how nice this figure looks, but honestly this guy is a huge improvement from the Ultimate Spider-Man figure that we got for so many years. The printing on the torso is exceptional, and the dual molded legs combined with the face print bring the whole costume together.

The next minifigure follows the trend that all three of these sets have with another version of Spider-Man teaming up with Peter Parker to take on the enemy. This time around, it's Spider-Man 2099, and he's such a satisfying figure. I honestly never imagined we'd actually get him in minifigure form, but alas here he is! His costume is pretty much identical to his appearance in LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2, and the tiny texture details on the torso and head look SOOO good. Normally I'd be a bit ticked because of the lack of leg printing, but for accuracy's sake, this is the best way to go with it.

Next up is the first of two villains in this set - Vulture! This is the first comics based version of the character since the Ultimate Spider-Man sets, and now he wears a large pair of mechanical wings similar to the ones his MCU counterpart used. His face is the same we've gotten on practically all Vulture figures, and the torso printing is nice. Overall a pretty average figure, but the wings make up for it. His accessory is a gun metal gray stud shooter gun.

The final minifigure is Sandman, who has only had one minifigure before in the past, with that one attempting a half-sand/half-human look. This new figure fully embraces Sandman's transformation, with only a small faded look at his striped shirt underneath. The face print is horrifyingly fitting for such a tragic character, with two different expressions. Rather than using legs, he has under his torso a really cool recolor of the Nexo Nights tornado trail piece used on one of the rock and lightning monsters. The piece looks so fitting in the sand color, and is just so cool!

Vulture's Wings

As I said already, these new wings for Vulture resemble the ones from the MCU figure, but these are still much smaller and show off a nice bright and lime green color scheme that suits the figure perfectly. I especially love how the three blades at the end of each wing jut out at different angles.

Sandman's Sand...pillar...thing

Also included for the villains is a large pyramid-shaped pedestal to place Sandman onto to replicate the look of the iconic villain rising up out of a mound of sand. If you remove Sandman, the pedestal can open up to reveal a hidden compartment to hide diamonds.

The Spider Crawler

Where do I begin with this guy? The Spider Crawler is a very odd and yet strangely enjoyable build, and I think it executes the general idea really well. The color scheme is still the same old bright red and blue Spidey colors that I've gotten kinda tired of at this point, but at least the crawler resembles an actual spider, so the color scheme isn't too off-putting.

The basic body of the crawler is actually quite box-like, with only a few details and stickers here and there. The cockpit has enough space to fit Spidey in the driver's seat. The cannon on the back is a really cool part of the build, but the legs are definitely the icing on the cake.

The mechanism is designed specifically so that the legs will move up and down in sequence when the crawler is pushed forward, creating the illusion that it really is trudging along by aid of its legs when it reality the hidden wheels underneath do all the work. Still, it's a really nice feature that works perfectly and is one of the coolest and most unique things they've ever done in a Spider-Man set.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the Spider Crawler is a pretty great set with a good variety of different builds and characters so you have a lot to play around with. The crawler is a great design, Vulture's wings look really nice, and the minifigures are all outstanding, especially Spider-Man 2099 and Sandman. Honestly, I'd say this set is worth the price, but isn't really a set I'd say is for everybody, so I'd recommend deducing what parts of this set you really care about before considering it.

7.5/10

The Spider Crawler has an interesting action feature. It only works on a few surfaces, and I would have liked to see all the legs move. Some minor adjustments can be made to accomplish that, so not a big deal. Very nice for parts.

Marvel in general needs to give Spider-Man a break. The newer movies are good, and the game looks like fun, but I would love an official Moon Knight, Punisher, and Daredevil figures (among others) and there are no shortage of obscure sets that could be made. That said, the new classic Spider-Man figure is very nice. Dual molded legs with the lighter blue than the Homecoming tech suit (FINALLY) and the detailing around the eyes is a nice touch. Obviously, those who buy the entirety of the new line are in for many duplicates, but I like this much more than the mostly blue one from the first Lego game and the Ultimate Spider-Man theme from previous years.

Sandman's sand tornado-stand is really nice, and looks great on display. A sandy-printed pair of legs would also have been good to include, but that's me nitpicking. A spare pair of plain tan legs are easy enough to find and add. Vulture appears to be a hybrid of the classic suit and the mechanical one from Spider-Man: Homecoming. I was skeptical at first, but it looks great. I believe the face print is the same as the one for Michael Keaton's character, but that's not really a drawback, although a slight variation would have only helped. I am overjoyed to finally see an official 2099 Spidey, though the legs and arm sides are far too plain.

The price is a bit high and would have been better with the addition of another minifigure(s). Overall, not bad. Probably the best of the series.