Posted By Dan Greenfield on Aug 31, 2025 | 4 comments

A swingin’ review and spectacular gallery with 13 PHOTOS…

By CHRIS FRANKLIN

A little over eight months ago, I wrote an article for 13th Dimension sharing the news that Hasbro’s Marvel Legends design team would be releasing a Spider-Man ’77 figure, based (according to the packaging) on the pilot film for the late ’70s Amazing Spider-Man television series. Middle-age fans everywhere rejoiced. Younger fans scratched their heads. Finally, a figural representation of Nicholas Hammond’s (and stuntman Fred Waugh’s) wallcrawler would be coming our way.

The only hitch: It was a Walmart exclusive figure. Action figure collectors know, that is often the kiss of death. Walmart is notorious for cancelling orders for no apparent reason. And this time was no different. I heard from many other fans across social media, lamenting that their Spider-Man figures were delayed (as mine was) and then outright cancelled. Imagine my surprise when I got the notification, my order of two figures (one for me, one for my son) had finally shipped!

I will say the stressful wait was worth it. The Marvel Legends team has really delivered on what is essentially a one-off figure, and a version of Marvel’s flagship character that is pretty obscure now. As I mentioned in the previous article, the pilot film and series have not been available on home media since VHS and has never been (officially) offered on any streaming service. The series really has become a footnote in Spider-Man’s history at best, which is a real shame. So, it’s… yes… AMAZING that I can now hold this figure in my hand, and… ahem… MARVEL at how deep the Hasbro team went with this one.

The packaging really shows this attention to detail. The classic Spider-Man logo is given a very ’70s treatment, and over to the side of the figure “Spider-Man ’77” is written in the “Hobo” font that was frequently used in the titles of shows like this, and contemporary series like The Dukes of Hazzard. The images of Spider-Man on the side look to be beautifully painted (and hopefully NOT AI), and the larger image evokes the moment Hammond looks in the mirror at the costume he just made for himself in the pilot. The image on the back is a recreation of the main promotional image for the series, also reused as the movie poster when the pilot was released theatrically overseas.

The figure itself, again as mentioned in the previous article, is a reuse of the body sculpted for the Spider-Man figure based on the Japanese TV series from the same period. But it has an all-new head sculpt, capturing the unique lenses seen in the US series. Actually, those lenses changed across the course of the show, but this is a good amalgamation of the various looks. There are a few subtle cloth wrinkles in the back of the mask, and you can “read” a face underneath there.

The paint apps go that extra mile, with the webbing around the neck not quite lining up with the torso area, just like on the series. This had to be intentional, as Hasbro has produced hundreds of Spider-Man figures and normally has no trouble lining these up. Look at the boot tops, and you’ll notice a VERY subtle Easter egg. At one point, Hammond and Waugh began wearing more leathery/vinyl boots over top of their bodystocking. The boots were a shade darker than the red of the costume. You could still see the top of the fabric boot area peeking out. Hasbro has recreated that look with a very subtle darker shade of red where the real boot would begin!

And then we have the most distinctive elements of this series’ Spider-Man costume: the utility belt and the webshooters, worn on the outside of the suit. These were added after the pilot, and it’s the hallmark that folks seem to recall above all others. It also indicates that despite what the packaging tells you, this is based more on the series than the pilot. Hasbro replicates the look pretty well, including the dark red, leather-like material beneath the metal web cartridges and belt buckle (in the shape of Spidey’s face, emulating the Spider-Signal belt buckle of the comics). My only minor gripe is I wish the metal elements were shinier and looked more chrome-like, but vac-metalization has apparently become a very pricey process for toy companies.

Spidey comes with an extra pair of open hands, good for relaxed and climbing poses, and for webshooting, since Hammond didn’t really do the “thwip” hand gesture. There are also two small web effects for placing over foes (I hope you have some plainclothes action figures, because there were NO super villains on the series). But more fun than those is the simple piece of rope that comes included. The webbing on the series was very obviously off-the rack rope, and this is a charming addition to recreate those scenes. Plus, you can pop the right hand off, slip off the Webshooter, and put the rope underneath it, and reassemble it to achieve some nice webspinning poses!

I am way more enamored with this figure than I anticipated. My inner 3-year-old is very happy. Look, I know the show wasn’t great. There are no rogues from the comics, there’s very little angst and “Parker luck” throughout the run, and they even omitted Uncle Ben and Peter’s lesson about “great power and responsibility” from the origin. But it was a fun, standard ’70s crime drama with some interesting plots, nice action sequences, and at times amazing and potentially dangerous stunt work from Waugh and his team.

It caught my imagination at a very early age when it first aired, and I distinctly remember “customizing” my 8-inch Mego Spider-Man to look more like the TV series. The utility belt that came with my Batman had broken, so my Dad replaced it with a segmented metal watch band. I stole that and gave it to Spider-Man and recreated the leather-boot look with the boots from my Mego Superman! My Mom did question how he could climb walls with soles that thick. Very good question, and it again proved how cool my Mom was, but hey, if they could do it on TV…

Funko has also released a Pop figure of Spider-Man ’77 that I picked up as well. One would hope this means Marvel and Disney may be softening up, and they’ll at least add the series to Disney+ at some point. One can dream.

And while we’re dreaming, Hasbro, can we PLEASE get figures of Bill Bixby’s David Banner, Lou Ferrigno’s Hulk, Reb Brown’s Captain America (both costumes, and maybe the motorcycle?), Peter Hooten’s Dr. Strange, Eric Allan Kramer’s Thor, Rex Smith’s Daredevil and John Rhys-Davies’ Kingpin?

And Kevin Feige, before you wrap up the never-ending Multiverse Saga, can you at least give Hammond an MCU walk-on as an older Peter Parker? I’d love to see him interact with Toby Maguire, Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland, even for just a few minutes. Until then, I can create my own, superior version of “No Way Home” on my toy shelves.

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MORE

–– Dig This INSIDE LOOK at the 1977 SPIDER-MAN TV Pilot. Click here.

— It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year — To Be a Bronze Age SPIDER-MAN Fan. Click here.

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13th Dimension contributor Chris Franklin is a graphic designer, illustrator, writer, and podcaster, who co-hosts and produces several shows on the Fire and Water Podcast Network, including JLUCast. Check out his illustrative and design work at chrisfranklincreative.com.