Review: LEGO ART 31209 The Amazing Spider-Man

Today we are quickly interested in the content of the LEGO ART set 31209 The Amazing Spider-Man, a box of 2099 pieces which will be available via the official online store and in LEGO Stores from August 1, 2023 at the retail price of €199.99.

As with other recent products in the LEGO ART range, this construction breaks away from the usual concept of a flat painting with a subject treated in three dimensions. Here, Spider-Man appropriates the frame which becomes a box on a comic strip and the character takes advantage of the border of the painting to give the impression that he is stepping outside the limits of the work. Why not the idea is excellent with a new dynamic that should appeal to hardcore fans of the spider-man.

The chassis of the product is not designed like most of the other references in the range and this product does not use the usual 16x16 black plates which are often used as a starting point. Here, we first create an internal structure equipped with two elements that allow the painting to be hung on the wall and on which we then install ten 16x16 green plates, the central part of the construction remaining hollow to accommodate the system that will be used to fix later the character's head.

We then alternate between a batch of large filler pieces to create relief and a selection of Tiles various and varied which ensures a sufficient level of detail in the background of the painting and finally we add the visible sections in relief with the shoulders, the forearms, the hands and the head.

The assembly is quickly dispatched, the most laborious being not to forget one or more Tiles green, even if it is not so serious because the final rendering will not be affected unduly. The construction process is entertaining, the different stages are well distributed and you don't get bored. We sometimes wonder how the whole will end up representing something coherent and there is a real satisfaction in discovering the final result by taking a step back from the end of the assembly.

However, I am rather torn about this proposal, which at least has the merit of innovating a little: I really like the halftone effect Benday on the background of the painting which reminds me of the assiduous reading of Strange or Spidey comics during my young years, it is successful. The presence of a white spider's web in relief on the bottom frame of the box is also an appreciable detail and the fifteen or so spiders to be distributed over the whole of the painting is also a nice finishing detail.

I'm much less of a fan of the execution of the central character though, it's a bit rough up close and it lacks some of the iconic attributes of the Spider-Man suit including the shoulders, waistband, and cuffs. forearm.

Six of the seven pad-printed pieces delivered in this box are used for the cobweb pattern on the head and I find the rendering of the Spider-Man costume a little poor as it is. The colors used do not help, we find once again the "classic" red and blue of the LEGO universe and I am always a little disappointed by the use of these colors which seem dated according to the set concerned.

The shadows on the folds of the costume or on the musculature of the character are also really symbolic here, it's crude and you really have to take a step back for this lack of finish to fade. Same observation for the shoulders which are framed by very large elements and whose very basic finish has difficulty in being forgotten even when the painting is observed from a certain distance.

Some Tiles flanked by the pattern seen on the Spider-Man costume would have frankly helped to improve the overall rendering. I understand the desire to offer a "stylized" version of the character, but in my opinion we feel more here a desire to save money than a desire that would really come from an artistic bias.

As for the proportions, everything seems quite correct to me except perhaps for the forearms which are a little thin and the left calf which lacks volume and which is visually lost in the background. The left arm lacks muscle and the junction with the hands seems a bit sloppy to me.

We could also discuss the position of the hands, that of the right hand really lacks naturalness with an improbable angle. The fingers that come to grip the edge of the frame are on the other hand well executed, it will even be possible in principle to orient those of the left hand differently so that they do not interfere when the frame is placed on the dresser in the living room.

In fact, it's laborious and annoying: by passing the four fingers of the hand flat outwards from the bottom of the frame, you have to be careful not to unhook the pieces that form the upper part of the hand.

The yellow plate placed at the bottom right of the work is pad printed, there are no stickers in this box. Do not look for the statement indicated by the official description of the product, "...a box at the bottom quotes his motto "With great power comes great responsibility"...", she is not there.

The initial idea is excellent and the possibility of obtaining a purely decorative product that offers something other than alignments of small parts was enticing. Unfortunately, the execution leaves in my opinion a little to be desired and it will be necessary to take a lot of hindsight so that the defects of the product are forgotten. The overall finish is therefore too approximate to convince me, especially at 200 € for the poster in relief.

I'm still looking for thesurprising details" vaunted in the official description of the product and I remain on my hunger in front of a table which could have been much more successful. I hope that LEGO will show a little more ambition on future proposals of the same barrel, the possibilities are numerous, especially in the Star Wars universe.

This product therefore deserves in my opinion encouragement if not mentioned, it opens the door to future creations that could seduce me if the manufacturer is a little less stingy in pad printing and more diligent about the important details of the subject treated. We will therefore wisely wait for a significant reduction in the price of this product at LEGO or elsewhere.

Note: The product shown here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at July 16, 2023 next at 23:59 p.m. Just post a comment under the article to participate. Your participation is taken into account regardless of your opinion. 

Update : The winner was drawn and notified by email, his nickname is indicated below.