Sinister foes of the Spectacular Spider-Man

[Tomato]

So over in my Spider-Army thread, I mentioned that I was considering the possibility of adding in some villains to my expanding Spider-Verse shelf, mainly as an excuse to represent Harry Osborn in some fashion... I would have settled for a Spider-Verse Harry that took up the webs, but since that doesn't appear to be a thing for some reason, I'm now leaning toward how I knew him best: as the second Green Goblin. I've always had a fondness for Harry's Goblin anyway... unlike Norman, who comes across as more of a twisted father figure, Harry is much more a reflection of Peter: He's the same age, they both are dedicating their lives to living up to their Father figures, and they have such a rich personal history. There's even one point where Harry actually tries to don the Green Goblin identity as a hero, which is an idea I always liked as a kid. And yeah, I liked some Venom stories too, but the ones with Harry always stood out for me.

However, that leaves me with a conundrum. See, Harry's gonna take some work... inevitably I'm going to have to have a version customized in order to visually separate Harry from Norman, and I'm not going to have that much work put in for just one figure. I considered trying to match my Spider-Army with a Goblin army, but... yeah, trying to sort through all the different Goblins is a mess I do not want, nor is going back and getting BAF pieces for Ultimate Goblin. No, what I'd rather have is just a good, old fashioned selection of villains.

And that's what I wanted to discuss here: If you had your choice of Spider-Man villains, who would you all go with, and more specifically, which VERSION of that character would you go with? For example, Doc Ock's a mainstay, but do you prefer Classic, or Ultimate? That weird all-black design from the early 2000s, or the armor from the 90s cartoon? I'm not even limiting to the figures this time around, since there are a TON of characters lacking decent representation (case in point, Harry's GG). What's your optimal Sinister Six? Is it one of the classic groupings, or did you prefer an off the wall group like the one with GG in charge?

[Panther_Gunn]

If I had my choice, I'd probably go with:

Green Goblin
Scorpion
Sandman
Electro
Dr. Octopus
The Lizard
Rhino
Mysterio

As for which versions, I'm sure you can guess it would be the classic iterations of all of them.  If I could get a second wave of villains, I'd probably add Vulture, Chameleon, the Spider-Slayer robot, Hobgoblin, and Venom.  I feel the first group are what I consider his core villains, while the second are less used (although the same could also be said about Mysterio, and maybe even Lizard) or just more recent.  I have this nagging feeling I'm forgetting someone major, though.

[Tomato]

I kind of agree about the classic looks, but I'm finding myself with weird exceptions here and there... I'm gonna try to make a comprehensive list today, since I have the time. First thing first, the Sinister Six.

Doc Ock
Electro
Kraven
Mysterio
Sandman
Vulture

With the following characters subbing in when the story requires:
Rhino
Hobgoblin
Shocker

Now, admittedly, I'm a sucker for the classic team here... but honestly, I'm ok with most variations so long as Doc Ock is in charge of the team. I also don't like any variation of the team led by Green Goblin, or which includes any of the Symbiote characters... in my mind, all those guys are their own thing and don't belong on the Sinister Six/Seven/Sixteen/Whatever.

Now for individual Characters, starting with Doctor Octopus:

This one's a bit tough for me to pick from, only because been around for so long that he's managed to pick up a fair amount of decent costumes over the years. That said, after going back through again, I tend to lean towards both the classic Orange/Green jumpsuit and the Green/Silver bodysuit from his early appearances in the USM comic book. Ultimately, I lean more towards the Green/Orange (what can I say? I love me some orange) mostly because it's so classic.

As for the other Ock designs... I should point out that I do like the armored version from the 90s cartoon, as well as a few of the later USM designs with the trenchcoat (which totally wasn't a result of the movie going that route, no sir). On the whole though, neither really had staying power with me. They're both just products of their era more than anything else.

Electro:

Hrm. See, on the one hand, I feel that having an Electro with the goofy mask is central to his character, but on the other... I don't think I like a single version of that design. I even downloaded Podmark's super electro pack to see if he'd done a variant that I liked, and... nope. The one that comes closest is the Marvel Knights look, but it still has these unnecessary and overcomplicated gloves and boots. I feel like if I'm ever going to be happy with anything based on the classic comic design, it'll have to be a version I design myself.

That being said... I know people don't like to hear this, but the Ultimate version of the character is objectively designed better. I don't care for the pants-less version he sports in later issues, but the initial mercenary version with the black jumpsuit was cool, and I actually liked the Jamie Fox movie version of that look. It's certainly better than the current comic version, which has become this weird in-bred mix of both the classic version and the ultimate version, but doesn't want to commit to either look 100%, so looks worse than both as a result IMO.

Shocker:

He's such a joke character in most media that I actually find myself gravitating towards the version from the Spectacular Spider-Man show. Not only is he arguably a better version of the character (they give the Shocker suit to Montana, which gives him that background of being an Enforcer as well as an actual personality and pathos) but I actually like the costume better... I'm not 100% on how large the quilt pattern is on areas like the torso, but overall I feel it's a much better design than the classic one.

http://spiedyfan.deviantart.com/art/Shocker-197648490 -fan version done in YJ style.

I'll come back with more later, but I should mention that despite them not being included in my sin six, I do want to make space for both versions of the GG, Venom, and Carnage as well.

[Podmark]

Hmm essential Spidey villains...

Green Goblin (Osborn) - classic
Doctor Octopus - 90s cartoon
Venom - classic
Carnage - classic
Mysterio - classic
Vulture - classic
Rhino - classic
Lizard - 90s cartoon (the classic look is a little too silly for me)
Hobgoblin - classic
Scorpion - 90s cartoon
Kingpin - 90s cartoon
Kraven - Grim Hunt design, really like that mild redesign
Sandman - classic

Spidey has a great rogues gallery. You could fill a shelf with good villains.

[BentonGrey]

Well, I think Pod has a good list there.  Mine would be pretty similar, though there are some characters on his that I don't have much of an attachment to. 

I think the only big difference would be that I would include the classic version of Doc Ock, Scorp, and Lizard, rather than the 90s 'toon version, though none of those are particularly far off.  I like the good doctor as a pudgy guy, though.  I think that's fun and rather fits the character.

[Tomato]

Honestly, with the exception of costumes (I want to post a more-in depth list for every character, like I did for Doc Ock and the others), that's pretty much my character list too, though admittedly I prefer a few female villains like Black Cat in there too. There's a few others I have a soft spot for, but they're so obscure and one-note I hesitate to put them on the same list as Doc Ock and the like

[Panther_Gunn]

I half thought about throwing Rocket Racer into my list, just cuz.   

[Tomato]

All right, back to some more individual analysis from me. For those wondering, Green Goblin likely won't show up for a bit... I look at his outfits again every so often and I'm so torn (mostly because his non-classic outfits aren't great, but I still kinda want him slightly non-classic to differentiate Norman from Harry)

Scorpion:

I labored a bit on this one, and after a bit of back and forth... I think I have to go with the version of the costume from the video game Spider-man: Friend or Foe. It's got enough variation of color to be interesting (the original scorpion look is a bit bland, imho) but it's also simpler than the costume from the 90s cartoon. Actually, the FoF costume is pretty much an exact replica of the costume as it's most commonly seen, the only difference is that it adds in the goggles that have been a staple of both ultimate comic and cartoon designs, albeit in a lighter green rather than yellow.

As for the Modern, post Venom designs... ick, no, no, those are disgusting, no.

Kraven the Hunter:

Just... this one. It's listed as being Alexei, but everything I've seen indicates that this is the same costume Pod was talking about earlier in his post, from the Grim Hunt storyline. I like it, it's clean, simple, and evokes the right mindset for the character. And, bonus points, it's relatively cheap since it's a recent figure.

Sandman:

This is one situation where 90% of the designs are the same, so why mess with success? Classic Classic Classic.

Vulture:

This one's a bit of a tough call, but in the end, I think I prefer something a bit more modern. Yeah, Vulture's most well known for the green outfit, but with so many characters decked out in green already, I'm ok with changing up the status quo here. Besides, I'm a sucker for anything that reminds me of Spectacular Spider-Man.

[Tomato]

Mysterio:

I went back and forth on this one, mostly because, well... the neverending sea of green that is Spiderman's rogues gallery. I mean, yeah, I get it, green contrasts with the Spider-Man red, but there is just SO MUCH GREEN. It also doesn't hurt that Mysterio's background has lent himself to some wildly creative designs... if you've never played it, go look up the mysterio sections from Spider-Man 2 (the sam raimi film game) on Youtube. One of the most fun subplots of that game, imho. The design is an awful mess, but it's SUPPOSED to be, and it's hilarious in its awfulness.

As for an actual design to come down on... meh. Much as the collector in me wants to do something a little less green, Classic Mysterio wins overall. Honestly, the only thing I'm not super fond of is the stupid checkboard pattern, but I do like the color balance a lot more. That said, the Spectacular Spider-Man design is close behind (I like the more techy bits, I just prefer the brighter yellow) as is the Friend or Foe costume with its sleeker design.

Venom:

While I absolutely appreciate the variations of the design for Mac Gargan and Flash Thompson, but if we're talking Eddie... classic is the way to go. I'm a no tounge guy myself, but I'm cool with either look. I just don't like blue highlights on the figures.

Carnage:

Classic. It's fine as is.

Hobgoblin:

Another classic. They've tried to vary it a whole bunch, with him being a bit more demonic... but they showed a more classic head for the upcoming figure, and I'm going with that.

Rhino:

Classic again. They've tried to make his design go more heavy tech and more organic, to various degrees of success... but really, nothing beats the simple, gray rhino suit.

Anyway, before I stop for now (I'll come back into more specifics later) here's a quick runthrough of some Do Wants and some Do Not Wants. Everyone I've talked about so far (including Green Goblin) is solidly in the "do want" pile.

Do Want:
Tombstone
Hammerhead
Black Cat
Molten Man

Maybe Want:
The Enforcers- As I went into when I was discussing the Shocker, I'm a big fan of making Montana the Shocker. And while I'm not wholly committed to the idea, I do like the notion of having all three. I'm not a huge fan of the designs for Ricochet (Fancy Dan) and Ox in the series, but it's something to maybe play with.
The Prowler- this one would almost certainly be in the "Do Not Want" column, if it weren't for Miles. He's an ok villain, but he's just not interesting or notable compared to anyone else listed
Jack O Lantern- Not the biggest fan of this guy, but I have a certain soft spot since I used his model to make my first tomato avatar skin back in the day.

Do Not Want:
Kingpin- Ok, let's just get this one out of the way... I know I'm going to take such flack for this, and that the character was a Spider-Man foe first... but I associate him much more with Daredevil as his archenemy. Spectacular did a good job of giving his role over to Tombstone, and if some of my design choices haven't already made this clear... I'm a fan of that show even more so than the comics a lot of the time. And while I am by no means discounting the role of the Kingpin in most Spider-Man comics (let's be real, Tombstone in that show is a reskin of Wilson Fisk and even the showrunners admit it), I like him more with Daredevil.
Silvermane- Ehhhh... I'm not huge on Silvermane. It doesn't help that I feel like I've got the street level villains covered with Tombstone, Hammerhead, (and potentially the Enforcers as well). He's just not needed.
Hydro-Man- boring, not in most other media, generally forgettable. Yawn.
Most other symbiotes- I have a soft spot for female symbiote characters like the now dead Scream, but there's hundreds of them and I don't care
Most other Goblins- same reasoning as the symbiotes
The Jackal- NO.
Chameleon- Eh. I'm not really that fond of the character. He's much more notable and that's why I almost put him in maybe, but I honestly just don't care about him.

[Tomato]

So I actually sat down last night and went through what I wanted to do with the Spider-Man shelf (I'd been kind of thinking about something like this for a bit, but I hadn't sat down and been like "ok, THIS is what I want") and even though I know I've been spamming this thread a bit, I was hoping for some input. See, Listing everything out, I noticed some things... first, that there was a HUGE imbalance on the Amazing side with both the Guys and Gals, so I branched them into separate sections (Ashley Barton is still tentatively on the Superior end, but I can easily flip that depending on discussions) and that I had a whole 7 groups of 7 thing emerging... which I like the idea of. The only issue is filling some of the gaps, which I was hoping I could get some help with.

Spider Men/Women- Really, I feel like there's nothing but options here. I'm leaning toward some more diverse options like Pavitr Prabhakar, but I've got a soft spot for doing something odd like 60s Spiderman and his lack of costume webs. Spider-Ben and Spider-Ma'am are on the table too, because I just like the idea of them. I should mention that USM in this case is the black suited version, because Shattered Dimensions.

Symbiotes- This is probably the one I'm struggling with the most, because as I've stated, I'm just SO apathetic to most of the Symbiote characters. As is, I'm dead set against including Anti-Venom on the list, because there's 2 versions of Eddie on the list as is (Classic Venom and Toxin). My preference is to add a few more females in there, like Scream (who I would not be surprised if no one here has heard of) so if there are any female symbiotes of note, they would be my preference.

Goblins- So if you've paid attention, you've probably noticed that the list of Goblins is a bit... un-goblin. As I said though, I'm not really big on including 20 different Goblin variants, and I associate characters like Molten Man with the Goblin family anyway. Probably the most tentative inclusion though, is Lizard... mainly because I feel he should be included, but he's not really a part of any group. I'm inclined to do similar with Scorpion (though I may also lump him with the Symbiotes) but I'm being wishy washy there too.

[Podmark]

Symbiotes- This is probably the one I'm struggling with the most, because as I've stated, I'm just SO apathetic to most of the Symbiote characters. As is, I'm dead set against including Anti-Venom on the list, because there's 2 versions of Eddie on the list as is (Classic Venom and Toxin). My preference is to add a few more females in there, like Scream (who I would not be surprised if no one here has heard of) so if there are any female symbiotes of note, they would be my preference.

I can list female symbiotes for you:
She-Venom
Agony
Scream
She-Venom II
Payback
Scorn
Mania
Earth X Venom
Mayhem

[Tomato]

So barring anything I've overlooked, I think I've got my list. I've color coded it a bit more too, just to help me keep things sorted. Figures I have paid for are in yellow, red for ones that are out, blue for ones coming out (Ashley Barton isn't CONFIRMED, but she's been heavily rumored for the same wave as the USM). Green figures have figures, just not in the style I want, and I'm gonna have to design Ricochet and Ox, blah.

For those wondering, Fury in the Goblin section is "Fury the Goblin Queen" from the MC2 Spider-Girl books. I know menace/queen cat is more well established, but her design was meh and I like Fury's more. I also swapped Anti-Venom for Toxin, for aesthetic reasons (the same reason I ultimately went with Scorn rather than Mania, both Scorn and Anti-Venom are more visually distinct).

[Podmark]

Seems like you're all set then. Pretty neat collection you have planned.