Spider-Man Noir

[Tomato]

So I've been slowly working on setting up the groundwork for my Spider-Man collection, and one of the characters I desperately want to include is Spider-Man Noir. He's a major player in Shattered Dimensions, he's been featured in the USM cartoon multiple times now, he's a major player in the Spider-Verse and post-SV multiverse comics... plus I really like how his look contrasts against the other Spiders.

But therein lies my biggest problem: His look. SM:N actually switches between 3 basic designs, depending on where he's used... for the most part, the comics have embraced the second design (though some artists also have the vest from the first under the coat... which admittedly I do like more than the bland sweater), but the 3 3/4" figure, the USM cartoon and the Shattered Dimension game used the first design almost exclusively... likely for the same reasons (trenchcoats are hard, yo).



Adding an additional wrinkle is the USM cartoon, which gave the Noir design a color scheme other than the "black, black, and MORE black" one the comics have fallen in love with... And frankly, I actually like it a LOT more. For one thing, the muted colors contrast well, and it'd still be VERY different than all the other Spiders I have. For another... despite what Hollywood would have you believe, black is a garbage stealth color. Actual historical ninjas typically used dark grays or navy blue rather than black, because wearing black made their silhouettes more visible on top of rooftops on nights with a clear sky. But if I do go with this color scheme... it's designed with the first design in mind, rather than the second. That being the case, what color is the coat?

So... I really don't know how I feel. On the one hand, the coat-less design is the one I've seen more often (I was introduced to the character via Shattered Dimensions), and the one I see most often. On the other hand though, the trenchcoat seems more common in the comics, and I'm a sucker for a good trench coat. I figured I'd see what you guys thought, since I trust your judgement... mostly.

[detourne_me]

Personally, I don't like Spider-man (of any variety) having a hat or coat on. they would fall off or dangle weirdly if spidey was hanging upside down. I enjoyed the Spider-man game where you played as Spider-man Noir (was it Shattered Dimensions?) and the gameplay style was stealth based, similar to Arkham Asylum, but he had to act quickly sometimes and a coat would be too bulky for that.
Not everyone in the 30's wore a fedora and a duster, and I'm glad to see different fashion styles represented. I like him looking like an old Ferrarri racing mechanic or something.

[Tomato]

It was Shattered Dimensions. I've been playing a lot of those games more recently (just putzing around mostly) and while I don't really care for it as much as some of the open world titles, it's got some fun boss fights and as you mentioned, I liked how the mechanics changed depending on the Spider-man you were playing. I do almost wish the game had come out later on, because I think it would have benefitted from having Miles Morales in rather than using the black suit to justify USM being in there (though he'd almost certainly have had to be voiced by someone else, and Josh Keaton was a highlight of the game and its successor, since Spectacular was cancelled around the same time), since it'd be fun to play with his alternate power set rather than doing the symbiote AGAIN.

Back on topic... I get where you're coming from, and I completely agree about the fedora... it looks tacked on every time I've seen it on the character. That said, the reason I lean towards the duster at all is because it does give greater visual distinction between Noir SM and the other spiders, which is why I suspect the comics tend to gravitate towards it as well (since they don't have to deal with clipping).

Regardless though, whichever I go with, I am going the regular aviator goggles from the second design. The more "Spider-Man" type goggles just look goofy on the Noir design, and they do NOT translate well into 3D. I've seen a number of good Noir customs that are basically ruined by those stupid goggles.

[Podmark]

I said 2, but depending how you did the jacket and hat you could make them removable and thus have options for display.
Never been all that interested in the Noir Spider-Man but he was fun in Shattered Dimensions.

[detourne_me]

he definitely needs the aviator goggles! I didn't even notice #1 not having them before (that's what i get for browsing at work with a phone).

[Tomato]

I said 2, but depending how you did the jacket and hat you could make them removable and thus have options for display.
Never been all that interested in the Noir Spider-Man but he was fun in Shattered Dimensions.

Well, as I said, I have no interest in the hat (I don't see it much at all in either the comics or in other media, and I just don't see the point with the full mask), especially since that'd be a whole ton of work I don't want to deal with.

As for the option of doing him both with and without coat is... well, a combination of expense and laziness. I'd be a poor collector if I didn't like having alternate options (I'll usually play with alt. heads and hands when I open a new figure, even if I never had any intention of using them) but the reality is, once I've decided on a look for my shelf, that's usually what stays. Add on to that the fact that there'd be an additional expense and work getting swappable arms working and of using additional base figures at ~$20 a pop... it's why I'm reluctant to do multiple designs at once. Noir is already shaping up to be one of the more complex customs I've done, regardless of what design I use, so I would really rather not do additional work.

That having been said... the more I think about it, the more I'm leaning to the first design, mostly because of one thing: painting the coat. Soft plastics are notoriously difficult to paint (I still have to touch up my classic Robin every so often) since any time the plastic bends the paint chips. So either I have to leave the coat as-is... aka black, or I have to resign myself to repainting it every few months.

[Podmark]

Yeah that makes sense. 1 seems like the way to go then.
I'd been thinking of a cloth coat, like my old Gambit figure. I'm not sure how practical that is.

[Glitch Girl]

I'm kinda leaning towards 1.  Admittedly I know nothing about Spider-Man Noir, but if he is a wall crawler (or even if he's just a human fly ie: no powers but a bit of a daredevil), he's not going to want the coat getting in the way when he scales things. 

Some characters work with a billowy coat, but somehow I can't see any version of Spider-Man where that would work.