I'm a bit surprised by your reaction to this. Certainly you'd rather have ankle articulation than not have it. I don't own a whole lot of Spidey stuff, but of the toys, all of them have good ankle movement. I think it's a necessity for this character.
I like the poses in the Edwint shots you posted onthe previous page.. The HT figure should pose just as well, if not better. However, it's easy to notice that in the shots you posted almost all of those shots are aerial poses. The lone shot in which he's on the ground looks awkward. And why is that? Pretty easy answer.
For this figure, HT didn't provide us with a display stand suitable for airborne poses (another huge oversight), so most collectors will opt for a grounded pose. The lack of ankle artic severely limits options in that regard. Check out HT's official pics on the front page. Notice anything about the grounded poses? None of the standing poses are of a wide stance, and the ones that almost are have one foot lifted and balanced on its toe.
That....is not acceptable, in my book. Medicom might have messed it up for their SM3 figures, but their Comic Spidey figure did it right. Man, that was a great figure.
