(that, and the whole "reliving his origins and seeing Uncle Ben as his conscience" section is kinda where the story loses me lol, like I understand its importance but it has to do so much that it takes away time from the first section, when both could have been given separate eps to breathe better)

It's all so fking good, i swear

As much as I love the other versions, Spectacular's black suit storyline still knocks it *out of the park* bc of how subtle the transformation is (there's a temptation to get Peter into 'evil mode' almost immediately after putting the suit on, which imo is a mistake)

Which then leads to Peter going to TOMBSTONE and asking him for a job — and not only that, accepting a one-week ban on crimefighting as a condition of the deal (ultimately going against his original reasoning for keeping the black suit in the first place, to help people)

Aunt May in the hospital is probably what pushes the bond even further (explaining his wardrobe change into wearing symbi as his shirt lol) bc with that comes guilt for not being there, stress over her bills, etc. which the symbiote eats right up because it keeps Peter in that vulnerable state

Then, when the symbiote takes control of him in his sleep to defeat the Sinister Six, he deduces that it's a symbiote that's bonding with him, but its dark influence over him quickly leads him to being OKAY WITH THAT

"The Six were put down hard, Parker gets paid for the photos, what else matters?"

Then when Eddie is ends their friendship, the symbiote pushes him away from feeling guilty with "why should i care what he thinks? i got this cool suit now!"
(taking advantage of his selfishness and making him okay with losing friends over his actions)

At first it's just "Well if Spider-Man is more powerful, then more people get saved, so maybe I don't actually have to return this alien substance I accidentally stole"
(taking advantage of his desire to help others while also pushing him slightly towards crime)

my hot take is that Bully Keaton is the best version of symbiote-influenced Peter Parker out there (with respect to Bullies Maguire, Daniel Barnes and Lowenthal lol)

Like the progression is VERY gradual because the symbiote is really just nudging him on things he was already vulnerable against

Amusingly, while there's a NJTransit line nearby, the venue isn't transit accessible (that last walk is over an hour from the nearest bus connection)

It's nothing that bad since I can just get a ride from the station but it's always something I look for with NYC-area cons