THE LIZARD

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Have you ever noticed that Spider-Man has a lot of animal-themed super villains?  Because he really does.  And a lot of them are pretty straight forward, too.  Like today’s focus, “The Lizard.”  He’s a guy who turns into a lizard-human hybrid.  Guess we should be grateful that he’s not “Lizard-Man”, or, going by Marvel’s creature naming thing, “Man-Lizard.”  The utter simplicity of Lizard’s name always reminds me of a time when I was in high school and, having picked up the reputation of being the comics guy, was asked to identify all of the Marvel characters on one guy’s shirt.  When I got to Lizard, I said his name, and everyone laughed and said “you’re just making these up, aren’t you?”…not really sure what I was getting at there, but hey, how about this Lizard figure?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Lizard is the eponymous Build-A-Figure for the Lizard Series of Marvel Legends.  This is the second officially Marvel Legends-branded Lizard, following the Toy Biz version from the old Fearsome Foes boxed set.  As with many Spider-Foes, there were also a couple of figures of him in the Legends-compatible Spider-Man line from Toy Biz.  As a Build-A-Figure, he’s decidedly a more monstrous take on the character than previous versions, perhaps most in-line with modern day interpretations of the character.  The figure stands about 6 3/4 inches tall (he’d be at least an inch taller if standing straight, but the figure has a slight hunch and a permanent crouch) and he has 39 points of articulation.  Lizard is another all-new sculpt, and I’d imagine it’s one that will stay unique to this figure.  More than size, I’d say the unique sculpt is why Lizard got the BaF treatment.  The sculpt has a lot of plusses, but I’m going to address its few small flaws first.  The biggest thing for me is the sculpt/articulation balance.  Some of the articulation works, but some of it’s very restricted.  The torso and the legs really showcase the most of this; the legs being stuck in that crouching pose proves rather restrictive.  Additionally, Lizard continues the trend of recent BaFs being really prone to popping apart after assembly.  This, coupled with the articulation limitations, can make him a real pain to pose.  Moving past those issues, though, Lizard’s sculpt is really fantastic.  He’s definitely on par with Sauron in terms of detail work, and I love just how much depth they were able to work into this sculpt.  The use of two add-on pieces on the torso (for his lab coat *and* his shirt) is a serious attention to detail I had not been expecting.  Some collectors have expressed issue with the decidedly dino stylings of Lizard’s head, but I actually don’t mind; Curt’s cranium was always the most prone portion of him to change, and I think this particular look gives him a more modern feel.  Plus it makes me think of Dr. Dinosaur, and that’s always a good thing.  Lizard’s paintwork continues the upward trend, especially amongst the Build-A-Figures, of increased paint apps.  There’s a lot of accent work on his scaly skin, which really helps to pronounce how much detail there is in that sculpt.  Lizard includes no accessories, but as an accessory himself, that’s quite alright.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Okay, I may have been slightly premature with yesterday’s “Finally!!!!!!!!!” intro, because if there’s a figure that deserves that exclamation more the Mysterio, it’s Lizard.  I’ve had 5/7s of this guy sitting on my desk since April, just begging for his remaining leg.  It was honestly getting to the point where I didn’t know if I would finish him at all.  But, as I noted in yesterday’s review, All Time Toys set me up with a Mysterio figure, thereby allowing me to finally finish this guy off.  There were a few flaws in this figure’s implementation, mostly in the way of articulation.  However, the positives far outweigh the negatives, and the end result is what is by far the best version of Lizard we’ve gotten in toy form.

My reviews of the assortment that built this figure ended up rather split up, which doesn’t tend to be my of handling such things.  Nevertheless, this assortment has proven to be perhaps my favorite Spider-themed assortment.  The Build-A-Figure was worth the wait, and many of the individual figures included are personal favorites.  It’s nice to finally have the whole thing.