AGENT ANTI-VENOM
MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)
“After exposure to the Anti-Venom Serum, Flash Thompson becomes the newest incarnation of the anti-hero.”
Back at the beginning of the Infinite Series relaunch of Legends, when Walgreens was dipping their foot in the waters of being a toy-buying destination, their first trial-run exclusive was Agent Venom, a figure that Hasbro had had rattling around their con displays for a little while. He proved a successful venture, for Walgreens and Hasbro at least, but perhaps a little bit less so for fans, as he never really hit anywhere in truly huge numbers, and Walgreens was still not quite as numerous at the time as it is now. This, coupled with the general fan-favorite nature of the character, made him slightly pricey on the after market. Hasbro, ever in the game of trying to give collectors a fair shot at hard to find Legends took advantage of the re-branding of Flash Thompson under the Anti-Venom name from a few years ago, along with a need for some easy parts re-use figures, and has given us another Agent Venom, albeit of the inverted variety.
THE FIGURE ITSELF
Agent Anti-Venom is another Fan Channel single Marvel Legends release, much like the Big Time Spider-Man I looked at a few weeks ago. The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. Structurally, this figure is identical to the standard Agent Venom from back in 2014. From a design standpoint, this makes sense, since the looks are just color swaps of each other in the comics. However, from a toy standpoint, there are some issues that come with this re-use, namely that the underlying body was outdated when the first Agent Venom came out. The five years since then have only made that more apparent, as a handful of similarly built and far more up-to-date bodies have come into use. Of course, that would have required some pretty substantial retooling of the Agent Venom-specific parts, which would have then defeated Hasbro’s whole purpose of releasing figures that don’t need any new parts. I will say that this release has far less rubbery plastic than the first one, which does make him feel better overall. Additionally, the new paint apps are a lot cleaner in terms of application than the last time around, making for a much slicker looking figure, and showcasing the great strides Hasbro has made in terms of paint since the Infinite Series days. Agent Anti-Venom is packed with a pair of glocks and a pair of MP5s, as well as the back piece that can hold his weapons for him. I still feel like he should have 6 guns instead of 4, but at least I was prepared for it this time.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
I was fortunate enough to get the original Agent Venom release, but a lot of people weren’t, so I wasn’t surprised when this guy was listed amongst the Fan Channel figures. While I do wish they’d been able to change out the underlying body, I won’t deny that the changes in production quality on this figure do a lot to make him even better than his predecessor, and he’s still a lot of fun.
This guy was purchased from my friends at All Time Toys, and it’s currently available from their store, here. And, if you’re looking for other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.
The Figure In Question 