Tag Archives: Diamond Select Toys

#0076: Alicia Masters & Moloid

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

ALICIA MASTERS & MOLOID

MARVEL MINIMATES

Hey look!  More Minimates!  Yay!  Ahem.

So, yeah… more Marvel Minimates.  This time around, it’s The ever-lovin’ Blue-eyed Thing’s girlfriend Alicia Masters, and her longtime nemesis the Moloid.  Okay, not really, but isn’t that more interesting than “they just happened to be packed together”?

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as the short-packed one-per-case set in Series 48 of the Marvel Minimates line.

ALICIA MASTERS

First up, my main interest in the set, Alicia Masters.  This is Alicia’s first venture into the world of action figures, though that’s not a huge surprise, given that she’s a fairly average looking person in a world full of super heroes.  Alicia is built on the typical Minimate body, with the standard height of about 2 ½ inches and 14 points of articulation.  She’s depicted here in a pink sweater and a slightly darker pink skirt.  I’m honestly not sure if this is based on a specific look for Alicia, but it seems to suit the character.  Alicia has a newly sculpted hair piece, and a reused skirt piece.  The hair looks fine, and sits well, and the skirt is a well worked piece of reuse.  The rest of the detailing is handled via paint.  The line work is all well-handled, with the edges and wrinkles of her clothes all handled with care.  I do wish the sleeve detail on her arm went all the way around, but it isn’t terrible.  I do like the unevenness of the bottom of the sweater, as it adds a nice touch of reality to her look.  The face looks appropriate for Alicia, and I like the way her eyes have been handled to denote her blindness.  Alicia includes a clear stand and a clay bust of her boyfriend.  The bust is really cool, and has a nice faint face detail.

MOLOID

Next is the Moloid.  The Moloid is the army builder of the series, and depicts one of the Mole Man’s faithful minions.  The moloid isn’t totally new to the action figure world, but he’s not the most frequently released character.  He’s also built on the usual body, only he’s got a specially sculpted head to show off the Moloid’s big, pointy ears, and a pair of “short” feet.  The short feet aren’t totally new, though this is the first time they’ve had the holes in the bottom to allow them to be plugged onto one of the stands.  The Moloid’s also got a sculpted loin-cloth, which is new to the figure, and accurately depicts the typical wear of the Moloids.  The Moloid has fairly basic detailing, done on a completely painted pale yellow body.  The Moloid’s only accessory is a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I enjoy this set a lot, more than I should, given the relative low-keyness of the character’s featured.  But things like Alicia’s awesome Thing sculpture are a great example of how Diamond can take a figure that could be boring and make it one of the stars of the series.  Both figures in the set are really cool additions to anyone’s Fantastic Four collection.

#0069: Storm

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STORM

MARVEL SELECT

Yesterday, I looked at Wolverine from the Marvel Select line.  Today, I’ll be looking at one of his teammates, Storm.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Storm was released in the last year of the line.  As with everyone else in the line, she’s not part of a specific series. Instead, she was released solo.  Storm is presented here in her original costume.   It’s nice to see this costume, as it’s not used as often as it should be in my opinion.  Storm stands about 7 inches tall, and has 17 points of articulation.  She’s definitely got one of the better female sculpts I’ve looked at on the site.  It’s pretty well proportioned, and does a fair job of living up to her comic book counterpart’s looks.  She’s not as Cockrum influenced as Wolverine, instead going a bit more generic, but she still looks appropriate for the character, so I can’t complain.  The paint is all nice and cleanly applied, with no slop or fuzziness.  I really like the choice of shiny finish for the black parts, as it makes them stand out well.  They’ve opted to use gold for the traditionally yellow parts, which adds an air of regality to her, which works nicely.  Storm includes a small display stand and a corner of the Danger Room.  It’s got several parts, and has a great geometric look to it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Storm was picked up at the same time as the Select Wolverine, also at my local comic book store’s end of the year sale.  I’d actually been wanting to pick this figure up for a while, and I was glad to find it at a slightly lower price.  I don’t have many Storm figures in my collection, so I was very glad to add this one.  She’s not just a good Storm figure, but a good action figure in general.

#0068: Wolverine

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WOLVERINE

MARVEL SELECT

It’s honestly surprising how few Wolverine figures I’ve reviewed so far, given how many I own.  Anyway, this is another Marvel Select review, based on the aforementioned Wolverine.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wolverine was released a few years ago as part of the Marvel Select line.  Like all the others in the line, he’s not part of a “series”, but rather, he was released on his own.  Wolverine is based on his look from his early appearances in X-Men in the late 70s.  Specifically, he looks to be based on Dave Cockrum’s interpretation of the character.  He stands about 6 ½ inches tall, giving him the proper stature of an early Wolverine, and he has 17 points of articulation.  The sculpt is handled well.  He’s a tad bit skinny, but not too bad.  The head in particular is great, because it’s spot on to Cockrum’s take on the character.  I also like that the claws are handled better than on most Wolverine figures, and have a nice unique look to them.  The paint is done well, particularly the yellow parts, because yellow can look hideous in some cases, but they’ve added a nice wash to it to bring out the sculpt.  Wolverine is topped off with a display stand, depicting a chunk of scenery from what appears to be Weapon X, which is appropriate to the character.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this guy from my comic book store’s annual end of the year sale.  I’m not the biggest fan of Wolverine, but I love the early Claremont/Cockrum run on X-Men, so I was super excited to get a Wolverine based on that time period.  He’s definitely one of the best Wolverine’s out there, and my favorite in my collection.

#0066: War Machine

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WAR MACHINE

MARVEL SELECT

Today, I’ll be taking a look at another figure from the Marvel Select line.  This time around, it’s from the small assortment of figures released in the line to coincide with the release of Iron Man 3 this past summer.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

War Machine was released as part of the Iron Man 3 subset of the Marvel Select line.  Like the rest of the Marvel Select line, they don’t have specific “series”.  They tend to just be released on their own, or in pairs.  This figure is of course based on the War Machine 2.0 look from the *Tie-In comics to the* Summer Blockbuster Iron Man 3.  Yeah, despite it’s presence throughout the tie-in toys, the actual War Machine paint scheme is only in the lead-in comic, and makes no actual appearance in the film.  And yet this is the main release figure, and the Iron Patriot is the store exclusive.  Bleh. The figure stands roughly 7 inches tall, and has 26 points of articulation.  The sculpt is accurate to the suit design from the movie, although it’s a bit thin in the waist area.  All the details are nicely done, but some of the armor details are slightly soft.  The paint is adequate.  It’s not that it’s bad, it’s just a bit bland.  It’s lots and lots of greys and silvers.  War Machine comes with a stand that resembles a stall from the hall of armor, and an alternate head sans faceplate, so you can see Rhodey’s face.  The stand is nice, but it takes up a lot of space.  The extra head is cool, and the Don Cheadle likeness is pretty good, although I feel like his skin tone is a tad light for Cheadle, and the eyes are a bit on the wonky side.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Yeah, so right off the bat, this is a figure that ties into a movie where the look presented doesn’t appear in the film.  I like the sculpt, but I think with the more exciting Iron Patriot paint scheme, this figure would pop a lot more.  They actually did make an Iron Patriot from this sculpt, but it was a Disney Store exclusive, and is difficult to find.  And this figure was $12.  At $12, this figure is pretty good.

#0065: Venom Through the Ages Minimates

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VENOM, VENOM, VENOM & VENOM!

MARVEL MINIMATES

So, yeah, it’s…uhh…Venom.  And Venom.  And Venom and Venom.  That’s 4 Venoms.  What is it?  1995?  Anyway, it’s more Marvel Minimates.  This time around, it’s a boxed set commemorating all the different incarnations of Venom from over the years.  Because Venom’s such a diverse character.  Regardless, that’s the set I’m looking at today.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These guys were released last year, as the “Venom Through the Ages” boxed set.

VENOM UNLEASHED

First up, it’s the real star of the show.  This is the version of Venom that most people think of when they think of the character.  It’s the big, bulky, long-tongued, slobbering version of the character.  If you read my review of the recent TRU Venom, you’ve pretty much seen this figure before.  This one’s got most of the same pieces, only this time, cast in black instead of the dark blue from that figure.  To counteract this, they’ve done the muscle detailing in a light blue instead of black.  It’s all nice and cleanly done.  This one doesn’t have a Spider-Man under all the pieces, instead showing a crazed Eddie Brock.  He also includes a spare mask that is partly pulled back to reveal Eddies face, and an alternate hairpiece to show Eddie totally revealed.

VENOM – EDDIE BROCK

Next, it’s another version of Eddie Brock.  This time around, it’s based on his more svelte look from his earlier appearances.  He’s built on the basic Minimate body, with all the usual articulation.  In place of regular hands, he’s got a pair of clawed hands, which have been used for Venom a few times before.  He’s also got a torso cover that’s been used a few times in the past for some of the more bulky characters.  It’s not my favorite piece, due to its blockage of the figures shoulders and neck articulation, and its overall odd shape, but it works okay, I guess.  Instead of a sculpted head, Venom’s face is all paint on this one.  It looks pretty accurate to the material, and fits the minimate aesthetic a bit better.  The rest of his detailing is similar, though not identical, to that on the Venom Unleashed figure.  Venom also includes an alternate Eddie brock head, this time with a more calm expression than the last one.

VENOM – ANN WEYING

Next, it’s Ann Weying, one of the attempts to make a “She-Venom” back in the 90s, when everything Venom sold millions.  She was Eddie Brock’s ex-wife, or something, and had the symbiote for a little while, during one of Eddie’s many breaks from the role.  Quality story telling there.  She’s on the typical Minimate body, though with the same clawed hands that the Eddie Venom used.  Like Eddie, she has a painted face instead of a sculpted one.  The only other sculpted piece she has is a tendril piece that goes over her neck.  She’s detailed similarly to the Eddie Venom, though a bit more simplistic, and of course, more feminine.  She includes an unmasked head with hair.

VENOM – FLASH THOMPSON

Lastly, it’s Flash Thompson’s Venom.  This one’s kind of the outlier of the set, being form the last few years.  He’s also the only one that’s not a variation on the same basic look.  And he’s heroic to boot.  Flash’s design is of course based on his look from his series that’s been running the last few years.  For him, the symbiote is used more as a tool, and not a controlling force.  It’s an interesting take, and that’s actually not sarcasm.  Anyway, he’s on the usual body, but he’s got a whole bunch of add-ons.  He’s got a mask, vest, gloves, a belt, a holster, and boots.  With the exception of the mask, which has been used several times before, all the pieces are new to this figure.  They all look accurate to the source material, which is good.  Flash has minimal detailing, but it’s all well done.  The eyes and logo stand out nicely, and there’s a nice pattern representing the texturing on his arms.  Flash also includes an assault rifle, a handgun, and a hair piece to display him unmasked.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m honestly not the world’s biggest Venom fan, but my usual online store had this set marked down during their Black Friday Sale, so I picked it up.  Eddie and Ann aren’t gonna win any awards, but Unleashed and Flash are both really cool, so I’m glad to have picked it up.

#0064: Lara Croft

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LARA CROFT – BATTLE DAMAGED

TOMB RAIDER MINIMATES

Another Minimate review!  It’s another previously un-reviewed line, this time based on the popular video game franchise Tomb Raider.  Diamond Select Toys picked up the license for the most recent game in the series, and have released a line of Minimates to coincide.  I’ll be looking at the Battle-Damaged variant of the main character, Lara Croft.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

This version of Lara was released as part of the first series of Tomb Raider Minimates.  She was packed with the Armored Tomb Raider Scavenger, but I picked Lara up loose, all by herself, so I won’t be looking at that one.  Lara is based on her look from later in the game after she’s been raiding tombs, or whatever.  She’s got sculpted hair, belt and shoulder strap.  These pieces are all new to the figure, though, the hair’s been seen before on this site, in my review of Rescue & Robot Hulk.  I liked the piece there, and I like it here.  It’s a nice piece and I would be glad to see it used more often.  The belt’s got a holster for her pistol, and the shoulder strap’s got a clip for her machine gun.  The paint on this figure is nothing short of amazing.  She’s got scuffs and stains everywhere, and is all bandaged up.  There’s even mud in her hair.  Lara comes with a handgun, a climbing axe, a machine gun and a shotgun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve never actually played any of the Tomb Raider games, nor do I know all that much about the series (in case you couldn’t tell from my description of Lara’s activities as “raiding tombs or whatever”).  But, I was ordering a bunch of stuff from Luke’s Toy Store during their Black Friday sale, and I saw her loose for a good price, and thought it was a cool enough figure.

#0063: Captain Archer & Dolim

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CAPTAIN ARCHER & DOLIM

STAR TREK LEGACY MINIMATES

So, yeah, it’s more Minimates today.  This time, they’re from a line I haven’t yet looked at, Star Trek.  Minimates actually owe a lot to Star Trek, as Trek was one of the earliest licenses, back when the figures were still 3 inch scale.  Sadly, Trek hasn’t seen a load of success in the Minimates world.  The 3 inch line only lasted a single series, and the first 2 inch line only went 5 series, barely making it past the classic Trek crew.  In the last year, Diamond attempted to relaunch the line again as Star Trek Legacy.  This time around, they focused on several of the Trek show simultaneously, releasing the captain from each series with one other character.  There were Toys R Us and Specialty assortments, with 4 two-packs each.  Today, I’ll be looking at Archer and Dolim from Star Trek: Enterprise.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of the first specialty series of the Star Trek Legacy Minimates line.

CAPTAIN ARCHER

First up, it’s the captain, and de facto lead of the show, Captain Nathanial Archer.  He’s shown here in his basic look from the show, his blue jumpsuit.  He’s built on the basic Minimate body, so he stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  He has sculpted hair and a belt.  These pieces both look to be new.  The belt is rather basic, and could conceivably work for many different purposes.  The hair piece looks fairly accurate to Archer’s hair from the show, but I’m not sure it’s spot on.  The paint detailing is all well done.  The face looks to be set a slight bit too high in the head, but it looks to be a pretty good interpretation of Scott Bakula.  If I had one complaint, it would be that he looks a bit stern for Archer, who tended to be more jovial.  Archer includes a communicator, a tri-corder, a phase pistol, and a clear display stand.

DOLIM

Next, it’s Dolim.  He’s one of the great…umm…wait…no, he’s, hmmm.  Yeah, I don’t actually know who Dolim is.  According to the box, he’s “A reptilian commander in the Xindi alliance…”  So, there’s that I guess.  I honestly wasn’t watching Enterprise when this guy showed up, so I know nothing about him.  Nor do I have any kind of attachment to him, but he was in the box with Archer, so here he is.  He’s on the usual Minimate body, so he’s got the 14 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall.  In place of the basic head and hands, Dolim has uniquely sculpted pieces.  He also has a sculpted robe thingy, which covers most of the body.  The paint is up to the usual standards of a Minimate, though there’s a bit of slop on the robe.  Dolim’s only accessory is a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, another controversial opinion of mine:  I actually don’t mind Star Trek: Enterprise.  It wasn’t perfect, but it was my favorite Trek after the original.  I’ve never been able to get into DS9 or Voyager, and Next Gen was just too stretched out for me, and I tend to like Scott Bakula’s work.  Anyway, I was rather excited to see Captain Archer get a release in the line, even if I did have to buy a villain I didn’t really want.   I kind of wish Archer had come with his pet beagle, but I guess this is Archer after Scotty lost it in a transporter accident.  That would explain the stern expression…

#0062: Silver Surfer

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SILVER SURFER                   

MARVEL SELECT

Previously, I’ve taken a look at a few odd figures from DC Direct, a company that produced DC Comics figures meant to be sold directly through comic book shops.  This allowed them to do story specific looks and some of the more obscure characters.  With that company’s success, Marvel wanted to get in on some of the action, so they licensed Diamond Select Toys to do a line of “specialty” figures of their characters.  It took a while, and some of the early figures weren’t so great, but their line, Marvel Select, has started to pick up some decent coverage, and put out some very nice figures.  They just recently put out a Silver Surfer figure, which I’ll be taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

As I said above, Silver Surfer was just released.  Marvel Select doesn’t use the typical “series” structure that many other lines use, instead releasing the figures one at a time.  Surfer’s not exactly a character with a huge variety of looks, having just the one, but this figure appears to be based on Surfer’s more classic 70s-80s look.  He stands roughly 7 inches tall and has 22 points of articulation.  Surfer’s sculpt is simplistic, but that’s not a bad thing in his case.  That’s also not to say there’s no detail work.  In particular, I like that they went the extra mile to put wrinkles on the waist, denoting the shorts that the Surfer was typically shown wearing until the 90s or so.  The head has a great look of calmness that characterizes the Surfer very well.  If I have one complaint about the sculpt, it’s that the abs are perhaps a bit too defined to match the rest of the figure’s aesthetic.  Surfer comes armed with a fair number of accessories.  He’s got his trusty Surf Board, a spare set of hands, to hand-blast pieces, the Infinity Gauntlet, and a display stand made to look like the Surfer is hovering over a rocky surface.  The board is well done, with nice clean line work.  It suffers from the common problem of figures of the Surfer in that it has to have foot pegs to hold him in place.  The hands are only minor variation, he’s got the flatter hands for basic “surfing” poses, and a pair where the fingers are slightly curled to allow the energy blasts to fit properly.   The Infinity Gauntlet is a cool add-in.  You have to remove the Surfer’s hand to put it on, and it doesn’t have a peg or anything, so it just kind of has to be wedged on just right.  It looks cool, though I don’t know of a time when the Surfer actually had it in his possession.  The stand is interesting.  It has a blue swooshing effect that the board slides into, but it also has foot prints and a foot peg to allow the Surfer to stand directly on the rocky surface.  It’s nice in theory, but there’s no way to remove the swoosh effect, leaving it looking a bit odd.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This guy was picked up from my favorite online store, Luke’s Toy Store, during their Black Friday sale.  I had been wanting the figure, but wasn’t sure about paying full price.  Luke’s had it for $16, which was good enough for me.  I’m a moderate fan of the Surfer, and I’m glad to see a decent figure of him.  It’s not perfect, but it’s much better than a lot of his recent figures!

#0059: Rescue & Robot Hulk

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RESCUE ARMOR IRON MAN & ROBOT HULK

MARVEL MINIMATES

Today marks the final entry from the most recent Toys R Us exclusive series of Diamond’s quite expansive Marvel Minimates line.  For the last review, I’ll be looking at not quite Iron Man, and not quite the Hulk.  So, maybe it’s not quite a review…

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of the 17th Toys R Us exclusive series of Marvel Minimates.

RESCUE ARMOR IRON MAN

First up, it’s Iron Man…according to the box anyway.  In actuality, it’s Pepper, Tony’s on-again-off-again-love-interest.  She recently (okay, in the last five years or so) got her own suit of armor and took up heroing under the name “Rescue.”  I guess Toys R Us wasn’t interested in a figure just called Rescue, but add Iron Man to the end, and their on board!  That ends up being a little awkward for Pepper, who really doesn’t qualify as Iron MAN, but if anyone can bend gender stereotypes, it’s Pepper Potts!  The figue is built on the basic Minimate body, with a few sculpted add-ons, so she’s got 12 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall.  She’s got sculpted boots and gloves, as well as a slip over mask.  All these pieces have been used before, but are put to a good effect.  The paint on Rescue is quite well done, with no noticeable slop, smudges or fuzziness, and lots of fine detail work.  The metallic red and silver are also nice and consistent.  Rescue includes a blast off stand, a clear display stand and a spare hair piece to display Pepper unmasked.  That last accessory is great because, Pepper’s unmasked face is one of the highlights of the figure.

ROBOT HULK

Next, it’s Robot Hulk, the robot approximation of Hulk.  Yeah, it’s a complicated concept.  He’s based on…the minds of toy makers everywhere.  Robo Hulk is based on the basic Minimate body with sculpted parts, so he’s got 12 points of articulation and stands a little over 2 ½ inches tall.  He’s got sculpted hair, torso cover, hands, thigh covers and feet.  All but the hair were previously used on the Marvel vs Capcom Sentinel, and the hair is taken from one of the recent Colossuses.  The reuse is warranted and gives him a nice angular, robotic look.  The paint work is all nice and sharp.  Like yesterday’s Venom, Robot Hulk also has a whole nother Minimate underneath all of his sculpted parts.  This time around, it depicts a terminator like rob-suit, piloted by long-time Hulk and Iron Man foe the Gremlin.  It’s a great touch and really adds a lot to the figure.  Robot Hulk is topped off by a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As with the rest of this series, the two were ordered from TRU’s online store, with a shocking amount of ease.  Rescue gives us a great comic styled Pepper, which has been a long time coming.  Robot Hulk is kind of filler, but he’s really cool filler, and his importance is helped by the little image of Gremlin piloting, kind of making this a new character.

#0058: Nova & Alien Symbiote Venom

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NOVA & ALIEN SYMBIOTE VENOM

MARVEL MINIMATES

Today, it’s another entry from the Marvel Minimates line.  Like the last two reviews, this set comes from the most recent Toys R Us Exclusive series.  This time around, it’s the latest incarnation of the character Marvel really wants to take off Nova, and villainous Spider-Man knock-off Venom.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of the 17th Toys R Us exclusive series of Marvel Minimates.

NOVA

First up, it’s everyone’s favorite Galactic Law enforcer!  No, it’s not Ryan Reynolds, it’s actually Nova, specifically of the All New variety.  It’s Sam Alexander, the most recent incarnation of Nova.  He’s built on the usual Minimate body, so he’s got 14 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall.  He’s got a sculpted helmet, shoulder pads, and gloves.  The shoulder pads are reused from Wolverine, but the helmet and gloves are new pieces.  They look to be accurate to the source material, which is good.  The paint isn’t terrible, though there is some noticeable slop and a few fuzzy lines.  It’s not terrible, but it keeps the figure from being “great”.   Nova also includes an extra golden helmet to replace his regular one, an extra head w/ hair to make the figure into Sam’s dad, a clear blue blast off base, and the usual clear display stand.

VENOM

Next, it’s everyone’s favorite Topher Grace role!  …okay, not really…look, it’s Venom, okay?  Happy?  Venom is based on the look that Venom’s pretty consistently had since his introduction.  If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, I guess.  The characters size has varied over the years, and this figure’s meant to show him all ‘roided out like he was towards the end of the 90s.  The figure’s built on the basic Minimate body, with some sculpted parts which bring his articulation to 12 points and his height to a little over 2 ½ inches.  Venom’s got a sculpted mask, torso cover, pelvis cover, thigh covers, feet, upper arm covers and clawed hands.  The bulked up pieces have been used on several of the larger Marvel characters before, and the Venom specific parts have been used before in the Venom: Through the Ages set.  Venom is usually depicted in black and white, but for this figure, Diamond’s replaced the usual black with a dark, semi-metallic blue.  It’s not a huge difference, but it makes the figure different from previous releases I guess.  The paint is pretty good overall, with less of the slop that’s present on Nova.  As a cool bonus, if you remove all the added on parts, and give him the included normal hands and feet, you can assemble a black-costume Spider-Man.   Venom also includes a tendril that can be swapped out for one of his hands, and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like the rest of this series, I got these two from TRU’s online store, with no real issues for a change.  This set is a perfectly fine addition to my collection, even if it isn’t necessarily.  The ability to use Venom as a Symbiote Spider-Man adds a whole lot to the set, as I think it might be my favorite take on that particular version of the character yet.