Tag Archives: Venom

#3928: Captain America vs Venom

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA VS VENOM

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

In the ‘90s, Capcom’s arcade fighting games were a pretty notable thing, and also Marvel Comics was a pretty notable thing.  So, Marvel and Capcom opted to do that whole “two great tastes that taste great together” thing, and teamed up for some crossover action.  First starting more focused with X-Men vs Street Fighter, they eventually added the larger rosters of both Marvel and Capcom to the mix, and even got some toys along the way.  There’s remasters and all sorts of nostalgia going on right now, which always leads to an interest in some merchandising.  Jada has been running a really strong showing with a number of the Capcom properties, and, in a bit of an informal crossover, Hasbro’s doing their own line of just the Marvel half of the games.  Would you believe I bought the Captain America?

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Captain America vs Venom is a two-pack release from Hasbro’s Marvel Legends.  They’re part of the first big push of the “VS” set under the “Gamerverse” banner.  Though the packaging uses sprites and design elements from Marvel vs Capcom, there’s no actual mention of the game on the package, again keeping the informal crossover bit going.

CAPTAIN AMERICA

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag you’re buying the same thing over and over again?  I mean, I frequently am doing *exactly* that, but, like in a more metaphorical sense?  That’s where I’m at with this Captain America.  He’s the next progression of the journey to a classic Cap that we started back in 2016, with the Cap Wolf Cap, who debuted Cap on the “new” Reaper mold.  Wow, I said “Cap” a lot of times in that sentence.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Remember my “Ship of Theseus” comment in the Secret Wars Cap review?  Well, this guy just sort of furthers that.  All that remains of the original Reaper body use at this point is, in fact, his belt piece.  He gets the lower torso first used for the 80th Cap, and the standard calm masked head included with the 20th Anniversary Cap.   His lower arms, pelvis, and legs to the top of the shin are all the modified pieces used on the Secret Wars Cap last year.  That leaves a new upper torso, upper arms, and boots for this specific release.  Cap’s game design notably omitted the usual scale-mail that his upper torso spots, so this figure does that as well,  but it still grants him a lot of sculpted elements, rather than simply painting them all on, like the Cap Wolf figure did.  Most notably, the new upper torso gives Cap butterfly joints on his shoulders, something he hasn’t had since the Toy Biz days.  They’re quite handy when it comes to fighting poses, which is ideal for a figure that’s specifically for a fighting game.  Cap also gets a new alternate head, with another expression.  This one takes the teeth-gritting expression of the Secret Wars release and dials it up to 11, for a full on scream.  It’s not your typical Cap expression, but it feels exceptionally true to the sprite models from the game.  Cap’s color work is perfectly fine, if not above average in terms of paint work application and quality.  But, once again, we’ve gotten *another* shade of blue, meaning that you can’t swap the heads on this guy with either the 20th or Secret Wars figures, which continues to feel like a missed opportunity.  Presumably, Hasbro’s waiting to unveil a Maximum Cap that has all the heads and retools this torso into one with the scale mail.  Cap is packed with two pair of hands (fists and thumbs up), his shield, and a bash effect piece for the shield.  The thumbs up hands are really cool, and offer a lot of fun posing options.  I wasn’t thrilled about the move back to the smaller shield, but I think it does work a bit better for the game look.  It’s amusing that this shield is smaller than the one included with the original TB MvC Cap figure, though.

VENOM

Venom.  Yay.  Venom.  I totally bought this set for both figures, and not just the one.  Of course.  I totally know all of the facts about the different Venoms, too.  Like, this one’s…blue?  Cuz of the sprite.  That’s why.  The figure stands 7 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Like Cap, the classic Eddie Brock Venom’s gone through a lot of different mold variations.  This appears to be the same mold used for the Amazon three-pack Eddie that came with Riot and Agony, which itself was based on the Omega Red molds.  It means he’s still got visible pins on the knees, but otherwise modern articulation.  It’s not a bad sculpt by any means.  It feels very true to the character, and the heads both feel very much in line with his game design.  I especially like the partially unmasked head, because it reminds me of the old Spider-Man Classics figure.  In terms of coloring, he is, as noted above, blue.  It’s honestly a pretty good way of getting him to stand out from the others.  Generally, the paint’s pretty basic.  I do really love the green saliva on the tongue, though.  Venom is packed with the alternate unmasked head, and two pairs of hands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m cursed to keep buying every Captain America from Hasbro as they continue to make them incrementally better every time.  I’ve just accepted that.  This time, they also made me buy a Venom.  Wasn’t thrilled about that, but I really wanted the Cap, so I did it.  I’m glad I did, because I do really, really like this Cap.  The changes feel worth it, and he feels more like a new figure and not just a retread of the ones from before.  I think Secret Wars may still be more of a definitive Cap for me, but this one’s exceptionally fun, and I especially love all the fun stuff you can do with that screaming head.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased these figures for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3674: Stealth Venom

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

STEALTH VENOM

SPIDER-MAN (TOY BIZ)

“In the past, Venom has been both hero and villain, and Spider-Man knows how powerful he can be! With his chameleon-like abilities, Venom can even blend into his surroundings and virtually ‘disappear’ from sight. So, although Venom is unpredictable, one thing is certain; when he does appear, things heat up!”

Ah, yes, Venom’s chameleon like abilities. Of all the Spider-Man villains out there, surely it’s Venom whose abilities could be best classified as “chameleon-like.” …look, guys, I can’t just stand by and let this Chameleon erasure happen! He’s the original Spider-Man villain. Can’t we get him some respect? No? Well, I tried. I guess I’ll just review this “chameleon-like” Venom.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Stealth Venom was released in Series 7 of Toy Biz’s Spider-Man line.  The whole set was dialed into Toy Biz’s tendency to give their lines the occasional repaint-heavy line-up, so there were minimal new parts across the board, all dialed into more recognizable characters.  This was Venom’s third time in the line, and the first of the kind of made-up variants.  It was far from the last of either thing, of course.  The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  Venom lacks elbow joints for reasons I’m not entirely sure of, but there it is.  Otherwise, it’s pretty standard stuff.  His sculpt from the neck down was the same as the unmasked Venom from earlier in the line.  It’s honestly not a bad sculpt, and in particular it captured the animated approach to Venom pretty well.  He got a new head, which removed the removable mask feature…un-removed?  I don’t know.  There’s no unmasked head is my point.  It’s really bulky at the neck, and I’m not entirely sure why.  Also, he’s got this sort of permanently looking up thing going on, which seems odd for someone of his stature.  Venom’s stealth-ness came from the color work, which was translucent.  There were actually two different versions; the one seen here was the one that more closely mimicked Venom’s usual set-up, while the second one inverted the colors.  This one’s not nearly as different at a glance, especially in the photos, but I guess it works out alright.  Venom was packed with two clip-on hand attachments, as well as a web-line that was wrapped around his waist.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was surprisingly short on Venom figures growing up.  I had one of the 10-inchers, and I jumped on the original Spider-Man Classics one pretty quickly, but the 5-inch ones all eluded me until later in life.  This guy was mixed in with a handful of Toy Biz figures that got traded into All Time a month or two ago, and he was surprisingly complete, so hooray for me!  He’s kinda goofy, obviously, but it’s not like I’m collecting the Toy Biz stuff for its serious adherence to the comics lore, am I?  Now, I guess I just have to track down that variant.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3509: Space Knight Venom & Mania

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

SPACE KNIGHT VENOM & MANIA

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“To protect high school student Andi Benton, Flash Thompson accidentally bonds his symbiote to her, only learning later that the Venom symbiote had passed on his demonic Hell-Mark to her”

Once Venom’s popularity really started to take off, Marvel began its rather lengthy run of evolving the concept to keep it from getting stale. Eddie Brock himself evolved into an anti-hero, and ultimately lost the symbiote, which was bonded to Mac Gargan, in order to become villainous once more. After Gargan lost the symbiote, the US government passed it on to Flash Thompson, who took on the alias Agent Venom. After joining the Guardians of the Galaxy and visiting the Symbiote’s home planet, Thompson unlocked new abilities, taking on the form of Space Knight Venom. Whilst in possession of the symbiote, Flash also inadvertently created his own sidekick, Mania, who rounds off the pair of figures I’m looking at today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Space Knight Venom and Mania are a Target-exclusive Marvel Legends two-pack, released in the fall of this year. Venom was previously a Build-A-Figure in 2016, but Mania is an all-new release.

VENOM

Though he may be a re-release, Venom’s the real reason for this set’s existence. The Space Knight Venom series was notoriously hard to find, making him one of the most expensive BAFs to piece together. All but one single release character from the set has seen some form of update since (and I don’t believe people are beating down Hasbro’s door for a new Ashley Barton), making Venom a natural choice for another figure. The figure stands — inches tall and has — points of articulation. The core figure sculpt is the same one used by the Build-A-Figure, which makes sense, since not many people got their hands on it the first time. It helps that it’s a generally pretty decent sculpt. It’s not without some signs of its age, of course. There are still visible pins on the elbows and knees, and some of the articulation is a little bit shaky. I do like how well it merges the comic design with the Legends style, and how unique it is from other Venom figures. There are also a lot of sculpted elements that could have just been painted on, which makes it look even better. The figure’s paint work is functionally the same as the Build-A-Figure. It’s hard to go wrong with black and white detailing that follows the sculpted elements, so it makes sense. There’s a bit of fuzziness around the edges of the white sections, especially where there’s no sculpted lines to act as guides, but the overall appearance is pretty decent. The BaF Venom was without accessories, but this release changes that, giving him an extra head (with more of an “unleashed” appearance), as well as blade attachments for both arms. I’m more a fan of the standard head, but the option is nice, and I definitely dig the attachments.

MANIA

While Flash’s Venom sort of bled out into other areas of the Marvel universe, his sidekick Mania remained fairly contained to Venom-specific stories, so I didn’t read much with her. She’s another take on the female Venom play, with more of Flash’s Agent Venom persona present, I guess. The figure is about 5 1/2 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation. She appears to be using a variation of the Spider-Girl body, with new limbs sporting the pinless double joints, as well as character-specific pieces for her head, lower arms, boots, and belt. The new parts mesh well with the old, and create a solid approximation of her comics look. It’s an interesting mix of cartoony and realistic, but that’s kind of the character, I suppose. Her paint work is pretty basic overall, with the whole black/white thing. She does get a little more accenting on her gloves and boots, which is pretty fun. Mania includes no accessories of her own, which is a bit of a letdown, but also I don’t know what she should get.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Try as I may, I was never able to get more than a single piece of Space Knight Venom in his original run, which very definitely sucked. I’ve been hoping for some form of rerelease for a while, but it’s been a long wait. I had no need for Mania myself, but I can dig her getting a figure, and this seems like a good way to do it. Venom is very fun, though, and I’m glad I got him, and that also acquiring him was relatively painless. I just preordered the set and they shipped out no problem. Yay for no problem!

 

#3121: Venom & Doppleganger

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

VENOM & DOPPLEGANGER

MARVEL MINIMATES

In the ’90s, Marvel was big into anti-heroes, and in a lot of cases, that meant refitting older villains into a newer role.  The popularity of Venom outside of even his main hero pushed Marvel to take that slightly more heroic angle with him, with a prominent anti-heroic role during “Maximum Carnage,” where he and Spidey are forced to team up to face down a common foe.  Over on Carnage’s side, he was building his own team of villains, which included a remnant of a prior crossover, the Doppelganger, who’d been brought into existence during “Infinity War” and had a hole in his schedule, I guess.  Those two are the subject of today’s review!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Venom and Doppleganger were released as part of the 76th specialty series of Marvel Minimates, which was based on the “Maximum Carnage” cross-over.  They and the rest of the assortment hit shelves in October of 2018.

Also included in this set is a piece to the Build-A-Mate Shriek.  For this particular set, it’s the torso, belt, and pelvis.  Not quite as distinctive as the head and hair, but it’s something.

VENOM

“One of Spider-Man’s greatest foes, Venom must help his enemy stop Carnage, whose powers stem from Venom’s symbiotic costume.”

No stranger to Minimates, DST sometimes seems to struggle with how to make each subsequent Eddie Brock Venom feel unique from the last.  We gotten all manner of different mixes of bulking him up, and, well, here’s another one, I guess.  Structurally, this Venom is really a mix of prior ones.  He’s got a bulked up torso, upper arms, pelvis, and upper legs, and then a pair of clawed hands.  The end result is…well, it’s different.  DST was clearly looking to capture the artistic take in Venom at the time, which had his upper torso being rather large in comparison to his arms and legs, making him look like a bit V…you know, for Venom, I guess.  Using just some of the power-house pieces is actually an idea that was suggested on the boards a few times, so there was certainly some demand to see it done.  I’m not super sure how well it worked out ultimately, but this is far from the worst take on Venom.  The paint on this guy does a decent job of capturing the art from the story, as well as selling him as distinctive from his prior figures.  That said, it’s a shame that the highlights on the upper legs don’t continue to the lower, as this only further emphasizes the jump between the parts, making it look like he’s missing something.  I do really like the print on that head, though.  Venom’s only accessory is a clear display stand, which is kind of a shame.  It would have been nice to get another unmasked Eddie, or possibly another of the sonic gun they included with Spidey.  As it its, he’s very light, especially without all of the usual bulk-up parts.

DOPPLEGANGER

“A twisted copy of Spider-Man created during the Infinity War, Doppelganger is adopted by Carnage and Shriek during their deadly rampage.”

The Doppelganger is an interesting enough concept, though he admittedly gets a little lost in a story with so many dark reflections of Spider-Man.  It was at least nice that they didn’t totally forget about him.  This is his first time as a ‘mate, which isn’t a huge surprise for a character that hasn’t been relevant since the ’90s.  Of course, with the 6-arm tooling ready to go since Series 36, it’s perhaps a bit of a shock it took quite as long as it did.  Like the standard Spidey, Doppelganger starts with the core body, but adds in the harness from 6-Arm Spidey, as well as a new set of hands and feet for more of a clawed appearance.  I felt the harness bulked up Spidey a bit too much, but it ends up working out okay for the Doppelganger, who was typically depicted as a little larger anyway.  I also appreciate that this guy got new hands and feet, rather than just re-using similar pieces from the likes of Nightcrawler.  It makes him even more unique.  His paint is generally pretty close to Sonic Attack Spidey, though the application’s not quite as good on my Doppelganger, with the eyes not really matching up quite right with the lines on the mask and a bit of slop on the base level of the work.  It’s not terrible, but it’s definitely a slight step down.  Like Venom, Doppelganger’s only accessory is a clear display stand, but with the new hands and feet, it feels a little less frustrating here.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like I mentioned in my Spidey and Black Cat review, I’ve got no notable attachment to this storyline, and I was starting to fall out of Minimates by this point.  I was grabbing the one set, and I felt compelled to get this one too.  None of the others, though.  As I said above, it’s hard to do a lot new and different with a Venom at this point.  This guy gets points for trying something new, I suppose, and he’s ultimately not a bad effort.  I’m even hard-pressed to say what DST could have done differently, but he still feels ever so slightly off.  Doppelganger’s a decent new addition to the line, held back ever so slightly by some wonky QC, which has been afflicting Spidey for a while now.  I guess it’s only fair it might hit his duplicate.

#3042: Symbiote Spider-Man

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

SYMBIOTE SPIDER-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Spider-Man gets an all-new look when he finds a sleek black costume in a space shuttle wreck. Little does Spidey realize he’s joined himself to the predatory alien symbiote: Venom!”

In early 1984, after over 20 years of more or less just getting minor tweaks to the same basic design, Spider-Man debuted an all-new costume on the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #252.  This black and white number would get its own origin story in the pages of Secret Wars later that year, where it was revealed that the suit was actually an alien symbiote, bonded to Peter during his stay on Battleworld.  He wound up keeping the suit for about 6 months, before discovering its true nature and ditching it.  Not long after, though, he took to wearing a cloth replica of the design, and actually stuck with that for another four years, making it a fairly lengthy run with the suit.  As such, it’s become a staple for toy coverage, meaning it gets trotted back out every so often to keep things fresh.  We got a standard Black Costume Spider-Man Legends release back in 2017, with a re-release in 2019, but with a new standard Spidey body out there, it’s time for another go at the design, which I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Symbiote Spider-Man is the second Spidey variant in the latest Spidey-themed Retro assortment of Marvel Legends.  Like the standard Retro Spidey before him, this guy looks the be the most-in-demand of this round of figures by quite a bit.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 36 points of articulation.  He’s only the second figure to be built on the body that was debuted with the first Retro Spidey, which is at once surprising, and also appropriate, I suppose.  It’s nice to see it crop up again after such a big deal was made about it.  In contrast to the last Symbiote Spidey, who was a total re-use of parts, this one actually gets an all-new head sculpt.  While I was willing to live with the re-used Scarlet Spider head on the last one, I must admit, I was very happy about the all-new sculpt here, and it’s such a nice sculpt.  It really matches well with my ideal version of the black costume mask.  Beyond that, it’s just re-using the previous body.  While I find myself drawn more to the slighter build of the Pizza Spidey body for a basic Spider-Man, it did perhaps mak the Symbiote design look a little scrawnier than he should have been.  The slightly bulked up body works really well with the design.  The figure’s paint is on the basic side, as is best with the Symbiote look.  No blue accents or anything to muck things up, and the application on the white is pretty sharp.  The eyes are notably a more glossy finish, which adds a nice bit of pop to the head.  Symbiote Spider-Man is packed with three different sets of hands, and can I just say how glad I am that all of the hands are back again?  It was a major nick against the last Retro Spidey was that he didn’t have the open gesture hands, so I’m really psyched that the whole spread is here this time.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Something about the Sandman Series Symbiote Spidey always just slightly missed the mark for me.  He was decent, but just not quite there.  Likewise, I kind of felt that way about the previous Retro Spidey.  So, this was a combo that I was iffy on, but it really, really works.  Legitimately the best version of this costume design, at the very least in Legends form, and certainly the best version I own.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.

#2711: Toxin

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

TOXIN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“The 1,000th symbiote in a lineage that includes Carnage and Venom, Toxin is feared by many to be the strongest and most dangerous.”

After the craziest of the symbiote-overload in the ’90s died down, Marvel decided they wanted to try again.  So, Carnage once again had some spawn, but just the one this time.  The end result was Toxin, who, in contrast to Venom and Carnage, was not an inherently malicious creature.  Initially bonded with police officer Patrick Mulligan, Toxin served as an ally to Spider-Man, rather than either of his progenitors.  After Mulligan’s death, Toxin was then shifted over to usual Venom host Eddie Brock for a bit, as Eddie moved his way through a handful of symbiotes.  Toxin’s been privy to a few figures over the years, twice now getting a Legends release.  The first one wasn’t much to write home about, but maybe this new one will change things up a bit?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Toxin is the latest Deluxe-sized offering for Marvel Legends.  He follows the trend set by Apocalypse, being a new larger scale figure, as opposed to a reissue of a prior Build-A-Figure.  Toxin’s had a few somewhat divergent looks over the years, and this one grabs a few elements from each of them and merges them all together into one thing.  He’s definitely more monstrous than Mulligan usually was, and the face is definitely lifted from Brock’s time with the symbiote, but the general appearance is still definitely an earlier Toxin look.  The figure stands 7 3/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Toxin is built on Monster Venom body, which seems a little bit on the large side for Toxin’s usual depictions, but it’s honestly a little on the large side, even for the two Venom figures it was used for.  The symbiotes just tend to get sized up a bit, I guess, when it comes to toys.  The Monster Venom body remains a very impressive piece of work, and I can understand Hasbro wanting to get more mileage out of it.  To change things up, Toxin gets a new head, and a slightly tweaked back plate, as well as tendrils.  So many tendrils.  More tendrils than we have room for.  Elevendrils.  It’s really intense, and it really works.  Certainly continues the dynamic nature of the Monster Venom body.  The tendrils are popped on in stages, so you can kind of tweak just how tendril-y he is if you like.  It does mean they pop off on their own occasionally, but it’s overall not too bad.  Toxin’s paint work is generally decent.  The red’s very bright, which I rather like; it contrasts well with the black on the other portions of the figure, and makes him more eye catching than Hasbro’s last attempt.  The transition from red to black is also pretty nicely handled, managing to be pretty subtle, and to maintain a consistent look across multiple pieces.  The red sections could, I suppose, stand to have a little more accenting on them, but that’s about the only thing I can really knock.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My actual experience with Toxin is pretty limited.  I’m familiar with him as a character, and I know the toys, but I don’t believe I’ve actually read any of his comics appearances.  He’s got a halfway decent visual, though, and this figure using the Monster Venom body, which I really quite like, gave him some points in his favor.  The end product’s pretty nifty.  If you like Symbiotes, you’ll like this one, and he’s certainly a step-up from the last version.  Now, if we could get the slightly less monstered out Mulligan version at some point, that’d be pretty sweet too.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for Marvel Legends, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2654: Venompool

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

VENOMPOOL

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Alright, I guess I might as well get to reviewing the thing I’ve been literally building up to.  Yes, it’s the veritable merchandising gold mine that is “Venompool.”  A pretty straight forward mash up of Venom and Deadpool, Venompool’s not exactly an original concept, since we’ve been seeing variants on the basic idea since 2010.  Heck, we’ve even gotten another take on the concept in Marvel Legends previously, when they did the “Back in Black” design.  But, the particular version that’s been getting all the love in the last couple of years is not any of the plethora of comics-based designs, but rather the version that appeared in Marvel’s Contest of Champions mobile game, which is this hulking brute that I’m taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Venompool is the eponymous Build-A-Figure for the “Venompool Series” of Marvel Legends, built from parts included with 5 of the 6 figures included.  As noted above, he comes from Contest of Champions, and is the first Legends figure to explicitly based on a design from that game.  He’s also the third figure based on this particular design, following the Pop and the Hot Toys.  Like with Miles last week, I’m not super big on this design as a whole.  It feels less symbiote-y and more like a monstrous version of Deadpool.  And boy is he monstrous.  The figure stands 8 inches tall and he has 28 points of articulation.  In terms of mobility, he’s pretty restricted, given his rather bulky build.  He can get some okay poses, of course, and covers pretty much everything you’d expect from a character of this size.  He’s also not too hard to keep standing. He’s an all-new sculpt, which gives me a frightening sort of feeling like Hasbro’s going to try and get some sort of a variant release out of him, just to double down on the mold.  It’s an accurate recreation of the game’s design, and there’s certainly a lot of detail going on there.  They’ve somewhat followed in the steps of the movie design and given him a lot of texturing on his costume, which does at least keep things somewhat visually interesting.  It was a touch disappointing that the chain links on his wrist and ankle bands were solid to the bands, and not separate, but I guess the line had to be drawn somewhere.  The paint work on this guy is pretty good.  It gets all the important details down, and application is all pretty clean.  Venompool is notably well accessorized for a Build-A-Figure, getting two sets of hands (open and gripping), two swords, and a removable pair of sheaths for his back.  The sheaths are a little tricky to get in place, and not the most secure.  I’m not sure why they didn’t just do a peg to connect them, but maybe there’s a very important reason that I’m missing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t big on the Venomized stuff, and I’ve been suffering from some serious Deadpool fatigue the last few months.  So, this guy, not really for me.  Still, I decided I may as well build him, just to see what all the fuss was about.  He’s a decently put together figure, but there’s just nothing that really grabs me.  The design is so-so, and I have no real spot for him in my collection.  Ultimately, this really isn’t one I see myself hanging onto.

This assortment is one that I was iffy on from the beginning.  Only Phage really jumped out at me from the start.  But, I went into it with an open mind, because the last Venom assortment wound up impressing me a lot more than I’d expected it to.  This one just really didn’t change my mind.  I like Phage, and Carnage is cool.  Even Ghost-Spider is at least a neat visual.  The rest of the assortment left me cold, and even the presentation didn’t really sell it.  It’s notably a small set, and ultimately feels more cobbled together from left-overs than other recent assortments.  Without so much connective tissue, the assortment relies more heavily on the individual figures, and they’re all fine from a technical stand point, but are largely “meh” from a design standpoint.  I’m probably the outlier on this one, though.

#2653: Venom

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

VENOM

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Failed reporter Eddie Brock is hijacked by an alien entity that takes a liking to Earth and decides to protect it.”

There’s been a Venom solo film in the works since at least as far back as Spider-Man 3, back when it would have been starring Topher Grace, and then again during the Amazing Spider-Man era, but it finally came to fruition in 2018.  It was far from high art, and wasn’t much of a critical success, but it was enough of financial success to justify a sequel, which should be released this year.  The film was in a dubious spot in terms of merchandising in 2018, but at this point things are a little more comfortable between Marvel and Sony, and we’re finally getting a proper movie version of the character now.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Venom is technically part of the “Venompool Series” of Marvel Legends, in that he ships in the same case.  However, he has no number, doesn’t list “Venompool Series” at the top of his box, and shows none of the other figures in the set on the back.  Furthermore, none of the other figures in the set show him either.  One has to wonder if he was originally intended for some sort of solo release, ala the Fan Channel figures, and wound up slotted into an assortment at the last minute.  The figure stands 7 1/2 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  The articulation scheme on this figure is a heavy re-work for a Marvel figure, following the lead of other lines like Lightning Collection.  It’s a pretty good set-up, and works particularly well for a larger character like Venom.  His sculpt is an all-new offering, and not a bad one at that.  It gets the general proportions of the character down pretty nicely, making him tall and pretty bulked up, without quite going to the absurd cartoonish levels of some of the larger Venom figures out there.  There’s also quite a bit of detail work going into the figure; rather than just being smooth, he’s got texturing all throughout the body, helping him to look rather slimy and gross, which certainly feels appropriate.  It also sets him apart from the more comic-based figures in this assortment from a stylistic stand point.  He gets two different heads, one with tongue and one without.  He comes wearing the one with the tongue, and that one’s the stronger of the two.  Both of them are fairly accurate to the film design, which is the main aim.  My biggest issue is that it’s really hard, on my figure at least, to swap the heads; it required heating the joint, and even then it was a real chore.  The paint work on him is generally pretty basic, since the vast majority of it’s just molded black plastic.  He does get the painted elements on the heads, of course, as well as some white detailing on the shoulders and forearms, but as the movie Venom lacks the usual symbol, he’s otherwise unembellished.  In addition to the extra head, Venom also includes two sets of hands, one open, and one in fists.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t interested in Venom at all when it was released in theaters, so I skipped the theatrical run, and only caught it at home much later.  It didn’t really do much for me, and I wasn’t really missing getting toys.  When this guy was shown off, I was about as interested in him as I was the movie that spawned him.  In hand, I’ll admit he’s a lot better than I was expecting.  I’m not much for the film design overall, but I’ll certainly join in with all the other people that want to see this retooled into something more comic-inspired.  I’d definitely be down for that.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure for review.  If you’re looking for Marvel Legends, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2650: Ghost Spider – Maximum Venom

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

GHOST-SPIDER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“When the Venom symbiote attaches to Gwen Stacy, she gains extreme new powers as Ghost-Spider.”

Remember everything I mentioned about Miles yesterday?  Yep, that pretty much all applies to today’s figure, except that now it’s about Ghost-Spider, aka Gwen Stacy going by her latest supranym.  Can we also, for a moment, bring up that Miles just gets his name on the box, but Gwen gets an up-to-the-minute super hero identity?  That seems unfair to at least one of them.  Not sure which, if I’m entirely honest, but it’s one of them.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ghost-Spider is figure 5 in the “Venompool Series” of Marvel Legends, and is the final figure in the set to contribute to the Build-A-Figure.  Like Miles, it’s our third Spider-Gwen, but the first not to be standard issue.  The figure stands 5 3/4 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  As with Miles, Gwen uses the same body as prior version of the character, but with a few new parts to properly Venomize her.  In her case, it’s a new head, upper torso, forearms, hands, and feet, as well as a new jacket overlay piece.  While Miles’ new parts were all very texture heavy and didn’t really mesh well with the old parts, Gwen’s are actually a bit more sleek and clean, meaning they line-up a bit better.  Aside from the tongue being a bit clumsy and hard to pose around, it’s actually a pretty cool looking design.  It’s more cohesive, and less of a direct take-off from the standard Spider-Gwen design, making it feel a lot more in line with the classic symbiote Spider-Man design, while still respecting the more character-specific elements of Gwen’s appearance.  Even the tongue’s not a terrible idea, just one that’s a little harder to do in toy form.  If it was posable in some fashion, I feel like it would be a bit better, but there are of course drawbacks to that approach as well.  The paint work on Gwen is also a bit more intriguing than on Miles.  It’s certainly got a better visual contrast to it, making it pop a bit more.  Application is pretty clean for the most part, although there’s a bit of slop around the edges of the hood.  Nothing terrible, but it could be cleaner.  Gwen is without accessories of her own, which is again a shame.  Certainly there was some extra they could have thrown in here?  She does at least get the torso and swords for Venompool, which is by far the largest section of the Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I noted yesterday, I’m not big on the Venomized figures.  That being said, Gwen’s design is a little more appealing to me, so I was slightly more interested.  In hand, I do quite like the figure. The tongue’s still weird, but the design translates well, and generally feels less lazy than Miles.  I’m glad I got this figure, and I’ll make space for her with my other Symbiotes.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure for review.  If you’re looking for Marvel Legends, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2649: Miles Morales – Maximum Venom

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

MILES MORALES — MAXIMUM VENOM

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“When the Venom symbiote attaches to Miles Morales, he gains extreme new powers.”

Season 3 of Marvel’s latest Spider-Man cartoon was dedicated to an overarching theme: “Maximum Vemom.”  Essentially, the symbiotes got proper Oprah treatment and were just handed out to everyone in the studio audience super hero community.  While Peter Parker is classically the Spider-Man with symbiote experience, this time around Miles got in on the action, getting his own Venomized appearance in the process.  Marvel Legends doesn’t tend to cover the cartoons, but they’ve made a little bit of an exception here, with a few Venomized figures to help fill out this Venom assortment, and Miles is included among them.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Miles Morales is figure 4 in the “Venompool Series” of Marvel Legends.  He marks our third variant of Miles under the modern banner, though this one’s certainly less all-purpose than the last two.  The figure stands 5 3/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Miles is largely built out of the same parts as the prior, more standard Miles, using the smaller male base body.  He does get a new head, arms, hands, and feet to grant him that more venomous appearance.  They add a fair bit more detail and texturing, which is cool on its own, but does make him feel generally less cohesive when compared to the pre-existing parts.  Honestly, the way the jaw ends up looking more beak-like and the feet end up looking a touch on the large side, the whole figure kind of screams “chicken” to my eyes, but maybe that’s just me.  Whatever the case, he’s not a very imposing looking figure by my count, nor do I feel he really does all that great a job of translating Miles into a more symbiote-inspired appearance.  He winds up looking like someone got Miles’ regular design a bit wet.  He’s just…droopy.  At the very least, the core body’s a good one, so he’s at least a solid figure from a just playing around with him sense.  In terms of paint work, he follows the general Miles color scheme, albeit with some more metallic finish on the black sections. It’s not terrible, but the whole thing does sort of contribute to the overall runny feeling of the design.  Miles includes no accessories of his own, which is a real shame.  He does include the left arm and alternate hand to the Venompool Build-A-Figure, however.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The venomized designs aren’t really my thing, so I had no interest to speak of in this figure.  In hand, I still don’t have much interest in it.  The base body is good, so he’s at least some fun to mess with, but otherwise he really does nothing for me, other than give me an opportunity to reflect on how good the standard Miles figure still is.  I guess that’s not the worst thing, but it doesn’t speak well to a figure if the best thing it does is remind you of how much you like a figure you already owned previously.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure for review.  If you’re looking for Marvel Legends, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.