Venom

Venom Wave

Marvel Legends

Hasbro

I'm a little late with these, but no later than Hasbro was ready with these figures to coincide with the Venom movie.  I got these about the same time it hit Redbox.  If you weren't already drowning in Deadpool figures, someone pulled the level on the chute marked "More Symbiotes."  Somebody defrost "Green Jelly!"

Carnage and his offspring are totally 90s comic garbage, but they are so colorful and toyetic.  I skipped Cletus the first time around, and I am glad I did so.  I would have missed out on his alternate "unmasked head."  The slimy tentril pieces really add to the very Bagley look...very good translation from page to figure.  You also get some alternate murder hands!

Carnage was the tops for accessories in this wave.  No frills for Scream, unfortunately.  I guess you have to have a built in gimmick like Lasher.  Still, she looks great.  Always a fan of the colors.  We're still a couple of symbiotes short of "Separation Anxiety."

The Venom figure is the least exciting of the bunch, mostly because its a slight re-release/retool.  However, it could be considered a completely different figure, Pork Grind:  Spider-Ham's arch nemesis.  If that wasn't enough for a rebuy, you do get a great McFarlane-esque Eddie Brock head and some "unmasking" symbiote shoulder attachment.  Also, the Venom head (open mouth, no tongue) is new, so more variation for a favorite character.

Spider-Ham is getting a lot of flack because of his lack of articulation, especially in his lower half.  Yeah, it is lacking there and maybe he should have been a bonus pack-in elsewhere.  (Ah, the good old Toy Biz days.)  He is basically a pack-in for the largest piece of Monster Venom.  I still really like the overall figure.  If I did not want the full Venom, Spider-Ham would still be hard to resist picking up.  I had to throw Spider-man Noir into the pictures with him!

Poison was an odd choice, one that I could have skipped as he is an alternate timeline/universe version of Spider-man.  Wait...I take that back...after seeing the best picture of 2018, "Into the Spider-Verse," I definitely need any and all Spider-man variations!  While not all that familiar with the comic, he does look nice.  Very clean, Iron Man-like armor.  An unmasked head would have been made it better...thanks, Cosmic Spidey!

"Monster" Venom, while not as big as I had expected, is pretty massive.  Veins galore!  And the metallic purple really makes him unique to the others on the shelf.  Though I must say, if I had not wanted all the figures in this wave, he would be an easy pass.  Sorry, but Eddie Brock is Venom, and Mac Gargan is Scorpion.  Period.  And if Mac must be Venom for a bit, I prefer the scorpion tail as part of his look.

The last figure in this wave, Typhoid Mary, I am saving for a Daredevil review.  Or at least the next Spider-man wave, which is due any day now.  More to come on that soon!

Deadpool: Back in Black

Deadpool: Back in Black

Hasbro Marvel Legends





Hey, you got your Deadpool on my Venom!  You got your Venom on my Deadpool!  Another needless crossover, but I do like the clean black and white paint job.  I picked this one up as a cheap Amazon Warehouse deal (damaged package...MIB/MOC collectors are lame).  Did I need it?  No, but "Deadpool 2" is hitting theaters now and I'm feeling the hype, baby!




















"Are you lookin' at my bum? Cheeky Monkey!"

It's got the same body build as previous Deadpools. Accessory-wise, he has some funky, translucent purple katanas and some symbiote arms.  The arms come together in the back, and port into a hole in the figure.  Both this and the swords are repaints/repacks from other figures.  The same goes for the hands.  You get a set of claw-like hands, but only one web-slinging hand?  Not sure who made sense of that...probably saved a fraction of a cent in production or shipping costs.  And just because you have alien powers means you don't need guns anymore?!  Pffft! Oh well, at least we got an alternate head.

Again, cheap (in price and concept) but fun, and...why the hell not...I've already bought my share of symbiote crap from the 90's onward.  What's one more on the pile?
 

"Ooo, scary! Now say "We are Venom" in the Bane voice!"



"Squad Goal: Color-coordinated costumes!"

"Because I needed to look more like Freddy Kruger..."

"GO, WEB, GO!"

 



Hydra Soldiers

Hydra Soldiers

Hasbro Marvel Legends

Toys 'R' Us Exclusive

Another TRU exclusive gone by...a Hydra soldier 2-pack!  One is a repack of the older Mandroid Build-a-Figure wave Soldier, the other is a weird repaint of Captain Britain/Nuke?  Strange.  He's an enforcer...whatever...the paint scheme works.  And since army builder fans ate up the soldier on his initial run, this gave me another shot at him. 

 

 

All of the additional heads/accessories are repacks from other figures.  Nothing is new except the paint.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, as they give us plenty of options:  weapons,  clothing, heads.  The repainted Taskmaster head doesn't work for me, so I will be sticking with the standard look.

Same with the enforcer.  The Captain Britain head it is.  The unmasked heads will work for random thug customs here and there in my collection. 

 The Nuke head would make a pretty decent Eddie Brock if you repainted the scar/eye.

I had a couple of Hasbro's earlier attempts at a Hydra soldier way back from the Brood Queen wave.  The figure was oversized, the paint was bland, and the plastic felt cheap.  Oh well...an army builder is an army builder.  They can hang out in the back and still be decent punching bags for the heroes.

 

With Baron Von Strucker and Madame Hydra at the helm, I've got a nice little team going.  For display purposes I can throw in the cool base that came with the Marvel Select Spider-woman.  These poor inaction figures...I would have gladly paid a few dollars more for some legs.