Scale aside, the sculpt is fantastic. That’s always been Marvel Select’s hallmark, particularly when they don’t have to do a human face (I’m still bummed about their classic Thor figure, I really wanted that one to be good). The figure is crawling with detail. Striations & veins cover the figure to give it a fantastic & rare organic look, the symbol is sculpted in, as are the webshooters, and again, the aforementioned heads are all well-sculpted. There are figures that don’t have one well-sculpted head. This guy has three.
The paint work is almost great. A lot of it is sharp or at least sharp enough. The symbol is bright and in good contrast to the black plastic. The various teeth, drool, Eddie Brock’s exposed face, there are a lot of places to find top notch paint. But there’s also slop to be found too. A lot of it can be written off as part of the figure’s overall organic look, but the black smudges or thin white paint on some of the eyes can be just killer when they’re noticed. It’s minor compared to how much is good, but those eyes are a sore sport.
Articulation is both the figures greatest boon and its greatest weakness. On paper, or in this pics, it looks amazing. The ball-jointed neck works fantastic on all the heads. There are also ball-joints at the shoulders, swivels at the biceps, wrists, waist, & thighs, hinges at the elbows, knees, & ankles, the hips we traditionally see on Mattel or Four Horsemen figures, and some torso articulation, though it has little range. And then there’s the aforementioned fourteen points of articulation on the add-on pieces. He’s loaded.
But, as is sometimes the case on hyper-articulated figures, not all the joints are as tight as we need them to be. Venom’s lower half articulation could be a little tighter (or racheted considering all the weight those extra pieces add on) overall, but it’s the ankles that make the figure aggravating. I hope not all the Venom figures out there are as bad as mine, but he has a tendency to topple. It’s primarly his right ankle, but the left doesn’t do him much favors. He does stand and can hold plenty of fun poses, but the ankles just aren’t as tight as they need to be.
I’ve already covered most of the accessories, but there are a few more: the hands. Venom sports eight different hands. Now, this makes, sense as there are six arms overall, but Marvel Select also wisely made the hands all swappable. Now, the two smallest arms also have small hands that couldn’t hold a Whopper on the normal body, but you can do it if you want. The other three pairs are the highlight though with fists, open hands, and outright claws. All these swap great and only enhance an already great figure.
Now, Venom did come out a bit ago, February, I think and he’s been on a table in my toy roo- office pretty much the whole time. He almost always get a little play, but he hasn’t gotten reviewed since most of my Marvel figures are still out in the garage (you’ll notice in the pics I couldn’t turn up a regular ol’ Spider-Man figure). I was reminded of him by a brilliant reader over the weekend and realized I absolutely had to get his review up because I intend to nominate him as a figure of the year on the annual Poppies this year. He’s got a top-notch sculpt, tons of options, and is really the, forgive me, ultimate Venom figure for fans of the character. The paint could be a little sharper and those ankles are driving me nuts, but those just aren’t sufficient enough to detract from the rest of the figure’s awesomeness. So he’s getting my nod. He’s easily one of the most fun figure’s I’ve bought all year.
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great review! I’m right there with you on the tongue thing!
Normally, I would never prefer a McFarlane anything to a Larsen anything, but what are ya gonna do? LOL
Great review, pics, and excellent comics!
Never been a huge comics collector, but I’ve been a casual fan of Venom for some time. Not enough to buy any figures of him, but this one is sorely tempting.
“You wanted Spidey to have a gay lover Garfeild.” I could hear that with that shot easily. Hopefully doesn’t happen.
I haven’t dabbled into the selects but this fig to me would be worth it to me. Venom: the madness is what I see with all that on and that was a fun read (also helps to know all removable now.) Counting down days now so who knows may snag this guy.
The ” Mattel toy” shot set is funny as some recent hiccups I have had. Soon to have fun with my broke hand supes as I got that RotMLs wave 1 Thor.
The Pics, they’re killing me… Damn you Mattel for hogging most of my toy budget!!
cause now I don’t have spare toy money to hunt for this Venom!
Awesome post. Pics are hilarious as usual. Great review. I was on the fence on this for the same reasons you have with Diamond Select. Just pulled the trigger on it due to your review.
Noisy is . . . the most interesting man in the (toy) world.
This figure does rule, and I’m a “McFarlane purist” with Venom myself, the overwhelming reason why I had to own this figure and why IT owns every other Venom figure to date.
Neck is slightly long if I’m nitpicking, but overall I totally agree this guy is FOTY (figure of the year) material!
Hey, look at that! I’m pretty happy with this as a default Venom, though the Bagley-era Venom is a bit too crazy-jawed. The “cheese” class picture was great, I’m actually shocked there are so many smiley figures in the Spidey-verse to fill it.
Venom shows off some of the great fan-friendly strides Marvel Select has been making lately. Adding articulation, communication/accessibility to fans and loading in logical accessories has thankfully made them the anti-DC Direct/Collectibles. MSWord on TheFwoosh’s MS forum page (sorry for mentioning another site) is pretty responsive to questions and patient with the occasional obsessive nerd-rage outburst.
I know these guys are a bit out of the IAT emphasis, but I do recommend more of these for consideration. The new movie Logan, Colossus and Juggernaut are just as good if n
Not better than Venom here.
man, i still kick myself every time i see this figure, as i haven’t pulled the trigger yet, and i have, like noisy, a pretty big collection of venoms?… venoi? venomi? i don’t knows the plural here.
He is a great figure Dayraven, if you should get him.
Dentist line makes the comics.
Damn. not a favorite character, but this guy is jacked out the wazoo.
[adds to list of things I need to get.]
and yeah, I have the Sabretooth body and what I call the “Ah-nuld” body that got a clear variant. Did a pass on the Venom-Scorpion and the various Symbiotes, tho.
(seriously, Bride of Venom? time to pass the dutchie, Falacada.)
*FALCADA.
#things you notice .2 seconds AFTER hitting “post”
He’s pretty damm happy about something.
The only Marvel Select figures I picked up are the characters who are supposed to tower over others: Thanos, She-Hulk (7′!), and the Watcher. I loved the first one, merely liked the second (too posed), and was completely in love with the Watcher until the plastic at his ankles bent a little, causing him to permanently tip forward, even when on his stand.
I mostly otherwise passed on the line due to the scale. My reasoning is that I had a huge Legends-era Marvel collection, and didn’t want to re-collect everything. (Marvel Universe didn’t help.)
Now, I’m not so sure. Due to the hyper-articulation, many of the Legends have joints so loose they no longer stand. Those figures aren’t surviving the test of time. And Legends always had – and still has – a scale problem. The classic Iron Man and Piledriver I bought this year don’t belong on the same shelf.
I’ve had a hard time ascertaining whether Marvel Select’s scale has been consistent. I’m not a Venom fan for whatever reason (although I share your preference for the creepy McFarlane smiling version as opposed to the obnoxious tongue), but swappable heads? Swappable hands? That is actually starting to sound like an adult collectible. If this is a great figure, it may be worth taking a second look at some of those classic X-Men figures they were releasing.
Sigh..
Oh Marvel Select, why couldn’t you be in 6 inch scale, like all my other toys?
Like you, I’m a nut for the alien costume, and the whole story, including the non-alien black costume times like gang war and Kraven’s last hunt, and I even still have the Secret Wars figure.
I’m a much bigger fan of the old school Spidey villians, but I’d still like a nice Venom figure for the shelf, if I actually liked any of them.
So here’s this really nice Marvel Select version, and that old McFarlane head totally sells it for me, but like all Marvel Select toys, I take a pass, because it’s Too. Damn. Big.
I’d buy a bunch of the MS figures if they were in scale with every other toy I have, but no.
Venom actually looks good next to the Wrecking Crew, another bunch of toys I passed on for being way too big.