Once again, it’s Marvel Monday! Today, I’m moving into the final stretch of three figures in the Absorbing Man Wave with what is sure to be a very popular figure: Venom. I’ll be honest, the Symbiot figures have caused me a lot of frustration. I like Venom, I love the concept, but I’ve long since reached the point of Symbiot Fatigue. The problem is that a great many collectors have not, and so these Symbiots tend to be tougher to find and sometimes wind up costing me a lot more than I’d like to spend in order to complete a wave. Case in point, I still don’t own Toxin from a few Spider-Man Waves back. Fortunately, this figure didn’t beat me up too badly in the pocket.

It’s heads and hands a-popping in this package! The figure is flanked by not only his own alternate head and hands, but a pair of heads for the Creel BAF. Oddly enough, this is the only figure in this entire wave that doesn’t share a slot and thereby enjoys the privilege of having his name on the front of the package.

Out of the package, Venom holds few surprises, and that is not at all a criticism. You get a nice, beefy black buck, appropriately enough the same one used for Anti-Venom from the Hobgoblin Wave, and some strategic white paint apps to make the costume. The emblems on the chest and back aren’t exactly razor sharp, but they’re passable, and the same could be said for the markings on the backs of his hands. One odd thing worth mentioning, when articulating the arms on my figure the two halves of the torso popped apart. Fortunately they popped right back together and I haven’t had an issue with that since. Weird!

The stock head is superb. The super wide and creepy mouth is sculpted pretty deep into the head and those needle teeth look fantastic. The paint on the eyes is a little dirty, but nothing too bad. The evil, mocking grin combined with those giant white eyes make for a wonderfully terrifying portrait that peers back hauntingly from the 90’s.

What’s that? You want Gene Simmons Venom? Well, it’s only a head swap away. The alternate head features the open mouth, extended tongue, and furled brow. It’s a more complex sculpt, but to be honest, I don’t find it nearly as creepy as the stock head. There’s plenty of green slobber painted on, but it looks pretty flat. That having been said, if this were a common figure, I’d still probably grab a second to display both heads. As it is, I doubt the tongue head will get much display time.

In addition to the extra head, Venom comes with a pair of fists. It’s always nice to have options, but I’ll likely not be swapping them out with the graspy claws all that often. The claw hands are great and I appreciate them not being the terribly over-sized meat hooks that came on Anti-Venom.

Articulation? Well, we’ve seen this buck plenty of times before, so there shouldn’t be any surprises. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, double hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the biceps. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, and have swivels at both the thighs and lower legs. The ankles are hinged and have some nice lateral rockers.

After so many Symbiot variants, it’s nice to go back to Venom’s roots with an original “vanilla” Venom. And while some may be rolling their eyes at the sight of yet another Symbiot, I think this one is a huge win for collectors. Yes, it’s a very basic figure, but it’s also an excellent one. Next Monday, I’ll be moving into the home stretch with a look at the final slot of figures from the, “Edge of the Spider-Verse!” 

I’m right at the halfway mark in my jaunt through the Marvel Legends Absorbing Man Wave. Last Monday, I checked out, Speed Demon, the first of the two baddies from the “Superior Foes of Spider-Man” book. Today, I’m opening up the other half of that slot, Janice Lincoln, aka Beetle!

Beetle shares the exact same package layout as Speed Demon with her name only appearing on the back and “Superior Foes of Spider-Man” on the front. The box is branded with the “Spider-Man” logo and the spider emblem on the top flap. This is, of course, the third person to don the alter ego of Beetle and the most recent to appear in the funnybooks.

I was expecting a new head and a straight repaint of Ms. Janet Van Dyne from last year’s Ultron Wave and I was only partially right. The arms, legs, and wings are all from the same mold, but surprisingly the torso has been redone to include fresh sculpting for her corset, top and shoulder straps, as well as the flares at her thighs. Hasbro could have easily gotten away without any of this new sculpting, so I’ll give them kudos on going that extra mile, especially for a character like Beetle. The portrait is simple but very well done.

Also simple, but excellent is the paintwork here. The entire deco consists of her metallic purple costume and green “skin” with only her two yellow eyes to break up the palate. The paint itself looks great and the lines are sharp and clean with no virtually slop to be found. The coloring is capped off by a brilliant translucent purple cast of the wings. All this adds up to a rather striking figure.

If you own the modern Legends Wasp figure than you’ll know what to expect from Beetle’s articulation. You get rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists, ball joints in the hips, double hinges in the knees, hinges in the ankles, a ball joint under the chest and both a hinge and ball joint in the neck. The wings connect to the body with rotating hinges and the lower wings are hinged as well. There are no mushy joints here and she is lots of fun to pose.

I was expecting a phoned-in figure, but the fact that Beetle features some actual new sculpting is a nice surprise. The paint quality is great, I like the colors, and while the recycled wings are rather conspicuous, I still think this is a solid figure and another fine addition to my growing collection of Marvel baddies.

Greetings Toyhounds, and welcome back to another Marvel Monday, wherein I attempt to soothe the sting of Monday’s misery by opening another Marvel Legends figure. Today puts me three figures into the Absorbing Man Wave. Morbius and Jack O’Lantern were excellent, and today we’re moving on with yet another baddie, Speed Demon! 

Speed Demon shares a spot with Beetle as the “Superior Foes of Spider-Man.” While the names of these shared slots are usually just schlock, in this case we actually get characters drawn from the book of the same name, which is something that I dig a lot. And it’s nice to see that Hasbro didn’t release him under his other alias, The Whizzer, because that just sounds like someone who likes to urinate in public places. A villainous act? Yes, but hardly worth the attention of Spidey or The Avengers? Anyway, Squadron Supreme, Sinister Six, even sometime member of The Thunderbolts, James Sanders has a pretty rock solid resume. Did I mention he comes with Silvermane’s head on a toy car? Hell,  yeah! Let’s open these guy’s up!

I’m usually terrible about recognizing and identifying the re-used bucks on these figures, but this one jumped out right away as the one used for Superior Spider-Man. It might just be because I love that figure and play around with it a lot. Either way, it’s a good choice for a speedster. as it’s quite lean and very well articulated. The only point of contention I would have are the rather flat feet. But hey… fists!

As expected, Speed Demon’s costume is achieved entirely through paintwork. He has a pleasing red and dark blue deco with some gold stripes and lightning bolts. The paint quality is sharp and clean, and yeah, we still get those annoying white production numbers on the back of the leg.

Hasbro clearly has a good time with their villain head sculpts. They seem to always be brimming with personality, and that’s certainly the case here. Speed Demon sports a cheesy grin as well as his red goggles. The facial features are a little on the soft side, but still a solid effort.

Articulation here is a little better than your average Legends figure, thanks to the additional lateral hinges in the shoulders. Otherwise, you get rotating hinges in the shoulders, and wrists, double hinges in the elbows and knees, and swivels in the biceps and thighs. The ankles feature both hinges and lateral rockers. The torso has a waist swivel and an ab crunch hinge. The neck is both ball jointed and hinged. Speed Demon’s hinges are all nice and tight and even feature some ratcheting.

An addition to Mr. Creel’s torso, Speed Demon comes with a pair of flat hands for running, which definitely takes a page from the last couple of DC’s Flash figures I’ve picked up. These seem to have become must-have extras included with speedsters. And of course you get this…

Silvermane’s head mounted on an RC Car as a direct nod to Superior Foes of Spider-Man #3. I don’t think I could adequately put into words how much I adore this thing or how much quirky love it shows on Hasbro’s part for including it. It features a fully realized head sculpt of Silvermane mounted on a ball joint and he looks suitably angry to be suffering such a humiliation. It’s a great sculpt, although mine has a few stray bits of paint on the forehead, which is all the more infuriating for Silvermane, since he can’t wipe himself off! The car itself is just a static piece of plastic, the wheels don’t roll and the antenna pulls out a little too easily, but I’m not going to hold any of that against it. In fact, it really makes me realize how badly I’d dig getting a proper Silvermane in that bitchin’ android body of his.

I have a feeling that in terms of character selection, Speed Demon may be low on a lot of collectors’ lists, but I’m very happy to have him. He’s a solid character with a rich history and I am in love with the idea that Hasbro would take a specific book and use it to fill one of these rotating slots. Indeed, it’s made me rather excited to check out Beetle next Monday and I’ve also gone back to the Ultimate Goblin Wave to pick up that Boomerang that I missed. While I’ll admit he isn’t as exciting to look at as Morbius or Jack O’Lantern, I’m still scoring him in the plus column, currently giving this assortment a score of three out of three.

Alrighty folks, it’s time for another Marvel Monday and today I’m pressing on through the Absorbing Man Wave, this time with the second half of Marvel’s “Villains of the Night,” Jack O’Lantern!

As part of a shared slot, Jack comes in the exact same package as Morbius did, with his name only appearing on the back panel. This is the Marvel NOW! version of the character as he appeared in Agent Venom’s book. I suppose I should say “version of the characters” (plural) as Jack is one of those villains who has had many different identities. Hell, forget about all the other villains, Hobgoblin could have made a killing franchising out an army of Jacks.

And what a very unique looking figure he is! That’s not always the case when it comes to Marvel Legend’s sea of re-painted bucks. And yet, Jack still makes use of a recycled body. The last (and only) time we saw this one before it was transparent and bundled with the Thunderbolts as Ghost. I would never have made that call in a million years and yet seeing it makes it seem like a no-brainer. It’s a super thin body with lanky limbs, which lend themselves to a creepy look.

And it’s amazing what some fresh paint and colored plastic will do! Even though I have Ghost in my collection, Jack still comes across as a newly tooled figure to me. He’s mostly black, but his chest harness and straps are painted brown and there’s some super sharp silver paint on the fixtures. His belt is a newly sculpted piece and has a secondary belt displaying his reserve pumpkin bombs.

The head sculpt here is mighty awesome. The fully realized jack o’lantern noggin is beautifully painted and features some snazzy flame effects wrapping up around the back of the head and spilling out the eye holes too. Magnificent!

Articulation is mostly what I’ve come to expect from the Legends line. That includes rotating hinges in the shoulders and hips, double hinges in the elbows and knees, swivels in the biceps, wrists, hips, and waist. The ankles have hinges and lateral rockers, the torso features an ab crunch hinge, and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed. Yup, the only odd thing here is the lack of hinges in the wrists and the fact that their swivels are pretty far up the forearms. Also, I should mention that the shoulders have some crazy tight ratchets, that make it hard for me to work with them. I’m really not sure why Hasbro felt the need to do that, it isn’t an issue at all on Ghost, but it can be a little frustrating when playing with the figure.

Accessories! In addition to the Absorbing Man leg, Jack comes with his flying broom, sickle, and a flaming pumpkin bomb. The bomb is a simple little piece sculpted in the same brilliant translucent orange plastic as the flames on his head. He can hold it pretty well in either hand.

The sickle is pretty big and a little ungainly. Because Jack’s hands aren’t designed for holding it, the sickle has a plastic rectangle on the grip to slip his fingers through. It works OK, so long as you’re happy with him holding it in the right hand. One side of the sickle has a cool hammered look to the sculpt, but the other side is largely unfinished.

Lastly, you get his flying broomstick, because… COMICS! It’s partially painted and partially the exposed translucent plastic that is a running theme with this figure. There are a couple of bars to tuck his ankles onto and a grip bar, similar to what we saw on the sickle so he can hold the handle of the broom. I’ll confess, I wasn’t too keen on this piece when I saw it in the package, but I’ve found that it’s actually quite a big of fun and with a little work, he can pose quite well with it.

Jack O’Lantern is a character that I didn’t even know I wanted until I had him in hand. His design is wacky, creepy, and sinister all at once and all of that is executed beautifully in this figure. Everything about him feels fresh, and since the previous use of this buck was a limited release, he should be like a totally newly tooled figure to a lot of collectors out there, and that’s something we don’t see all that often in this line. So far, The Absorbing Man Wave is batting two for two. Next Monday, I’ll see if I can throw a wrench into the works with a look at Speed Demon.

Well, it’s been about three weeks and now it’s time to bring Marvel Monday back to being a seemingly unending parade of Legends figures. Hasbro is showing no mercy with wave after wave of these things crashing onto the pegs like a mighty ocean of plastic. I’ve got two full waves waiting to go, one wave still to get, and now Hasbro has just unleashed images of the three new ones coming soon, including an X-Men wave that looks almost too good to be true. I’ve got it pre-ordered, so no take-backsies, Hasbro! Yes, this is a wonderful time to be alive if you love 6-inch Marvel figures and hate having money. Today I’m embarking on the Absorbing Man Wave and we’ll kick things off with one of my most anticipated figures in the assortment… Morbius!

Yup, it’s another Spider-Man branded wave and there’s still another one coming right around the corner! Got a problem with that? I don’t! Morbius comes packaged as one of the “Villains of the Night,” sharing his slot with Jack O’Lantern. I don’t know that blanket labeling him as a villain is a fair assessment of the character, but I guess he’s certainly had his moments. Either way, I’m a big fan and was happy to see an update to the old Spider-Man Classics figure. That was a figure I let go from my collection some time ago and regretted not having Dr. Morbius on my shelf anymore. Needless to say, I’m happy that isn’t a problem any more.

And what an update he is! Granted, your mileage may vary based on personal taste. This is a much more humanized look for the character. The previous release featured monstrously disproportionate arms and the much wilder and creepier head sculpt. It had it’s charms, but I don’t think the sculpt has held up very well, whereas this one is some damn fine work. Yes, even if the majority of the body is just a black painted buck.

Dammit, Hasbro… why do you have to make those numbers on the leg so apparent? Anyway… the figure’s original sculpting comes in the hands, which are your standard malevolent looking “Imma gonna getchya” monster hands. They work really well on the figure and the skin is comprised of a creepy chalky-ash paint. You also get the plunging V-neck high collar that all the fashionable “vampires” are wearing these days, even ones cooked up in a lab. The inside of the collar is painted red and the bare chest shares that same great dead flesh paint as the hands and forearms.

The portrait here is just outstanding. I’ll admit that there was something generally creepy and off-putting about the old Toy Biz version, but this one just looks wonderfully polished. This is undoubtedly Dr. Morbius in a full out vamp-rampage (a vampage!) The mouth is open showing all his teeth, the wrinkles and lines in the face are perfect and he sports his long hair with pointed ears jutting out, beady red eyes, and beard. If I kept a list of favorite Marvel Legends head sculpts each year, this one would pretty close to the top. It’s just dripping with personality… and possibly blood.

Morbius comes with two different capes, which peg right into his back. You have a small one that just hangs down behind him and another that is fanned out in the shape of a bat, which is perfectly suited for displaying him with his arms up. Both capes are painted red on the interior and black on the outsides.

The articulation here is superb. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, swivels in the biceps, and double hinges in the elbows. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, and have swivels at the thighs and lower legs. The ankles have both hinges and lateral rockers. There’s a swivel in the waist, an ab crunch hinge in the chest, and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed. All the joints on this guy feel tight and solid!

This wave is off to a fantastic start! Morbius is everything I had hoped for, and that’s saying a lot considering how much I was looking forward to getting him. He’s a relatively simple figure, but Hasbro put all the effort into all the right places and the two capes are a nice treat. I’ve got to say he’s going to be a tough one to beat as my favorite in this assortment. Next Monday I’ll open up the other half of the “Villains of the Night” and check out Jack O’Lantern!

It took well over a month of Marvel Mondays, but I’m finally at the last packaged figure in the Red Skull/Onslaught Wave! And yes, I saved my most anticipated figure for last. Although with how great Demolition Man/Scourge turned out he’s going to be a tough act to follow. Let’s look at Taskmaster!

This is the last time we’ll be seeing the packaging from this wave, but I’ll bet you the next wave I look at won’t be much different. I know because I’m looking at them all stacked in the corner. Taskmaster comes in a standard window box and it is totally collector friendly. There’s a good deal of stuff packed in there, including the Red Skull head for the Onslaught Build-A-Figure. It’s also the last part I need to cobble that big boy together.

So, this isn’t my Taskmaster, but I knew that coming in. I do, however, think it’s a great looking figure. I had to do a little digging to find out that this design is based off of his appearance in the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon, a show that I have never seen. Obviously, I would have preferred something a little more classic in design, but there are enough common elements here to make this work for me. The buck feels a little slight to me for the character, but that might be because I’m used to seeing him with a large billowy cape. The figure includes a nice mix of painted buck and original sculpting. The legs are heavily armored and feature a silver plastic. There is a little of that swirly effect in the plastic, which I’m not overly fond of, but here it just looks like brushed steel, so I don’t mind it. Similar armor appears on the forearms, and you get sculpted elbow and knee pads, and some kick-ass boots. Literally. I mean, I think he kicks people in the ass with these boots.

Taskmaster features both a waist belt and a shoulder rig, each of which are separate pieces. The belt has sculpted pouches and a sweet little belt buckle. The shoulder straps have sculpted guns in the holsters. Usually guns sculpted in the holsters piss me off, but in this case, it would have been tough to do removable guns in the shoulder rigs without it looking too big and awkward. The paint here shares a similar deco with Scourge of black, silver, and white only here it’s more evenly balanced out. Everything is pretty sharp and clean, and I especially like the silver painted fingers.

You get two portraits for the figure. The stock head is closer to the classic Taskmaster with only with the skull silver with a little gold mixed in, instead of white. The skull mask is a brilliant piece of sculpting and the hood is sculpted separately from soft plastic and permanently attached to the head.

The other option is the Udon designed head. This is also a really nice looking piece, and while I prefer the workmanship and look of the classic head on it’s own, I have to sadly admit that to me, the Udon head’s style fits this body much better.

The articulation here is top notch. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, double hinges in the knees, and swivels in the biceps. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double hinges in the knees, and swivels in the biceps. The ankles are on rotating hinges, but also feature lateral rocking movement. The torso has a swivel at the waist and an ab crunch hinge in the chest. Lastly, the head is ball jointed and hinged.

In addition to his extra head, Taskmaster comes with his shield and an energy sword. I assumed the shield would be a repaint Cap shield, but it’s totally smooth on the back, so I think it’s new. The paintwork on the front is damn near perfect and you get the familiar hinged clip and peg on the back so he can wear it on his back or equip it on his wrist.

The sword has a sculpted black hilt, and while the orange blade is rather soft and gummy, it does catch the light quite nicely.

Like his fellow “Mercenary of Mayhem,” Scourge, Taskmaster is a figure that really makes me stop and realize what a great time it is to be collecting Marvel 6-inch. As solid as many of the Legends figures are, it’s easy to take them for granted, especially when the pegs seem to be getting flooded with new ones every couple of months. But Scourge and Taskmaster are figures that just come together so beautifully, and are so damn fun to play with, that I need to just smile and say, “Thanks, Hasbro. You guys make a lot of stumbles, but you’re really kicking ass when it comes to Marvel Legends. Please, don’t ever stop.” Next Monday, I’ll finally put this wave to bed with a look at the Red Skull/Onslaught Build-A-Figure!