I didn’t think I was going to make it back for a Marvel Monday Double Feature tonight, but I ultimately decided that I could polish off the second half of the “Sinister Villains” without needing too much time. Besides, if I’m going to get through this wave and into the Gladiator Hulk Wave before Thor: Ragnarok hits theaters, I’ve got to get busy on these reviews. So, let’s take a gander at Lonnie Lincoln, aka Tombstone!

The package is identical to what we saw this morning with The Beetle. This time there isn’t quite as much packed into the tray, just the figure and the Vulture Wing part. Also, to get in the mood, I have a Pepperoni Tombstone Pizza in the oven that’s going to be ready in like ten minutes, so let’s get right to it.

There were two directions Hasbro could have gone with this figure: Broad shouldered and business suit, or bulked out and well… whatever the hell this is he’s wearing. It is a pretty iconic look for him so either way would have worked for me, but I’m thinking this look required a little less effort in the sculpt. Indeed, while this is a pretty distinctive looking figure, it is a fairly basic one as well, and he doesn’t have the snazzy paint job that Beetle has to make that simple buck really stand out.

The bulk of the outfit is just matte black with a couple of loose cuffs around his ankles and wrists, also matte black. Everything is just black. Jesus, it feels like I’m talking about Hotblack Desiato’s stuntship (And if you don’t get that reference, Don’t Panic… just Google it). At least the belt breaks things up a little bit with a dark gray, a belt buckle, and some sculpted studs. I think it would have been cool if Hasbro went with the traditional soft-plastic vest with sculpted arm-sleeves look, but instead we just get some lines forming the open jacket and the ashen skin of his bare chest. Even the high collar looks like it might just be attached to the buck. I’ll admit that it looks a little cheap to me.

Ah, but once we get up past the neck, this is where the figure really shines. Hasbro has turned out some truly spectacular headsculpts in the modern Legends line, and Tombstone here is yet another example of that. Lonnie really is an interesting character, and this portrait captures him perfectly right down to his sharpened teeth. It really elevates this figure from an average budget-minded release in the wave to something special.

The articulation here is standard modern Legends fare, but let’s run through it anyway. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, swivels in the biceps, and double hinged shoulders. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double hinges in the knees, and swivels in the thighs and the lower legs. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. He has a swivel in the waist, an ab crunch hinge under the chest, and his neck is both hinged and ball jointed. He does have that issue annoying issue where his arms won’t hang close to his sides, but I’m willing to turn a blind eye to that. And so is Daredevil. In fact, two of them!

Before wrapping up, I just wanted to say how much I wish they had given Tombstone an extra pair of accessory holding hands. Yeah, I know he doesn’t come with anything for him to hold, but it would have been nice to be able to have him be able to grab Spider-Man. Even one fist and one graspy hand would have been cool. The fists are a little limiting, although fine for if you want him always ready to spar and throw punches.

I wouldn’t say Tombstone is a great figure, but maybe I’d say he’s a great treatment of the character? Does that make any sense? He’s perfectly serviceable as he is. A solid figure through and through, but he definitely feels like the figure designed to make the rest of the wave cost out and that definitely holds him back a bit. But hey, if that’s what Hasbro has to do to get characters like this one swinging on the pegs in 2017, I’m fine with the compromise.

Holy hell, someone at Hasbro sure loves The Beetle. We’ve already had the Janice Lincoln version in The Absorbing Man Wave and the Ultimate Beetle from Earth-1610, as part of The Ultimate Green Goblin Wave, and now we’re getting Abner Jenkins, the original article! That’s right, all you True Believers who were upset that Hasbro was dicking around with them other Beetles can now rest easy. Your day has finally come. Me? Well, I really dig the other two figures, and I always knew they’d get to Abner soon enough.

Beetle shares the same slot in this assortment with Tombstone as one of the “Sinister Villains” and there sure is a lot of stuff in this box! He comes with his wings and shell pieces detached, as well as one of the VTOL pieces needed to build the MCU Vulture’s wings.  Putting on Beetle’s own wings and shell is as easy as plugging them into his back and he’s all ready to go.

The coloring! So pretty! I rarely start out talking about the paint job on a figure, so when I do, you know I’m really pleased with the result. Here’s one example where the paint and colors carry the day and take this figure from potentially average to absolutely gorgeous. I’m in love with this metallic green and purple combo. The shimmery green plastic reminds me of the factory paint on my first Ford Mustang. I think it was called “Hunter Green,” but whatever the case, I think this is beautiful. Couple that with the eye-melting sex that is the metallic purple on the boots, pelvis, and gauntlets and it’s easy to overlook how little sculpted detail is on this figure.

Beyond the coloring, my favorite thing here is the beetle shell on his back. The pieces swivel to open and close, so you can display him with his wing’s retracted and the shell closed or open it and peg in the wings for when he’s ready to take to the skies. Marvelous!

Do the wings look familiar? They’re the same translucent purple flappers that we got with the Janice Lincoln Beetle. The main wings are mounted on rotating hinges and the smaller ones are pegged into the larger ones so they will swivel. All four have sculpted veins running throughout them and they really look great with the purple and green deco of the suit.

The head sculpt is simple, but really captures that classic comic look. The purple paint matches the rest perfectly and the giant gold eyes really pop.

The articulation makes this bug loads of fun to play with. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, along with swivels in the biceps, and double hinges in the shoulders. The legs are ball jointed up in the hips, have double hinged knees, and swivels in the thighs and the lower legs. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. He has a swivel in the waist, an ab crunch hinge under the chest, and his neck is both hinged and ball jointed.

Hasbro has done well by The Beetle, now in his many forms, and these have been among my favorite additions to Spidey’s rogue gallery. Personally, I think he was well worth the wait, not only because he turned out beautifully, but also because we got two other great figures running up to this release. I first opened him up back on Friday and he’s been on my desk all weekend for me to fiddle about with while watching Netflix or working on projects. I have to imagine that even if I had no interest in Spider-Man or Marvel Legends (OK, I can’t really imagine that, but bear with me), I’d love to have this figure in my collection. Will I be back tonight with a Double Feature? No guarantees, but I’m going to do my best!

If you follow me on Twitter, than you may know how I enjoy my leisurely Sunday mornings with a pot of coffee and my Marvel Legends figures. That’s when I usually write the next day’s Marvel Monday feature and it’s become one of the few specific times that I set aside to write and photograph. Alas, I’m going on a vacation this week, so I spent most of Sunday at work getting things wrapped up. As a result, I had to work on today’s review rather late Sunday night and didn’t have a lot of time. So, sorry if today comes out as rushed. Anywho… Last week, I checked out Hobgoblin, the first of this wave’s pair of Spider-Man’s “Evil Adversaries.” This week, I’m wrapping up this devilish duo with another figure that I was extremely excited to get my hands on. It’s Electro and he comes to us in all his comic-inspired glory!

There sure is a lot of stuff packed into that bubble. You got an extra head, those effect part hands, a BAF part. And… oh, hey… they must have put the normal hands on the bottom of the tray, behind the logo. That’s weird. Let’s just open him up and… OH, SWEET JESUS… HE DOESN’T HAVE ANY NORMAL HANDS!!!! Now to be honest, I’m so late opening this figure that I knew coming in that Electro doesn’t come with normal hands, but my outrage over this omission is so powerful, I had to communicate it in the form of drama. Knowing that this guy has a major strike against him going in, let’s see what we’ve got…

Firstly, I’m so happy Hasbro delivered on a classic comic version of Electro and there’s definitely a lot to love here. The bulk of the costume is achieved entirely through paint, but it looks terrific. His yellow lightning bolts are crisp and sharp, and the black, yellow, and green deco is fabulous. He’s built off one of the Spider-Man bucks, which means he certainly sports some excellent articulation. The legs feature ball jointed hips, double hinged knees, swivels in the thighs, and both hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles. The arms are ball jointed at the shoulders and wrists, double hinged at the elbows, and have swivels in the thighs. The torso features a swivel in the waist, an ab crunch hinge, and you get those wonderful lateral crunches in the shoulders. Finally, the neck features both a ball joint and a hinge.

The figure comes packaged with the more modern head, complete with the burned on “mask.” I gather that this look wasn’t terribly popular with the fans, but I actually dig it. It helps that the head sculpt here is absolutely phenomenal. Hasbro loves to go all out with their villain portraits, and here’s another one that’s just brimming with character. Of course, I said I dig this look, but that doesn’t mean that this head is going to spend any time on this figure while I’m displaying it. Nope.

Because I can never get enough of his classic masked look. This is the Electro I know and love, and this is the head he shall wear. Yeah, I always feel kind of bad tossing a work of art into the Tote of Forgotten Accessories, but I don’t see myself buying a second figure to display both heads.

Ah, but then we have the hands. These are the same hands we saw quite recently on Marvel’s Eel and even then they were recycled from the Amazing Spider-Man 2‘s version of Electro back in the Ultimate Green Goblin Wave. Don’t get me wrong, I like thee hands, but even Eel got some fists. How is it that Hasbro couldn’t pony up for some god damn fists here? Just use the same ones and paint them black. IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK FOR??? I should also note that these hands are kind of a double fail, because even though I shot this figure with the hands he came with, I like the look of Eel’s yellow effect hands on this figure better, so these will probably go to him.

Electro is a great figure and he could have been a total home run. He’s got fun articulation, the costume and classic mask does the character proud, and the option of the more modern portrait is always nice to have. But it all comes down to those missing hands. And their absence is only compounded by the fact that not including them seems like such a stupid and cheap oversight on Hasbro’s part. Well, Eel is pretty cheap, I suppose I could pick up another one of him, bust out a Sharpie and customize my own set of fists.

It’s another Marvel Monday and I’m continuing with my very untimely slog through the Space Venom Wave. Will I ever be current with this line? Well, I’m no math expert, but I think the numbers are against me. Maybe I’ll do a Marvel Legends themed week at some point and bust out a whole wave to help get caught up. In the meantime today I’m checking out Roderick Kingsley as The Hobgoblin!

And here’s a quick look at him in the package before I tear it to shreds. You’ll note that his name doesn’t appear on the front, as he shares this slot with Electro as one of Spider-Man’s “Evil Adversaries!” It feels like only yesterday that we got the Phil Ulrich version of Hobgoblin as a Build-A-Figure, but that was back in 2015. Wow… how time flies. No wonder I have so many of these damn things waiting to be opened. I wonder how many unopened Marvel Legends they’ll be pulling out of my home after I die? Anyway, the Ulrich Hobgoblin was a fantastic figure, but it seemed like a lot of fans were crying foul that we got that version released before this one. Well, everybody can calm down now, because Kingsley Hobbie is out and he’s pretty damn fantastic.

If you were expecting a lot of reuse here, you should be pleasantly surprised to find that’s not the case. This Hobbie looks appropriately beefier and features a good deal of new sculpting. Most notably, the scale-mail on his arms and legs is all sculpted in and looks great. I think he borrowed it from Deathstroke. I dig the amount of detail in the gauntlets and buccaneer boots, particularly the sculpted fraying of his boot cuffs and the upturned toes. Finally, you get a wide belt sculpted onto the tunic. There isn’t a whole lot of paint on the buck, but the metallic blue looks fantastic and it compliments the orange nicely.

Hasbro did a particularly nice job on the cape. It’s ragged and shredded and it’s painted with a grimy wash to match the hood perfectly. It’s also removable simply by popping off the head.

The stock head is a fantastic sculpt and appropriately less stylized than the Ulrich Hobbie head. The vacant red eyes are awesome, and while the paint on the teeth could certainly have been better applied, It doesn’t really detract from the portrait much for me. The hood is completely separate from the head itself and you can even take it off. But, what’s that? This head isn’t maniacal enough for you. You want a fully cracked-out look with more tongue. No problem!

The alternate head features a protruding tongue flanked top and bottom by walls of vicious looking teeth. This head also features some yellow pupils painted in on the eyes. This is some great work, and it pains me to say that I’ll probably never really use this head for display, but it’s nice that Hasbro through it in there.

Overall, the articulation here is pretty good, although I have a tiny quibble about the shoulders. The rotating hinges there feel a bit ratchety and there’s really no reason for it that nonsense in a figure this scale. Otherwise, the points include: Double hinges in the elbows and knees, swivels in the biceps, thighs, and boots, rotating hinges in the wrists, ball joints in the hips, hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles, a swivel in the chest, an ab crunch hinge, and both a ball joint and hinge in the neck.

In addition to the extra head, Hobgoblin also comes with some excellent accessories. You get his satchel, which hangs off his shoulder. It’s a great little sculpt and features some silver paint on the buckles. Hobbie’s metrosexual man bag allows him to carry his spare bombs, and maybe a few sundry items for when he wants to freshen up.

Yup, bombs! Hobgoblin comes with a single glowy yellow bomb, which he can hold pretty well in either hand. And no, you can’t put it in his man bag.

And finally, he comes with his glider. Yes, it’s a very simple piece, molded in pretty soft gray plastic, and maybe a little undersized, but he looks great on it. There are loops to stick his feet through and the upturned toes of the boots help lock them into place.

Other than a few tweaks in the shoulders I’ve got nothing but praise for Hobbie here. He’s no doubt an important figure, and when you consider how many Spidey-themed waves we’ve had, it’s surprising that it took Hasbro this long to get to him. It’s even more surprising that they released the Ulrich Hobgoblin before this one, and both of them before The Green Goblin. What? No, the Ultimate Green Goblin BAF doesn’t count! Honestly, though, the priority of releases here really doesn’t bother me. I’m in Marvel Legends for the long haul, and at the rate Hasbro is pumping out the releases, they’ll get around to everyone sooner or later. I just hope that Squirrel Girl is going to be sooner rather than later.

I don’t think I need go on about how much I loved Dan Slott’s Superior Spider-Man, as I’ve already done it here plenty of times. Indeed, it was a comic that I loved so much that it got me back into reading The Amazing Spider-Man again and even backtracking through a lot of what I missed. It’s for that reason that I don’t get the sense of “Venom Fatigue” that I should be getting from this figure. No, there really haven’t been that many Legends Venoms. Nowhere near the number of Caps and Iron Mans, but it still feels like Hasbro has been overdoing it with the symbiots a bit in the last couple years. Still, I’m happy to have this one, even if it has some issues.

And here we are, the very last packaged figure in the Rhino Build-A-Figure Wave. We’ve seen it before, so let’s move on. I’ve got to get through this pretty quickly if I’m going to come back and do a feature on Rhino later on tonight.

Superior Venom is mostly a reuse of the modern Spidey buck, which is a fairly reasonable choice. No, it doesn’t quite match the stylistic proportions of the comic art, but I wasn’t expecting an entirely new figure for that purpose. We do get newly sculpted feet, obviously a new head sculpt, and the rest of the symbiot’s detail is mostly achieved through paint. You get some red highlights on his forearms and the white spider emblem on the chest and webbing that runs up to his head. The white paint is mostly nice and bright, without a lot of bleed through from the black plastic. There are a few chips here and there, but nothing terrible.

On the back, Otto-Venom features a fixture to attach his four tendrils, and here’s where the figure takes a big stumble for me. The tendrils each have uniquely shaped pegs that go into their own specific holes on the back. That helps a lot when figuring out which one is supposed to go where. Unfortunately it also means the tendrils are pre-posed. At the very least, these should have been ball jointed, because these things do tend to get in the way of posing the figure, not to mention are limited themselves as being totally static. They also fall out… a lot. I had similar issues with the Legends Agent Venom, although it didn’t seem to bother me as much there as it does here.

The head is pretty faithful to the comic art. It’s a little too busy for my taste, but it fits the style of the book quite well and the painted webbing is all very neatly applied. I think the appeal here is going to largely come down to personal preference. This portrait is chaos personified, which I guess fits, but I find the simpler portrait and wide rictus of the more classic Venom a lot creepier.

Appropriately enough, the articulation here is right in line with the Superior Spider-Man figure we got back in the Ultimate Green Goblin Wave. 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, have swivels in the thighs, and double hinges in the knees. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. The torso features a waist swivel, ab crunch, and those wonderful lateral rockers in the shoulders. The neck is ball jointed and hinged.

Superior Venom is basically a tale of two figures. I’m perfectly happy with him when he’s standing on display on my Legends shelf. Unfortunately, when I’ve got him in hand and I’m playing around with him, all I can see is a big missed opportunity in the way those tendrils connect to the body. I’m sure that adding ball joints would have cost a bit more, but then with so much of this figure re-using parts, it’s hard to imagine that Hasbro couldn’t have made it work. I know, that they cost these figures out across the wave and not individually, so maybe they pumped that extra money into Kraven. Either way, I feel that this is a decent figure that with a little tweaking could have been… dare I say it? Superior!

Come on back tonight and I’ll wrap up this wave with a look at the Rhino Build-A-Figure!