Marvel Select Venom by Diamond Select, action figure review

Venom is one of the most popular Spiderman villain to date and has been drawn hundreds of ways by more artists than I can google. This being the case there's many different looks for him. Here Diamond Select has decided to capture four different looks with one figure! Standing 7-1/2" inches tall he's a little on the tall side when paired against a Marvel legends but has been drawn as large as the Hulk in some comics allowing for a little leeway here.

Venom's sculpt is a thing of beauty and extremely detailed when it comes to the muscles and sculpted-in spider symbol instead of just being painted on. The McFarlane grinning head is easily the winner among the three different heads and looks amazing. The toothy head looks menacing and the half-covered Eddie Brock head which was taken directly from cover art is just as awesome to behold. The clawed hands look sharp as do the open and closed fists. Yep, three sets of hands are included, more on that later. His web-shooters are raised on the back of his hand like little ports, a cool feature.

The first thing you need to do when you open up Venom is run his torso under hot water or a hair dryer and pop it apart. Take a hobby knife and widen the peg hole that's restricting the double ball jointed ab crunch. For some reason the factory added plastic in there that holds it still. You can also do this on the neck port that's attached to his main body. Suddenly Venom can lean, twist, and look around wonderfully. You can even glue his cut waist joint in place after this mod so you don't have to worry about a misaligned symbol.


Venom's articulation before the mentioned modification is a mixed bag. He has a ball jointed head and torso that's restricted but you can fix that. The range of his shoulders and knees is standard single pin but has good range. No, he does not have tilt-ankles and yes, this hurts the ability to pose him. Someone familiar with customizing can swap them out for a Marvel legends Venom feet with ankle rockers but that's up to you. His biceps turn, he has cut thighs, and the wrists being removable turn as well. You'll be able to get him into some decent poses.

Paint work is hit and miss. I saw some good ones on the shelf and I saw some terrible ones. Venom is primarily black plastic with great dark blue airbrushed highlights. The spider symbol in my case was nice and clean. But others were streaked, faded, and in some cases had brown dirt and hair clumps stuck in the paint it as if someone had dropped the freshly painted figure on the factory floor. There's also evidence of touch-up work in places with solid black paint which in some cases clashes with the blue highlights.I really like how his teeth are a bone color instead of bright white like his symbol.

Venom's accessory count will blow you away! He comes with three heads, one with a removable tongue, three sets of hands all of which can be swapped onto the madness backpack which features ball jointed mini-venom heads and jointed arms, and two smaller Madness arms that attach to his. This gives you a huge range of options as to what head with what hands and Maddness features you want. It's really impressive and will certainly be the selling point here.

Scale is seven and a half inch Marvel Select as mentioned but depending on how you like Venom appearing in the comic he can fit right along with your 6" Marvel Legends. There are a couple of things about the figure I need to mention. He has two large holes on his forearms where the madness arms plug in. Venom also suffers from the articulated-statue effect where the sculpt of his elbows is suddenly cut in a straight line to make the joint leaving you with a right-angled elbow. Same where they decided to add the thigh cut, there's flat edges showing when it turns.

So what's the verdict? Is this the end-all-definitive-perfect-Venom figure? It could be. Out of the package he's got issues but a skilled customizer can easily turn him into an awesome figure by modding the neck, torso, and replacing the feet. For $23 you get an excellently sculpted Venom with the most accessories I've ever seen a Marvel toy come with. Our sponsor Big Bad Toy Store has him for just $20 and with the way he's selling out at comic shops the day of release you want want to consider ordering him online to save the worry of seeing an empty shelf. I'm enjoying the figure and customizers will have fun finding use for the Maddness heads, some of which are Marvel legends and Marvel Universe scale.

****UPDATE****

CUSTOMIZER MODIFICATION SECTION

Here's the modifications I made to Venom. They're not hard to do and you'll want to review my Customizing Guides if you haven't already and familiarize yourself with the heat-n-pop method to disassemble him and the X-acto Knive used to trim away plastic. Foot swapping is a little advanced because it involved using a Dremel tool to widen the ankle holes, trimming down the new ankle hinge, and putting in a new pin. First things first, pop off Venom's head then heat the neck up and tug out the shaft. Trim the plastic around the hole's edge at an angle like shown.

Now heat up his ab crunch and pop it apart. Use pliers to remove the ball post same as you did the neck. Trim the plastic at an angle around the edge of both holes. Remember you're not widening the hole that much, you're allowing the post to lean further against the sides. That's where you'll get the range of motion from.

Finally the advanced step, the foot swap. I used the foot from a Spiderman Classics jaw-chomping rubber faced Venom. In order to get the larger ankle hing ring to fit I had to drill into the leg a bit, trim the ankle ring down, and drill a new hole for a larger peg. You might be able to find another foot with a smaller ankle ring and it would be a lot easier to swap. Venom doesn't have any blue highlights on his lower legs so I didn't even need to repaint the new foot. I filled the holes and painted over those but if your new foot doesn't require drilling into the leg you won't need to do this.

Marvel Select Ultron action figure review

If there's one foe of the Avengers who keeps coming back for more it's Ultron. This nearly indestructible, self-replicating, agent of destruction has given them more trouble than any one villain I can think of. After years of waiting for a Marvel Legends scale classic version (we got a smaller Marvel Universe one) Marvel Select comes through with the Ultron we've been waiting for.

Sculpting for Ultron is smooth and clean. This is his classic design and doesn't have a bunch of crazy panel or armor sections as previous versions did due to 'artistic visions' had by the designers. The armor lines are nicely cut into the sculpt, not just painted on. Ultron has a great open 'gesturing' right hand and closed left fist to threaten with. A great looking open mouth and sharply sculpted ear-fins make for a great look here.

Articulation is excellent. Ultron has a ball neck with great range of movement, ball torso, cut waist, ball shoulders, two bicep cuts (one at the shoulder and one at the elbow, tho this gives his biceps the 'spinning meat' effect) ball hips, double jointed knees, and the perfect 45 deg ankle rockers. You can get some great crouching or hunched over poses, even the look from the Bowen Ultron bust.

The paint work is a little hit and miss. Here in the photos he looks really shiny but the silver is more of a matte in hand. There's darker shading airbrushed on him and the lines are a bit sloppy, you may want to snag some silver paint for touch-ups. His eyes and mouth are a nice metallic red tho I'd have liked to see some black Kirby-bubbles in there or at least an energy effect to mimic it. Still he's a nicely done silver robot and sports the look of classic Ultron with attention to paint detail where it counts.

Ultron stands at seven inches tall which basically puts him in Marvel Legends scale seeing as he's often drawn larger than the heroes in the comics. He will fit right in with your other Avengers figures and look pretty vicious doing so. Ultron comes with one accessory, a base with broken arrow shafts littering it and an unconscious pair of Ant Man and Wasp figures, tho they can't be removed. The base is well done and the paint work looks nice.

So what's the verdict on this android of destruction? If you're an Ultron fan he's a must-buy and will make for great custom fodder with his simple and fairly smooth design. I do wish he came with more extras like the upcoming amazing looking Venom figure but he's a good figure none the less. Our sponsors Big Bad Toy Store has him as does Past Generation Toys. Snag him up and have some Avengers battles!

Marvel Select Avengers Movie Hulk Figure Review

Normally I'm a comic-style collector. I do like watching movie designs on screen but generally stick to figures as they appear in the comics. Here the Marvel Select Avengers Hulk has broken me of that. I know he's Ruffalo Hulk and he doesn't have purple pants. I don't care. This is one nice figure. Standing at 10" tall this is one massive figure. He's weighty too, not as heavy as the Marvel Select Juggernaut but up there. Don't drop him on your foot.

Sculpting for Hulk is detailed but in a soft, smooth way. There's not a ton of texture to his skin but it's there just under the paint. I would have liked some fabric texture for the pants, they're quite smooth but the wrinkles and torn edges look nice enough. Hulk's face is really well done and his hair is a separate piece. I think all figures need this done as it really gives the Hulk dimension. He has two nicely sculpted fists at long last which fans have been asking for.

Paint work for the Hulk consists of a dark green plastic with a thick wipe of a lighter green paint with airbrushed shading. The dark plastic showing underneath can give his muscles a streaked look so choose the best paint job. It does work for the character, I just wish it was consistent. His pants are weathered and his mottled green nails look cool. Hulk's eyes and mouth are the best thing about the paint apps. They're really well done and you can see the reflective pupil dots.

Hulk's articulation is interesting. Right off the bat you'll notice he has DC Universe hing-hips. He also has new Marvel Universe/ML 45 deg ankle rockers. This allows him to do a complete split! The range on his shoulders and single jointed elbows is good and the neck/abdomen true ball joints allow for nice movement including tilt. Hulk's hips can't get 90 deg, more of a 45 deg stepping forward range. Seeing how bulky he is I suppose it was a trade off. His knees get better range and combined with the ankles makes for decent leg posing.

Hulk's scale against a Marvel Legends is huge, you may want him to crouch down a little. But if you're a fan of giant-comic-Hulks then he's definitely that standing at full height. He's more in scale next to his Marvel Select movie counterparts. But that doesn't stop him from being one awesome looking Hulk when placed on your shelf.Word of caution, hold his upper hips when moving his legs out or inwards at first. They tend to bend a little at the crotch and while they may not break the joint looks bit springy until they loosen up.

So what's the verdict? This may very well be the Hulk you're looking for. In my opinion he's the best we've gotten so far in terms of a standard Hulk even if he is a movie version. Customizers may want to paint his pants purple and give him a belt for that comic look. And at around $20 he's a heavy, well sculpted value. I plan to have him duking it out with my Marvel Select Juggernaut, if my shelf will hold that weight! You can pick Hulk up at our Sponsors Big Bad Toy Store and Past Generation Toys.