Review of Marvel Select Venom!

The Basics:
Scale: 7 1/2"
Price:$25.00 at most comic book stores, $19.99 plus shipping - $29.99 plus shipping on Amazon.com

Character Bio:
The vigilante known as Venom is actually a symbiotic being, consisting of the human reporter Eddie Brock and a fluid, intelligent organism from outer space, who feeds on his adrenaline, granting him all the powers of Spider-Man. When they first found each other, both held grudges against the hero,  wrecking havoc in his life, but Venom later went on to become a hero, protecting the innocent and helping to stop several other symbiotic beings that had split off from himself. At one point, Venom bonded with a second symbiote causing him to grow additional arms and heads, as well as driving him mad. Both Brock and the symbiote have since been bonded with numerous other partners.
For more on Venom, check out:
http://marvel.wikia.com/Venom

The review format is a little different this time, rather than being broken up into segments, it will just be one big section.

 

 

 The sculpt on Venom here is absolutely stellar. You may be saying "How can what is essentially a onesie costume have a good sculpt?" Well I'll tell you how! His entire body has this texture about it of the symbiote goo as if it were still fastening itself to him. Does that make any sense? Probably not. But it is a fantastic sculpt none the less.

 

Does that last set look like mini arms? Well they are. Why? That comes later, but for now, lemme show you where they go.

His hands, on all pairs, have sculpted on webshooters on the top of his hands, rather than just a painted on black dot, and his heads....oh boy...his heads...

All three, count em', three heads are beautifully sculpted. I initially started out with the Macfarnlane head being my favorite, the one all the way on the right,  in the above pics, but Now I love the one with his open mouth, with the tongue removed. Speaking of that, yes, his tongue CAN be removed, I, like others, thought I had broke it but nope, removeable tongue. The Eddie Brock mid-transformation head is also really cool but I think I'll display mine with ol' smiley up there. Now about those forearms, what are they for? Well....

 

BOOM!! "The Madness" Venom. During "The Madness" storyline, he, unlike the bio above, which came on the box, says,  he was infected with a chemical waste...or a toxin....one or the other, Venom was driven mad, they're a creative bunch at Marvel, and sprouted extra arms and heads. Thus, the backpack..of DOOM! The backpack of doom does not peg in, ruining the sculpt, rather it simply slides on and locks into place. It has 6 heads, 4 movable on ball joints, and two mini ones that don't move. It has two extra arms which swivel at the "Bicep", bend at the elbow, and swivel at the wrist, and yes any of the hands can be put on these arms too.
 Can't believe this all comes with one figure? Believe it.

The paint work on Venom and all the accessories is amazing. He is primarily black with blue shading as seen in the character bio pic from yours truly. The only thing I can say to watch out for is the white apps. On mine it was generally well done, just a LITTLE bleeding onto the black torso from his Spider emblem, but overall it was very well done paint work.

 

In the articulation department, Venom is surprisingly loaded for a Marvel Select figure. He features a ball jointed head, swivel- hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, hinge elbows, swivel wrists, a ball jointed diaphragm joint, which I recommend running under hot water for 5 minutes, popping it apart, and then shaving down the socket where the ball goes, so it has a greater range of movement. Works like a charm. He also has a swivel waist, a DCUC style hip, a swivel thing, a hinge knee, and a hinge ankle. Some reviewers wish he had double hinge knees and an ankle pivot, and while I agree, that would be awesome, Venom can do some pretty damn cool poses without it, so bottom line, I don't think he NEEDS them, hes pretty damn poseable on his own.

Final Verdict:Get him. Now. This is a truly amazing figure, Marvel Select at the top of their game, and in my opinion, the absolute best Venom figure made to date. According to the makers of this fine product the different parts allow for 72 different display options, so clearly your going to need to find the look you want for your shelf, this figure makes it easy, well not really with every piece looking amazing, but you get the point. Awesome articulation, stellar sculpt, phenomenal paint, and amazing accessories, this guy is one to have, and he already has a spot reserved for him in my top 10 of 2013. Yeah. He's THAT awesome.

10 OUT OF 10!!!