Venom (Marvel Select)

If I'm going to pick just one word to describe the Marvel Select Venom, that'd be- "INSANE!" This figure has a crap load of accessories that makes him unlike anything you've seen on a Marvel Select action figure. Venom got lots of interchangeable hands and heads, and a variety of features that gives you so many options on how you'd want him to look. The playability and fun factor on this guy is incredibly beyond my expectation, and that I just don't know where to start with this topic.

Marvel Select Venom

But perhaps putting him on "default setting" will make my life easier as I start off with Venom's basic form (just the head with no tongue and hands with no claws) and slowly turn him into a monster, that way we can also appreciate each of these accessories he comes with.

Needless to say, Venom is painted with mostly black and white, but has a blend of darker blues around his symbiote uniform to give a bit of that light-dark contrast, which may actually help you when trying to get some real good photos. The Venom-symbol, of course, covers a third of his torso from front to back. I like how the teeth looked with all these tiny dirt; adding more sinister to that sick smile and lips extending all the way to the ears.

The sculpt and the proportion on this body is very well done! Venom has an athletic body-type with added bulk onto his shoulders and biceps. You can see veins all over his arms with these " Venom web shooters" popping up at the back of each hands. What's truly nice with the sculpt are these swirls and twirls around the skin as though the symbiote is restless and excited.

I am not totally loving the articulation but I'm fairly satisfied with it. Diamond Select Toys incorporated a hip joint that I always thought is exclusive only in DC Universe action figures (and probably other toylines), and you may be familiar with what I'm talking about. It actually looks nice when you have both legs clipped together, but when you spread the legs to the sides and see these sharp angles at the groin areas, it just ruins the form of the figure... and that is why I prefer the ball-jointed hips over this one. Just saying.

But moving on... Venom's articulation includes a ball-jointed neck that lets the head turn 360 (but doesn't move up and down), and ball-hinged shoulders, bicep swivel, single-jointed elbows and wrist swivels to the arms. He got a diaphragm swivel that is really hard to turn plus waist swivel in the torso area. No ankle rockers to the legs; just swivel at the mid-thighs, single-jointed knees and a couple of hinged ankles.

Regardless of what is there and not with poseability and articulation, the accessories are the real deal and may have saved this action figure from getting a low score (at least in my perspective). I started hoping this toyline will soon switch to figure parts and accessories rather than those cardboard props and bases, which I almost never use on my display.

Venom comes with three types of interchangeable head; The Eddie Brock head on its mid-transformation, which I thought is on the larger side of the scale, then you got the head with a smiling face, and last and certainly not the least, the head that defines Venom- long tongue (removable), razor-sharp teeth with goo all around his mouth.

 

The hands are interchangeable and exchangeable! In addition, you can attach extra arms near his elbows, making him look sicker and more twisted. My favourite pair of hands are the ones with pointy claws. The rest are just regular hands; opened and clenched.

"We are Venom!!" I think that's what he said when he combined with strays of symbiote other than his own. This "skin extension," as I call them, has six (6) heads- four of them can turn individually, and latches perfectly over his back... but wait, more of these insanity coming in the way! The skin extension itself has arms that are articulated having hands that are interchangeable on each. Damn! With all the parts place together, Venom got four limbs and seven heads in total, and it's taking a toll on his feet as you get him to stand.

Now if you haven't had a Marvel Select figure, I'd say it's a good way to start with this figure. With a 7-inch height, fair amount of articulation, finely detailed paint and sculpt, and ton of accessories, you'll get more than what you payed for. The Marvel Select Venom is now among my favourite Select figures and I highly recommend him.