Carnage and more

The Spider-Man line has been loaded with hits and misses and near misses and “is anyone targeting at all.” While the vast majority of this line has been slightly above the quality of Burger King toys, there have been some things to cause a case of whiplash if you pay attention. When I started up this review, I almost titled it “Minimum Carnage” referring to the scale, of course technically the small scale isn’t a minimum and as such I was afraid the reference might get past people. “Maximum Carnage” was kind of corny, so I just quit trying for a cutesy title on this one.

Up front I will say the articulation is a bit low. While this bothers many people I generally can be happy with elbows, knees, shoulders, waist, his and neck. Sometimes the more articulation can disrupt a figure’s overall look, it’s a real accomplishment when a company makes an action figure with high articulation without all the lines and breaks in form. Star Wars is really the only line that does this with any degree of success and even they get a few problems. But I digress, yet again.

Anyways on to the figures.

Hobgoblin is one of those characters who practically has “I am a carbon copy of another character” written all over him. I don’t mean that as a bad thing at all, in Hobby’s case I think it works for him (in the various incarnations). So Hobbs stole the Green Goblin suit after Osborne bit the dust (supposedly but we all know better now). After a good bleaching of the costume (PS that is a joke, but not far off base) the character of the Hobgoblin was born.

Thing that makes Hobby easy from the manufacture stand point is that he is a simple head swap and add a cape. There really isn’t much more to Hobby since the essence of the character is an alteration to Green Goblin’s costume. This is the same way Hobby was done in the MU line and how he was done in the Spider-Man line. Again none of this is a put down or criticism but just a statement of fact.

Personally I slightly prefer the mold for the Spider-Man line over the MU one. For one thing I like the smaller stature. Not sure why but I have always thought of Hobby as being a bit short, probably something to do with the thieving nature of his creation. I really think the best Goblin mold in this scale was done by Toybiz in the Super-Hero Showdown/Marvel Legends Showdown line. It was loaded with detail and articulation. But SHS/MLS never ever did Hobgoblin as Toybiz quit doing the line before they had a chance.

The glider he comes with leaves a little to be desired, just kind of a flat piece of plastic (OK I realize how that sounds, but stick with me here). I think I might trade off with MU Hobgoblin in that regard. On very noteworthy attribute of this figure is it can actually hold the Pumpkin Bomb. Unlike previous releases in which there was a peg that could stick into the palm (thus the “face’ on the bomb would only go in one direction) this figure actually grasps the bomb quite well. The hard part is making sure you don’t drop and lose the bomb, but that is a problem with all the goblin figures. Another nice detail is the fact that the cape has a bunch of damage on it, which is the opposite from the MU version which is much more pristine cape. I just prefer the tattered look I guess.

Unless you absolutely have to have articulation, I say go with this version of Hobgoblin.

Next up yet another Spider-Man. OK so I HATE the whole clone saga crapola, I really never liked Ben Rielly either, I even kind of hated Scarlett Spider, but one thing out of that entire mess of a storyline that I did like was the look of the new Spider-Man Costume.

To me the costume is a prime example of keeping the elements of the character present while going around to a totally different direction with them. That’s what I really have always liked about it, it is obviously Spider-Man but defiantly different.

So there really isn’t much more to say, it’s a good likeness of the costume and works for what it is. If you like the look of the Ben Rielly costume then grab it, if not then it’s an easy pass, it’s that simple. Yes the articulation could be better, but it also could be much, much worse, look at such wonderfully super-articulated wonders like Spider-Sense Spider-Man. And while I tend to agree we shouldn’t just pass off on low articulated figures, if this one was articulated like a 1977 Star Wars figure I would be more inclined to agree. As it is though it barely has enough to make a passing mark which is good enough for me.

Now comes the character people have been excited about since this wave was listed in the summer, Carnage.

So regular readers of my reviews are going to realize I am not the biggest Venom fan out there. That is not to say I hate him, but I don’t love him as some fans do. I think he is an ok character but not Spider-Man’s ultimate foe. Venom really has some motivation issues for one, I mean what is he all about? I think what really turned me against him was the “Lethal Protector” timeframe. I wanted a villain, not an Anti-Hero cause Wolverine had that angle covered. I will say I really dislike the directions Venom has been taken in the past few years, but that is beside the point. This is about Carnage.

It was during this time that Carnage came about. The “son” of Venom (in as much as symbiotes can have kids) who bonded with a Psychopathic killer. On one level I thought this worked because Carnage could be a villain without redeemable qualities. But I knew after they revealed the Symbiotes replicated asexually there would be a flood of these things. While it took a few years that does seem to be the case.

Carnage is also apparently dead, ripped up in outer space by Sentry in New Avengers. However, it appears the symbiote survived and is going to be making a comeback soon.

In one way I like Carnage because he has purity to him, he is a killer just because he is one. Another side of me says he is just a gimmick to cash in on Venom while Venom was still uber-popular. So he falls into that “alright” category with Venom for me.

The figure is pretty good I think though. Yes he is a bit under articulated, but that has been covered. He works and that is what is important. His mold is very detailed with a few tendrils coming off for that “Sinewy” look without going too far with it (which would have been too easy to do). The figure fits the characters appearance and fits in with the MU figures just fine. I think he could have used better accessories. He has a weirdo launcher and a stupid scarab beetle looking thing, both of which went into the trash. I keep the red axe (just like the one released with Venom) because at least we have seen him make an axe out of himself before.

So the verdict, if you like Carnage and want one in your collection, hunt this figure down. Some have said they will wait until the MU version, BUT rumors are the next Carnage will be a woman and it’s entirely possible this (Cletus Kasady) version will be the only one. MU line does have a tendency to keep with modern looks on many characters (but of course not all) so it is possible if they ever do a Carnage in the line that it is the newer and female. Essentially I am suggesting it is a gamble to wait for MU to cover something that they may not do because of this figure. I could be dead wrong.

But I will add that this figure is good enough that if MU did a version of this Carnage I might think about not getting it. I defiantly wanted a Carnage for my collection but this one is pretty good, could be better but at the same time he is a pretty limited character so I don’t feel as compelled as I might with variations on Iron Man, Hulk or Thor. That is my personal preference though and maybe you love Carnage, but if so you are probably hunting down this figure now which makes that whole discussion moot.