Here we have Venom in-hand, and as what she'd say, he's a big'un! Towering over the black backdrop I use for my reviews, aka my bed set (yes I am a cheapskate but I am at least creative so sue me), he stands at 10.5 inches; he's nearly a foot tall yet has more going on with him than the average Titan Hero and the like. The proportions to the figure are decently comparsble to the character model, get if I were to compare this to the Hot Toys, which should be closer to the proper character model, Venom's torso needs to be wider at the pecs while the shoulders should be raised bigger and larger than their current state. It could help make the otherwise accurately proportioned legs to appear less out of place. The sculpted surface area on Venom is at given a slimy texture to it, befitting a character made of black alien goo. A common complaint about Legends in general is the lack of paint or a matte finish to make the figures feel less cheap, but it is at least reasonable for a character like Venom given what was just said about the oozing mass that makes up his humanoid form. The spider logo on him is also vibrant and crisp, thankfully, though it should have a more weathered look to appear organic. I also have a bit of a paint chipping likely from my copy's own QC. For the most part, the figure doesn't get the proportions 100% right, but it at least it looks decent as a somewhat mainline figure.
His head sculpt is thankfully done even better than with smaller scale Venoms, no doubt thanks to the larger space needed to better refine the details. Admittedly, the eyes are ever so slightly misaligned, but it's 99.9% good otherwise. I also love seeing that the gums between the teeth and Venom's lips are fleshy and organic without resembling makeup. As for his articulation, he has the double ball neck joint, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, butterfly joints, bicep rotation, double jointed elbows, wrist rotation, wrist hinges, a diaphragm joint, a reverse ab crunch that seems to not ratchet properly, giant ball joints for the hips, thigh swivels, double jointed knees, rotation below the knees, ankles that hinge as well as pivot, and toe-ticulation; a commonly seen point of articulation on almost every McFarlane DC Multiverse figure and some Spider-Man figures logically should be included with a Venom this tall. Whereas the last few photos had him with his fists, the photo on the right has him with his hands in a more claw like gesture.
Symbiote extremities are always a must have for figures that are part of a more collector friendly line, and this figure has one that is at least uncommon. Replacing either hand and swapping it with this tendril-like extension not only adds to the extended creepy factor of this Venom specifically, but it also allows for more display options and photography potential as he tries to grab Spider-Man or strike at anything past an arm's length of reach.
In addition, you already see him with his alternate head with jaws wide open and tongue all out, but we have a drooling piece that I don't think we see often in Hasbro products unless it was a gross out toy. Adding even more uncanny valley vibes to this horrific version of Venom, the saliva within his mouth slips through his tongue and rests within the jaws for stability. It could have easily been part of the head to begin with, but making it an alternate piece is appreciative for added display options and can be ignored if you don't like the execution of the piece yet want to display him with the tongue out.
For a size comparison, here he is with three other Venoms all possessing Eddie Brock and a Spider-Man from the Secret Wars line. For anyone wondering, the Venom on the far left is the King in Black version that came with Knull, and close to him is the 2024 retro card version with the McFarlane head. You already know the dude in the far right is Movie Venom. Anyways, the height on Gamerverse Venom makes him taller than everyone else, almost making him comparable to some BAFs we used to get before Deluxe releases became more common.
And here we have him grabbing Spider-Man and Miles Morales, the former being the 2018 GameStop version using the Spider-UK body and the latter from the 2021 Armadillo wave somewhat tied to the release of No Way Home (which also two versions of Tom Holland Spidey, MCU J Jonah Jameson and Doctor Strange, and comic versions of Morlun and Shriek). I don't have the 2023 Peter because it makes no sense for only Miles to get a purpose built sculpt when I already have a version of the character that's pure deco. With these two suffering a lot from the Symbiote influencing Peter negatively before going up against Harry's twisted new lease on life, the odds of these two stopping Venom are probably lower than with prior versions of the characters we all know and love. That being said, Venom is a mostly decent figure, all things considered. The asking price is either $50 or $60, with the latter being questionable after the mix of tariffs going back and forth and Hasbro's own greed with the Maximum Series' version of Hulk offering worse value than Spider-Man. That being said, I would stick with Venom given how the figure isn't trying to be a competitor or sorts to import releases, and it is a wholly new sculpt that, in spite of its own issues, are not as egregious as on the Maximum series. That and it doesn't feel samey from what we previously got in spite of Hasbro's claims of new articulation system and the goal of avoiding reused parts. Glenn Webb's line of how a big crap toy is better than a little crap toy is somewhat fitting with the comparison I made between this Venom and the Maximum figures, but there's no way he's pure ass! All I'm saying is that he and the Gamerverse multipacks are shaping up to be better value than the Maximum Profits are, though I would wait for a sale as we get near the holidays.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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