Carnage may not have been as violent and R-rated as he should be in the movie he appeared in, but he was still a better villain than Riot was. Between Woody Harrelson's performance, the character's creepy aura, and his love for Shriek made him deserve some love in spite of his PG-13 compromise. We barely got any merch for the Venom movies beyond whatever Venom could dip his symbiotic toes into, and I'm not counting any comic or cartoon tie-ins. There was a Figuarts that I missed out on because I wasn't sure I'd want to get their Venom after just getting the Legends version. Now we no longer have to wait for a Carnage that'll be comparable to the Hasbro version, so let's see how it turned out!
Here we have Carnage in hand, oozing (no pun intended) with the appropriate character one would expect from a serial killer such as himself. While Venom is usually depicted as looking refined and smooth, with the chest logo on most versions almost being like the inner white shirt traditionally worn with a tuxedo, this character seems unpredictable and animalistic with tendrils poking out from the limbs like bones that jut out uncomfortably. The mostly blood-red symbiote is accompanied by somewhat of a black wash, which adds an extra level of detail that would otherwise leave him looking incomplete...something that is unfortunately present from the back. I really hate it when toys have a decent bit of paintwork from the front while the back is jack squat, especially with the upper area and the backs of the forearms and upper legs having the paint apps that make the back region stand out even more. If this was a $20-25 dollar figure, I could give it some form of slack, but not at the $35 price tag this is going for.
His head sculpt looks sick as always with a lot of the symbiotes we get under Legends. While the black around the eyes could be more filled in, I love how dark and monstrous the front of the face looks combined with the jagged eyes and yellowing teeth, with a head shape that manages to look different from Venom's. Kudos to Hasbro on that front! His articulation consists of a double ball neck, shoulder rotation, outward shoulder movement, bicep rotation, double-jointed elbows, wrist rotation, hinges for the wrists, a diaphragm joint, an ab crunch, ball-jointed hips, thigh rotation, double-jointed knees, feet that can hinge up and down as well as pivot.
His accessories are where the fun truly begins, as you can make his right hand morph into a middle finger dagger of some sorts while his left hand turns into this huge ass meat cleaver; given the character we are talking about, this is far too appropriate. Not only that, but three tendrils can attach onto the back, witi one in the middle and two going on the sides to add further arsenal with bendy wires embedded within the materials of said tendrils. That is pretty cool, and it now has me conflicted regarding the budget of the deco being justified as it is. Oh and he has an alternate head sculpt with his tongue out. I normally prefer Carnage without the tongue, but it works well enough here given how it is a different version of the character rather than Earth-616.
Overall, he not only manages to be taller than Venom, but Carnage manages to not be dependent on a retool DLC like Venom currently needs since he has a Target-exclusive retool that grants him tentacles with his face on them. Honestly, Carnage is a great sculpt and has very good accessories, but I'm still doubting if those would justify the missing paint on the back. It'd be one thing if Carnage was at a lower price like Venom once was, but then Hasbro would not have included the accessories that he comes with or even the bendy wires. Carnage overall is very cool and recommended if you are a fan of symbiote or the Venom trilogy, which I think is better than the rest of the Sonyverse, but keep in mind that the missing paint on the back will annoy people. That and I wish he had an alternate head with Cletus's face, even if Hasbro probably won't get Woody Harrelson's likeness much like how they didn't get Tom Hardy's likeness.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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