After weeks and weeks of speculating as to how and why Walgreens, of all places, ended up with an exclusive Marvel Legends Agent Venom figure, he is finally popping up at Walgreens stores across the country. This figure caps off the excellent Spider-Man Infinite series that gave us Superior Spider-Man, Boomerang, and new versions of Carnage, Toxin, and Black Cat. As difficult as some of those figures were to track down, however, this figure appears to be shipping to Walgreens in a solid case of eight, at least that’s what I saw on an endcap, so hopefully everyone who wants one will be able to get one.
So without further ado, let’s take a look at Agent Venom!
Check out the below video for an articulation demonstration and some additional thoughts, and read on for more pics!
His packaging is consistent with what we’ve seen from the Spider-Man Infinite line, so there are no real surprises here. I should point out that he does NOT come with a Green Goblin build-a-figure piece despite what the back of the box would seem to indicate. All you get is Agent Venom, four guns, and a symbiote embellishment that attaches to his back.
The sculpt is great, but paint apps come in at the bare minimum. There is no paint except for the white you see, and despite there not being much paint, I found it tough to find one that looked good. My store had all eight on the pegs, and I had to look through all eight to find one I could live with. Most were pretty sloppy.
I love the simple design of his head sculpt. I’m not very familiar with this version of Venom, so I’m not sure if his eyes are supposed to be crooked like this or not, but I really like it — it adds some off-kilter personality to what could otherwise be a fairly plain design. I like it in contrast with the rest of the figure, which is pretty intricately sculpted. Upon closer inspection, though, it would appear that it is just sloppy paint on his left eye — the paint does not follow the lines of the sculpt very well. All eight I saw were like this, so it may be a common problem.
His articulation is standard Hasbro Marvel Legends fare, and he’s easy to get into dynamic poses. His shoulder pads do not hinder his arms’ range of motion, but his torso overlay does hinder his ab crunch quite a bit. His design is similar to a Masters of the Universe Classics figure the way the details of his torso are a separate, wearable piece, so that’s something to be aware of. It’s a softer plastic, but not soft enough to allow for full movement of his ab crunch.
The only point of articulation he’s really missing is some sort of wrist articulation. He has a forearm swivel, which serves the same purpose to an extent, but a hinge or a dedicated swivel would have been appreciated.
He comes with four guns, two of which can actually be wielded by his tentacle-things. I have no idea if this is something he can do, but I’m just going with it. Otherwise, two of the guns get tossed in the drawer, and I like the way this looks.
His belt has heaps of detail packed in. There’s a dagger, grenades, etc. This guy comes packing some ammo, that’s for sure. It’s all cosmetic, of course, and can’t be removed from the belt. That pistol on his right leg is also decorative — it’s permanently fixed to the holster.
In terms of size, he’s bigger than Carnage, but smaller than Toxin. He’s a good size and has some good bulk to him thanks to the torso overlay he’s sporting. I like that we got a version of each of the three major symbiotes in the Spider-Man Infinite line, so Agent Venom here is a fitting end to this year’s Spider-Man series.
Once again, he’s just starting to pop up at Walgreens stores, so if you don’t find him right away, keep checking.