Hasbro Marvel Legends: Spider-Man Animated Series Part 1: Carnage Action Figure Review

Hey everyone, thanks for checking out this review. We're looking at the Hasbro Marvel Legends Retro Spider-Man Animated Series VHS Spider-Man/Carnage 2 Pack: Carnage Action Figure. Geez... that's a freaking mouthful! I saw these figures announced and had to admit that the cel shading is starting to grow on me and I liked what I saw in the promotional images. That made the two pack an easy choice to pre-order.

After learning that his black costume was an alien symbiote trying to bond with him, Spider-Man tries desperately to separate himself from the suit. Remembering that the symbiote's weakness was sound, Spider-Man uses ringing church bells in an effort to remove the suit. Weakened and in pain, the symbiote flees from Spider-Man, and finds a new host, one who shares it's newfound hatred of both Peter Parker and Spider-Man. Bonding with Eddie Brock the pair become Venom, one of Spider-Man's deadliest foes. After several battles, Spider-Man manages to defeat his foe and send Brock to prison, while also finding a way to contain the symbiote. Eventually though, the symbiote manages to escape and in the process of breaking Eddie out of prison, leaves a small spawn behind on the broken cell wall. Due to the symbiote's nature, there was no attachment to its offspring and as such, its "birth" wasn't significant enough to be shared via their telepathic link with Brock. This newly "born" symbiote would find itself a new, more dangerous host. While in prison, Eddie Brock shared a cell with serial killer, Cletus Kasady. The newly formed symbiote had met a host with a bloodthirst that matched its own and, in that moment, Carnage was born. Carnage's first full appearance was in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #361, April 1992. He was created by writer: David Michelinie and artist: Mark Bagley.

As you guessed, this two pack review is being done in two parts. We will, of course, discuss our regular categories: Accessories, Appearance, Articulation, and Affordability. Each will receive a rating and at the end, we'll give the figure an overall score of Zero to Ten ToyBoxes, with Ten being a "must add" to your collection! On with the show!!!

ACCESSORIES

Carnage doesn't come with a lot, but what he has is pretty darned good. There is a symbiote tendril that can plug into the port on his back, two open/grasping clawed hands, one more closed looking clawed hand and a fist, with a really cool tendril axe formed and extending from it. He also has a masked head sculpt and an unmasked Cletus Kasady head sculpt. The more I looked at them, the creepier the Kasady sculpt became. The evil and insanity conveyed in this head sculpt is actually kind of unnerving, to be honest. I'll discuss the look more later, but I have to admit it's a really cool alternate head to have. I particularly enjoy the axe, however, the wrist peg joint is somewhat loose, as is the shoulder rotational joint. This means when the axe hand is plugged in, it will droop a bit and the arm can sag down some. Still, though, it does look really neat plugged into his arm. I do like the tendrils that you can plug into his back. Even though they are static, the shape and flow give them an eerie life of their own and manage to convey movement, just by standing still. I also prefer the more open clawed hands as they can be posed in some great slashing motions. I wouldn't have minded seeing another weapon type hand, whether it was an extended blade shape or something along those lines, as well as a partially masked Kasady head sculpt, with the symbiote slowly forming around his head. This is probably more than we get in an individual Legends figure, and I shouldn't complain, but I do think maybe another weapon hand in lieu of one of the open clawed hands would have been much better. That all said, Carnage gets a decent 6 out of 10 for accessories.

APPEARANCE

As this is based on the Spider-Man Animated Series appearance, at least in terms of style, Hasbro really does nail it. I do think the black lines across his chest could have been longer, which would have been more in line with how he looked in the cartoon. That said, this is a very simplistic figure. Molded in red with black paint applications. The masked head sculpt is also very nicely done with great white application for the eyes and the bright pink mouth/tongue so reminiscent of the show. I had forgotten that in the cartoon his teeth were black and had to actually look online for a reference photo. Sure enough, black teeth in the show, replicated here. Throughout the entirety of the figure, the black paint is applied very cleanly and stays within its patterns. I couldn't find any smudging or scratchy lines as I looked him over. The unmasked head is also very nicely detailed. The green eyes are applied neatly and even the pink around his lips doesn't bleed onto his white teeth. For such an "easy" figure to create, it actually seems as though the painting was done with much more care. Again, knowing the basis for this iteration of the figure, while I with the red wasn't quite so bright, I understand why the did it. Personally, I would prefer a darker, more blood red look like we've got on previous versions. Doing that, though, would have strayed a bit too far from the source material and my preferences aside, I really like what Hasbro did here. My only real complaint would be in terms of the waist design and the flat edges you get when you turn the figure. It really breaks up the appearance, which hurts the score a bit. It would be kind of difficult to mess up something so simple and Hasbro got it right. I'd say it's easily earning an 8 out of 10 for appearance.

ARTICULATION

Sadly, Carnage is on the same old buck that we've seen many times before. There isn't anything really new to discuss, so... the basics: Heads will both turn side to side and look up and down quite far, thanks to the ball hinge. There is, unfortunately, very little head tilt, but it is there. The shoulders are on butterfly joints which will actually rotate back and forward reasonably well. The actual deltoid joints though have some small issues. They will raise the arms out to above a T pose and can be rotated a full 360 degrees. However, the overhang edge of the trapezius at his shoulder actually scraped a bit of black paint off of my left shoulder when I rotated it. So, I advise care when posing your figures arms. The bicep cut works nice and the elbows, though not pin less, are double jointed and bend in very well. Unfortunately, my right arm seems to suffer from loose joints from shoulder on down. The elbow feels very gummy, and I did notice after one occasion when I bent the arm that there appeared to be a stress line forming right in the middle of the joint. Aside from the axe hand, the rest hinge and turn easily. The diaphragm is a single upper joint that crunches forward and backward, one click each. On the plus side, the black paint is applied right through the figure, so there is no odd break when crunching or bending him backwards. The waist swivel, while effective, is still the worst engineering on Legends. When you turn the upper torso, the flat edges appear on the sides, breaking up the aesthetic of the figure and, unfortunately, aren't too easy to disguise, unless you turn him or pose the arms just right. The legs though are done well. Carnage can do a pretty impressive split and can kick forward very nicely. The upper thigh cut works as it should, but the black paint design is broken when you turn the leg, which makes for an awkward look. Both knees are double-jointed, but not pin less, and can bend deep enough to almost make heel to back contact. Carnage also has a poorly hidden boot cut, which works fine and as per usual, amazing ankle hinge and pivot. There's really nothing new to this as we've seen this body mold several times before and as with those, the limitations and odd aesthetic when posing brings the score down to an average 6 out of 10.

AFFORDABILITY

The VHS Animated Series Spider-Man/Carnage two pack is available on Hasbro Pulse for $52.99, which makes each individual figure $26.49 and 1/2 cents each. I'm sorry, but that sucks. I bought the cel shaded animated series Spider-Man and the retro Lizard for $25.99 each and those were Walmart exclusives. Truthfully, all four of these figures should hit the standard retail of $24.99 each as there's nothing intrinsically special about them other than the cel-shading and animated looks. Breaking down the two pack in terms of pricing is a huge disappointment. Sorry, but at best, this earns a 4 out of 10 for pricing. I don't care if it is an exclusive, that's no reason to up the prices.

Overall, Carnage alone has some good points and some not great ones. Individually, I'll give him a toybox rating of:

6 out of 10 ToyBoxes.

Carnage is decent, but just a bit above average. I don't think that I'd buy this figure as a standalone. Make sure to check out Part 2 when we discuss the animated style black suit Spider-Man. I will give him a standalone rating and, in that review, also give the two pack itself an overall score. See you in a couple of days and until then... GEEK OUT!