Marvel Legends BAF: Absorbing Man

Venom, Spider-Gwen, Ben Reilly, Beetle, Morbius, Speed Demon, Jack O'Lantern

The First BAF of 2016 in my possession and let me just say, it is probably the best Spider-Man wave I have acquired! The variations of characters (mostly villains), the step up in the accessory department, the refreshing attention to details, the comic book homage... this wave was awesome! I have to say, I only really dislike ONE figure (Lady Beetle), and even then, she isn't the worst Hasbro has come up with. With all that said, how does the BAF himself absorb all this fun factor his wave offered? Well, let's get to this guy then!

Well, I don't know much about Absorbing Man. His powers are pretty obvious; I think he has something to do with the Wrecking Crew at one point, but all in all, I am oblivious to him. I know of him. As a figure, right off the get go there are a few things about him that stands out. Most BAFs I have come across are pretty simple in terms of what it has to offer display wise. Absorbing Man shows variety. Just to show what I mean:

He has two options for his head and he has two pairs of arms.

 

Basically there are a few variations on how to display him and how to make him look. He has a plain face, 'absorbing face', metal absorbed right arm, rock/earth absorbed right arm, concrete left arm, and a plain left arm. Maybe a variation for his body would do good, but that's me being ridiculously too needy. Still, glad that we are given these options. So, now to take a look at him in a full circle with my favorite combination.

 

I found out from ShartimusPrime that this body Mold is from Terrax. It's not exactly bad for it, but the back does have some unnatural anatomy for a human being based character. Other than that, we get the usual dull paint job, except when we start getting to the arms that 'absorbed' and the head; then we start talking about details on the paint job! There are sculpted features to really try and convey what he absorbed; the concrete really does look like concrete, etc.

 

I think that is his highlight, the paint details and sculpted details when it comes to his arms and the absorbing face. Mold wise, he is a muscular guy so it fits. The purple striped pants could have been his jailer pants, but I guess it's okay because it gives a pop out color. The head at times looks huge, but it's okay, honestly. Not a bad shaped figure. Just the fact that there were some thought put into his alternates really makes the figure fun visually.

And I might be just guessing here but the last BAF I reviewed was the Goblin Knight. Of course Absorbing Man is the bigger figure out of the two but with Hobgoblin having more of the uniqueness, I think these two are a good addition to the rogue of villains. Hobgoblin is a bit more questionable on the BAF side though.

I talked about his variant arms and heads, other than that, the only other accessory he has is the ball and chain. It's pretty weak accessory actually. It can't have as many dynamic pose because it is not really articulated and it is a pretty dull color.

Articulation wise, he isn't too bad. If he had more movement on his ball and chain he would have better dynamic poses, but other than that, he comes with the expected range of movements for a figure this 'big'. Not so much 'range' of movement, but if he was able to hold his weapon with one of his left hand, it would give a little more variation in his poses; but again, with his articulation basic to our expectations, it shouldn't be that much of a hassle to get him to pose here and there.

One can get him to do some action poses with certain angles of his ball and chain.

And of course Absorbing Man will be sharing a villain shelf; the one I deemed as the "Apocalypse" shelf is the place t o be. And yes, it's getting a bit crowded on the villain side. Maybe they need more Hero BAFs!

In conclusion, as a BAF, he is not bad at all. I rather enjoyed him and with the thought brought upon by the various display options, I think Hasbro did a good job for this. His set is also not considerably bad; with Lady Beetle the only one that really does not meet the mediocre expectations, I think this BAF Set is a success. Now does this abate the rest of Hasbro's mishaps with lack of accessories, paint jobs, and other poorly executed patterns? No not at all, but its BAFs like these that really give Hasbro some credits. They have a couple more BAFs coming out and we can see who I gather this year! 

ML Absorbing Man BAF: Jack O'Lantern

Now for the final piece of the puzzle! Jack O'Lantern is another one of those Goblin type villains for Spider-Man (and any and all that is related to him). There have been many Jack O'Lanterns in the past and have taken MANY forms of technological warfare, to demonic magic to help him cause terror. Much like the New Hobgoblin/Goblin Knight, this pumpkin king villain is the most current version and .... like the ones in the past, I know very little about him. I will say though that this figure does have its caliber and we shall explore that now.

 

From the promotional images and the box, one can see that Jack's legs are warped. He is also a pretty lanky figure. He is the running variant of Morbius as a 'villain of the night'.

 

Again his mold is a bit skinny and I don't think he was this skinny in the images I have seen. The legs are a bit warped too so it's hard to get him to stand in a better neutral pose. I bet I can just use hot water to get him to straighten up, but I didn't bother. But aside from that, he does come with plenty of straps, belts, and stuff to make him build up more. He truly does look like he is prepared and those little additions is appreciated. For me his biggest highlight is that pumpkin head! The shading on the pumpkin, that smile, and those flames just do this character justice. The translucent flame effects really does well with this figure; the fact that the pumpkin adds another shades of color (especially when in direct sunlight) really does add to the aesthetics. If I was just to simply gawk and the figure's fiery pumpkin head and the fact that it does well with the earth toned body, I think paint wise it's great. The mold is weird, but it fits I suppose.

He comes with no extra hands or anything, but he does come with a sickle, his broomstick, and the same pumpkin bomb we saw from Goblin Knight. He has one of Absorbing Man's leg; not a bad offering for his accessories; not great of course, but decent.

His articulation is a bit different. I don't think I have come across this particular mold and while it does have its standard movement range, he does have some limitations and some additions. First off, he has no wrist swivel or a join on his hand to allow his hand to go up and down; hand wise, the rotation on his forearm is all we get. His shoulders a bit peculiar; stiff and click, but it has a decent range of motion. His ab crunches are weird as well, it's there but not completely compliant. His legs however have the range of motion that Spider-Men/Women figures need! "Y" joints offer the splits and all the nimble leg poses; a character like Jack over here doesn't really need it, but he has them. Though again, it makes some of his aesthetics go down and he is on the lanky side. The head has little articulation which is a bummer; could get more variant poses with his broomstick if he has that ability to look up a little more.

All in all, Jack O'Lantern offers variety in the rogue of villains AND as a figure, he isn't half bad. He is not my favorite, but his rarely recycled mold (least I don't come across these figures often), the awesome pumpkin head, the fun factor of posing him like Harry Potter, and just his overall color scheme makes him fun. He is a must for Absorbing Man since he holds a leg and I personally am glad to have him in my collection. Of course I have to pose him with his broomstick. It really does make him more menacing!

Well, he is the last figure of this wave. Next is the BAF himself! Let's see if he measures up to the awesome line up his wave provided!