Poison

Poison

-a substance that is capable of causing the lines or death of a living organism when introduced or absorbed. 

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Humor me.

I have lived a life full of tragedy, mockery, betrayals and lies; failures and disappointments, regrets and rage. Now I'm at another fork in the road.

Life has always been as it is. My story is driven by the events all around me; people are people and I wish at times I meet different faces, or at the very least, faces that I don't have to keep on their feet, or faces that don't say what they are but in the crisis of a pivotal moment, keep choosing to make the 'easier' way because adequate judgement surpass them.

I wish there was a way that people will just let me remedy my mistakes. Where people can just let me remedy the sins I have committed... let me erase the events that caused the poison to spread.

I once had it all but it came crashing down. Now I'm here and in the wake of my fall, I experience life for what it has always been. The funniest thing about this time is that people who have not felt tragedy are trying to tell me to get up and stand and fight when -the true fight- are beyond them.

I hope in the other side... beyond this hell could mean more. Maybe in the other side people are real, true, and maybe on the other side I can have what I wanted all along.

Maybe the other side is the gate to a pivotal moment... the first moment was denying the poison of a false eternity; denying myself to believe that immortality for the sake of love truly exists because it doesn't.

Erasing that event will destroy the events of that empire, delete all the faces, and prevent the poison from spreading.

Life is a freaking joke and we all play our parts on the punchline. I have just let people use me far more than I have used others for laughter.

Next life time will be different. Next time, I'm going to take what I want and use whoever. I will be the poison next time and I will enjoy watching everyone who has done me wrong writhe in the meaning of my next new existence.

I am no hero. I am not a saint. I am liar. A betrayer. I am unkind. I am dishonest. I am masterless. I am hatred and I am regret.

All the angst I have felt, I will pour it upon the worlds of those who have misused me and make them feel how it is to be broken, destroyed, meaningless, and drowning in despair.

I will inflict my carnage upon you. Then and only then can you truly know what the meaning of my world that all of you have so joyfully abused.

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: Spider-Carnage/Ben Reilly

I remember when I was young and I saw this costume; I LIKED it then and I am okay with it now. It's different but still pays homage to classic. I did not mind Ben Reilly taking over as Spidey either because change was good. Hasbro recreated this guy and here we are with this Spidey and a good little twist of fate: he has a variant that makes him 'almost' a completely different character altogether: Spider-Carnage! So, let's get right into the review.

 

This Spider-Man is the running variant for the Spider-Gwen figure. "Edge of the Spider-Verse" is what this is called and technically, he was one of the main fighters of the Spider-Verse saga. He was not Spider-Carnage though, but Ben Reilly was badass.

It's almost as if I am reviewing two figures; almost. The one thing I will say right off the get go was that it was a really smart idea for them to do this; it's a great homage to the character and a point of his short-lived comic book life that some fans really remembered. So on to the figure. The mold is familiar. This Pizza Spidey might be the standard mold for all the Spider-Men coming out. I'm not entirely against it, but they need to do something about that torso. The lanky frame works, but one can't forget that Spidey is also a slightly more on thicker side most times(depending on the artist).The paint is something I can complain about. While the red looks great and the blue really makes both colors pop out, the black, ESPECIALLY on the spider emblem does look a little weak. They needed to add another coating. The sculpting on all variations, Carnage included, are something we have seen before with Spidey-Reilly being the Pizza Spidey, and the Spider-Carnage being the Carnage we got from the Ultimate Green Goblin BAF. While I'm not entirely uber impressed, I do like the foundations of this figure so in turn I do like how this figure looks aesthetically; for the most part.

I have already talked about the accessories somewhat. He has that one set of hands for the Carnage and then the head. His hands are pretty gracious just like the Pizza Spidey. One thing that would have added to the fun factor and give Hasbro more credit for 'thought' is the variant legs for the Spider-Carnage. He had symbiote oozing up his legs and if that was part of the variant leg, it would have made things better. I could have sacrificed some of these hands for those legs. And he comes with a pair of Absorbing Man's arms; the metal and the plain left fist.

I won't lie--I had tons of fun posing him about. I found myself using his Carnage variant more though, so most likely he will be in Spier-Carnage form. This mold should be very familiar so I won't get too much in-depth with him. Either Carnage or Ben has the same movement since the head and the hands don't really change anything aside from looks. Again I wish his legs could do more Spider-y things, but again, until Hasbro does away with that debacle, I think I'm going to be saying this a lot. The 'y' joints seems to be more adequate for Spider people, but it might take away some of the aesthetics; but I guess let's be honest, I don't repose my figures as much as others so it should not be that much of a hassle.

One thing I noticed with this figure and all the other figures that have this mold (minus the Scarlet Spider since the torso is different) is that the shoulder joints have such a wide range of motion. At times 'too much' I think and it takes away from the grand look. Regardless, it's appreciated.

Damn it I'm a clone of Peter and Cletus' Symbiote! CLONE! CLONE! 

You know I've been wanting a Ben Reilly Spidey since I was a kid playing with his toys. As I grew apart from Spider-Man (mostly his costume), I started to swing away from wanting this figure. I do have the older Ben Reilly Spider-Man from the Ares BAF days and honestly, I didn't even open that one. So when it's here now I find myself posing it as Spider-Carnage in my Spider-Verse shelf. Funny. All in all, I really like this figure. He is a variant and technically he is not required to finish Absorbing Man; but he does come with his worth and the arms for Absorbing Man does tie in with the BAF's personality. Other than that, pretty cool figure.

ML Hobgoblin BAF: Spider-Girl

Another piece of the pie that is the Hobgoblin BAF(the third set of BAF that I have come across this year; and more coming). I have the Spiderverse saga to blame for me wanting/needing to get as much Spider-Man figures as I can! And I have yet to even read the said saga(will soon enough). Well, Spider-Girl is the next installment so let's see what this figure has to offer!

She shares the same box as Ultimate Spider-Woman, so not much can be seen here. Again no side art cover for this new Spider-Man wave.

Just to talk about the character a bit, Spider-Girl (May Parker), comes from an alternate world where Peter and Maryjane had a daughter. She inherited her father's spider powers and eventually made an identity for herself as Spider-Girl; for some reason, she took the mantle of Ben Reilly, her father's clone. Honestly, I love this costume. I like this said costume MUCH more than I like her original one. The web shooters outside is always a treat and the larger insignia and 'half boots' and 'red fingers' are always a better take for me(I do have Ben Reilly Spider-Man unopened from the Ares Wave. Tempted to open him now). Of course the mold is sexy and just right for a teen super heroine. A few paint scruffs and her right leg was distorted due to packaging methods; blow dry and cold water helped but there are still some issues on her over 'performance'. But aesthetically, it's not bad.

Now I'm not going to sit here and talk about the BAF piece. This department--the accessory department is the major downfall of this figure(as it was with Ultimate Spider-Woman). We finally got a better Spider-Girl figure and it lacks accessories like interchangeable hands, alternate unmasked head, webbing accessory, something! NONE! It really hurts the fun factor of the figure and we'll talk about that more in the next paragraph.

Well, the loose calf swivel makes it hard for her to stand sometimes, but beside from that little quality issue, May Parker still has the modern articulation we expect from the teen mold figures. Unfortunately, female figures in general really lack the ability to be 'flexible'! Due to the idea that they have to be voluptuous and sexy (according to comic book standards), the Spider-y poses are hilariously hindered, thus making them less and less appealing to their comic book counter part (action dynamic wise). Now that on its own is a major problem and another thing is that with both hands 'webbing' pose, she can't do much. She really, REALLY needs interchangeable hands. I can make do without the alternate head, but hands?! Come on! Suffice to say, she really suffers in articulation both in the common problem with female figures and Hasbro's lack of ability to provide more accessories.

Here's the other Spider-Girl in my collection.... well I guess in Carnage's collection. Because May lacked any articulation and accessory, she failed in rescuing Anya from the clutches of this deranged symbiote!

In conclusion, I really do like the fact that I have this girl in my collection. Again, it's a major Hasbro qualm I have that accessories, alternate hands/head are lacking, then the constant problem with the female molds and their articulation. OH and quality. I do recommend this figure to everyone who is into the Spiderverse saga, or just a big time Spider-Girl fan, period. I know May Parker has a huge cult following, so here's a decent figure of her. Don't expect perfection though.

ML Hobgoblin BAF: Anti-Venom

Ah yes! The Hobgoblin BAF set of the Amazing Spider-Man line. I'm not sure how I feel about the BAF and a couple of the figures, but I do know there are some I want to get like Anti-Venom over here. So it's Eddie Brock after surviving cancer and gaining a new symbiote. Not 100% about his story but here we are with a figure of him in the 6in scale! What to say about this guy?!

So here's the box and the set that come with him. Some good figures here and there that I really like but for the most part I'm still ambivalent about getting the entire set.

Just off the get go, I will say for someone who is as feral as Anti-Venom, his paint job looks slightly too clean. As hasbro will go, paint details lack aside from minor things like the black logo and the orange contrast in his mouth and eyes. Despite the bland coloring, it fits this negative Venom. I mean, I have the Select version and as far as Marvel Select goes, they are fantastic in details and paint jobs but we have come to know Hasbro for lacking so I suppose this one is sort of expected. It's not an ugly paint, it's just not above what Hasbro does. Mold wise, I'm content. He can be a bit bigger since it is the former Venom we are talking about, but it's good enough. The hands are recycled from Carnage and Hasbro's Toxin; was hoping for alternate hands. I was just hoping some sculpts of symbioses protruding from him here and there but alas, not so much.

He comes with one of Hobgoblin's leg which again, I'm not so sure I will be buying him. Oh and one lackluster accessory that really does very little to add to the figure:

Yeah, it does very little to nothing.

His articulation came to no surprise as well. It doesn't do him injustice, but it doesn't do him as much advantage since as far as I recall, while he is a big character, Brock had some agility thanks to the symbiote's duplication of Parker's spider abilities. The 'big man' mold we have seen lacks that pose ability so I can say that there are certain things that are deterred. Though he still has some good range of articulation that allows him some posture that I would imagine this Venom would be in. The fun factor of his range of movement still exists and a bit more natural than Drax, I would say.

Superior Spider-Man

And I don't know why, there is just something fun about the photo shoot with having Anti-Venom pose with a bunch of other Spider-Men related/Symbiote related figures that I own! I didn't pose him with any red and blue Spideys but here he is with his symbiote clan:

Symbiote party!

"They all left and didn't help me clean up!"

In conclusion, I love this figure despite my qualms with it. It's a nice contrast to my symbiote collection with how white he is. He is so vibrant and just cool to look at. While I may not say that he is Brock's best symbiote suit(apparently he is now the new Toxin too....?), I will say that I'm still a Symbiote junkie as I was when I first started liking Marvel hardcore(way back when). Still, I'm not sure I'm convinced with buying Hobgoblin Set. We'll see.