[Trivial Psychic]

My Typhoid Mary arrived today courtesy of Ebay, finally completing my Venom wave. Here's some thoughts...

Typhoid Mary: Out of all of the figures in this wave, this was the one I most looked forward to, as I have wanted Mary in Legends form since this line started, and with the exception of a couple of nitpicking design choices, she did not disappoint.



The costume choice would be the easiest nitpick, as this not my first choice, but it's not like they were going to give her the bare-breasted Knights/MAX look, so in the end, I'm ultimately okay with it. The sculpted corset is really well done, especially because they chose to sculpt the bottom half of it, instead of just painting it on like they did with the recent 80's Punker Storm. I really like the new jacket piece as well. It's the paint work however that makes it stand out. Mary's face is very well done, and it puts the production photos to shame in person. Everything from her pale white eyes, to the blush around them is so clean, and her lips are bright and full, giving off a smile that one could mistake for genuine congeniality, if they didn't realize that Mary is as batshit crazy as they come. They are so well done, it makes me wonder why the hell can't Hasbro get it this right every time?

My nitpicks are there though. I really dislike the feet that they gave her, and I really think that it's about time that Hasbro started adding some more variety to the footwear on the ladies. Mary seems out of place without her signature heels/boots. The jacket arms are also somewhat of a bummer, as they cannot fall to her sides due to the sculpt, and don't quite have as much range as I would like. My final gripe is with the accessories themselves. While I like the Psylocke katana, I don't like it's reuse here, and I would have actually preferred they have given her the older style Deadpool/Blade katanas, or better yet, the short wakazashi style swords the recent Classic Deadpool came with, as those have always been Mary's weapon of choice. The Psylocke Katana is just too big. I also wish a smaller fire effect would have been included, but I think some of the effects from the recent Scarlet Witch look great with her and do the trick quite nicely.



All in all though, despite my nitpicks, this one has quickly shot up to my favorite female Legends figure of the year. Sorry Psylocke, you had a good run...however brief. Make way for the queen.

(If you're wondering, in some photos, I am showing Mary with various stages of customization. I have since swapped the heeled boots that came with Punker Storm, as well as given her a set of gloved trigger hands from the Vintage Widow, which allows her to better hold her swords, as well as use firearms. I'm also using the older katana with her...I much prefer the look over the new one.)

Monster Venom: While I really wished that "Monster" Venom was actually Ultimate or Madness Venom instead of sorta-Gargan...This is actually not a half bad BAF. Taking cues from the recent Amazing Yamaguchi Venom, this guy features a huge, hulking gorilla torso (with matching arms) and a much smaller lower half. As far as being a Monster, he's massive, don't get me wrong, but he's honestly not all that much bigger than Space Venom, and is a bit shorter than the recent Apocalypse BAF, so that should give you a better idea of what you're looking at.





He has his faults, as the linework on the spider on mine has some fuzzy parts, particularly in the back, and the headsculpt, while cool looking, is also kind of a detractor because it has no jaw articulation. The Lizard had it...why can't Venom?

The thing that makes this Venom shine though is the articulation. He has slightly better than 90 degree bend at the elbows, and great articulation from the hips down, including calf articulation, which allows this guy to strike a lot more poses (as well as stand a bit better) than other BAFs his size. Kudos to Hasbro for that!

The metallic purple plastic the figure is casted in is also nice, and it's rife with details. I considered painting this figure into Ultimate Venom when I first saw the pics of it, but now I'm not so sure, as I really like the color, and it makes the whole thing pop as opposed to the flat black plastics we received with the Space Knight Venom.



All in all, this wave was a mixed bag, but I can't hate on it too much because despite those issues (the QC issues with Scream and Poison, the money milking Happy Meal toy that was Spider-Ham, and the double dipping that was Venom and Carnage) we still got some decent figures, including two characters (Scream and Mary) that I've wanted for a VERY long time. Hopefully the next Venom wave (should there be one, which I have a feeling there will be...) will feature the rest of the Life Foundation, as well as some characters actually a part of Venom lore (such as Classic Toxin, Sin Eater, maybe even the Vault Guardsman) as opposed to some of the filler characters we got...

Filler character or not...I'm so happy to finally have her...