The Transformers 1985 Venom toy
OK. I'm not surprised that Venin is something that exists. I am surprised that he is both a new mould, and not some form of exclusive. Here's the thing. Hasbro has spent a few years modernising the big three Insecticons again, the famous G1 robobug swarm. At the same time, they took the opportunity to revamp the much, much much MUCH more obscure other four. Four toys not made by Takara, and thus had no real fictional appearances to speak of. Comic book scene fillers at best. I don’t think I've ever actually seen the toys in person either, TBH. This was mainly achieved via retools released in exclusive multipacks, until Venom, now Venin for legal reasons, turned up. But is he any good? Well, he got bumped by Bone Shaker, so that should be a hint, but read on to find out.
I suppose I should expand at bit more on the context here. Venin's first toy, much like Jetfire, originates with the late Takatoku Toys, and the obscure Armored Insect Corps Beetras toyline, a bug themed mecha property. As such, Venin and his ilk don't resemble the best known Insecticons except by theme, and went through a few substantial colour changes when Hasbro licensed them. To the best of my knowledge, Beetras has yet to experience any form of post-80’s revival, so Venin is the only significant attention that series has ever had, and only then by a technicality. And it's a fairly faithful modernisation, very much a G1-plus-actual-articulation job. And, that's pretty much the review. It's the original toy put in the modern deluxe price point, with the quality of life stuff common of that size class. This means the transformation is fundamentally the same, the look is fundamentally the same, and the flaws are fundamentally the same. Just with ankle tilts. This sadly means that Venin in robot form suffers for that distinctive belly-wing arrangement, that hampers articulation in the arms. I suppose you could have them hang up front like an apron, but that doesn't look great. All four limbs have substantial hollowness for transformation purposes, and the head doesn't do much for bug mode. A flaw seemingly unique to this version though is how the fists are merely tabbed in, rather than pinned in place, so they detach often. One wonders if someone had a budget cut, or a monkey's paw? On balance, its rather mediocre as deluxes go. That said, while I can't make a direct comparison, it turns out that this is actually a head larger than the original. Maybe this is a more complete upgrade than I initially thought…
Maybe it is. I went looking for videos of the original, and there are a few differences I want to highlight. The torso has been redesigned to skinnier and more angular, going from a Parks & Rec' Chris Pratt to a MCU Chris Pratt. Some of it is now translucent too, which works very well with the existing colour palette. It's not a common colour scheme, but it works, benefiting from some nice tampographs. I do like how the odd hand axe combines with the gun for a better axe. The bug mode, in this case a Cicada, is basically unique among decepticons, with all legs articulated at the base, plus the wings. The head is also articulated, but given that this is just the robot mode head, that's a less of a positive, just something inherited from the source material. And thus far, this is the only unique Insecticon mould, that counts for something right?
Overall, Venin feels like an earnest attempt, but is being faithful to a fault. It's like what happened with Needlenose, but not as severe. Venin is at least an interesting starting point, and is doing OK at what it's choosing to do. But I can't help but question if this was the right call. This dude got this level of attention? Really? Sure, that's a nice note to end the Insecticons on, but why this guy? As opposed to, say, three other Insecticons. Or almost anyone else, from any continuity you care to name. Fair play to the design team for doing something different, we need more of that, but Venin isn't gonna win many new fans as is. Interesting, but not especially good, Venin is merely something that exists.
No comments:
Post a Comment