Been some time! But yes, still collecting #POPs these days! So here we have Eddie Brock Venom is here! From my knowledge, #Funko have Venoms in the past but surprisingly, this is my first. So, let's get into the review of Funko POP Venom!
Venom was one of my favorite Marvel characters at one point of my fandom. I love how he looks, I love the things he did, I love how corny he was, and I also like the fact that he is a stem from the Spider-Man lore, another character who, for obvious reasons, I also adore. Notice how I say was because Venom fell off my top tier at a certain point. Most of that has to do with my growing pains and the fact that his writing kind of fell off. Also, Eddie Brock, the original "Venom" (unless retconned quite recently, I don't know), was kind of sidelined, killed off (kinda), and then the Symbiote was kind of bounced around from left to right, right to left, and up and down, and then everywhere else that no direction verbiage can point out. When Eddie Brock comes back as Venom, I was already pretty much out of the comic books. Sure, Spider-Woman's appearance and long-awaited interaction with Venom was something I wanted, but it wasn't enough to get me back. But I'm glad that he's still getting some attention and definitely a brand new #POP of Venom is much needed.
The Venomized idea is getting a good traction of popularity--you can say it's a mini-version of alternate dimensions of a superhero/villain. With that said, it's pretty obvious why we get a slew of Marvel Heroes in the Symbiote bonding mix! Oh, and Carnage too. Most definitely interested of him and that Iron Man. We'll see where this goes though.
Now honestly, Venom's design isn't that complex. He's just in all black with the spider logo, the white 'square' on the back of his hand, and then of course, his most recognizable signature: his face, his jaw, and that tongue. In a lot of my Venom action figures/figurines, the aforementioned prominent feature of Venom has been done before and done right and I'm very happy to see that #Funko executed it just as well! The half Eddie, half Venom face definitely is something I appreciate; long before Tom Hardy had that as an iconic poster for his movie, this was one of the things I enjoyed from an artistic point of view. Seeing the man and the monster in one panel, human face showing mirroring the feral face's emotion, symbiote peeling off like some liquid ooze-like substance; the transformation between human and alien creature is just great. The sculpted details on this #POP definitely gets it right in its own stylized form.
I'd say most of the hard work went into the head. The pose is not that dynamic and there's not other "extra" sculpting with Venom on his body. Saying all that, it's not a bad choice since Venom is mostly simple with his overall design. I'm glad they didn't do the oozing effect all everywhere.
Now as far as the painting, nothing grand. Again, Venom is mostly black except for the white emblem and those white things on his hands that I mentioned. They could've added some green on this tongue and teeth, but I'm not going to fully complain about that. It's fine. The symbol on his chest and back are clean, the face coloring is clean, no complains really!
Here is POP Venom next to POP Anti-Venom. I'm glad I waited for another Venom rather than just getting the repaint of the Anti-Venom. Definitely a good contrast. Regular Venom looks significantly bigger than Anti-Venom; kind of funny since they are supposed to be the same person.
Simplicity is genius is what I can say about Venom's design. #FUNKO did a wonderful job replicating that genius and gave the proper attention to the right areas. Venom is nostalgia and a reminder of a younger mindset that I used to have. He may not be up there with Spider-Woman, Scarlet Spider, and Iron Man, but he is for sure part of my line ups of Marvel characters. This #POP did the character justice and I definitely recommend this to any Venom fan and/or POP collectors. Well, that's about it.
Until Next Time!
