Agent Venom Figure Double Feature Review: Marvel Select vs Marvel Legends

I thought I’d follow up my Carnage Marvel Select review with another Select symbiote figure. And not just any symbiote figure, but my personal favorite comicbook character, Agent Venom. And then I thought, what’s better than reviewing a figure of my favorite character? Why, reviewing two figures of my favorite character! Sure, the Diamond Select figure was released in 2013, and the Marvel Legends figure was released in 2014, but better late than never. I’m going to go back and review the rest of the waves soon enough as well. In this review I’ll be comparing the two figures to each other, to see if either of them are worth picking up, and whether one is better than the other.

The Sculpt:

The first obvious difference is the size. The Select stands just under 7 1/4 inches tall and goes for a slimmer, more sleek look while the Legends is only 6 1/2 inches tall, but features a bulkier build thanks to his thick rubber chest and shoulders. But size isn’t everything. Selects are usually known for their sculpt and paint job while the Legends are somewhat lacking, and that’s not necessarily the case here. While the detailed sculpting is very nice on the select, the Legends figure is no pushover, and even has some details I prefer, such as the entire head. The lenses of the eyes on the Legends figure actually pop out, unlike the Select where the white is just painted around the socket, and the Select also emphasizes the nose a lot, something I’m not a huge fan of personally. Something that really annoys me about the Select is that his armored collar is slightly off center, and it’s not something that moves, so it’s stuck like that (it’s easier to see in some of the photos below), so that’s not great, but some of the white painted on the select also seems kind of rough, especially around the eyes. The white paint on the Legends isn’t perfect either, but manages to stay fairly smooth overall (though the white line on his left leg ball joint seems to be completely missing). The Select also features a blueish grey wash over most of the figure while the Legends goes for the solid black look, and while the wash highlights the detailing, it also seems a tad messy and blotchy on some parts of the body.

Accessories:

The Accessories are really what sets these figures apart from each other. The Select comes with two guns that are very nicely detailed, and can fit into each of his holsters, though they are rather loose in there. He also comes with a stand that just seems to be some random wreckage. The Legends comes with four guns, and aside from the red dot sight on the black gun, they don’t have a whole lot of detail. But one of my favorite parts of the Legends is the tendril accessory. You can attach the tendrils to Agent Venom’s back using a small peg, and not only do they look menacing, but the end of every tentacle can each hold a gun. I think it more than makes up for the fact that he has no holsters, and it really makes him stand out on the shelf.

However, the Select does sort of have an “unofficial” accessory. The black twist ties he came with in his packaging can be wrapped together and used as webbing for him, and because of the wire inside them, you can move them around to how you see fit.

It actually works pretty well, even if it isn’t really an accessory, just a bonus.

Articulation:

Now to the “action” part of the action figure. And though Legends are usually the winners here, that isn’t exactly the case in this situation. Both figures have standard ball joints for the arms and legs giving them a fair amount of range, but the Legends figure has double jointed knees and elbows, meaning he can bend his limbs a bit more than single jointed select, which can only bend his arms and legs at about a 90 degree angle. Though the Legends figure doesn’t actually have any wrist movement because of how his hands are molded to his gauntlets, you can still swivel the entire gauntlet, which gives the same effect as the wrist swivel on the select, since he doesn’t have any wrist hinge. The Legends figure also has the advantage of having ankle rollers, while the Select only has a single hinge on his foot. They have similar head movement, being able to look up and around a bit, but the Legends can look down slightly more. The biggest difference between them is the torso. They both have waist swivels, but even though the legends has an ab crunch, the thick rubber armor restricts it a lot, so you can barely bend Flash over at all, and while the Select’s torso range isn’t huge, you can still bend and twist it much more freely than the Legends figure.

And if you were wondering how the shoulders worked without the shoulder pads getting in the way, here’s how. The Legends figure has them as rubber that is attached to the main rubber torso, while the Select has them on actual little ball joints. Careful though, my right shoulder on the select kept popping off, though it’s easy enough to put back on.

The figures match up pretty nicely with their respective lines, and you can probably even get away with posing the Legends figure with some of the larger Select figures. Doesn’t really work vice versa though. Another nice fact about the Legends figure is that you can actually pop his head off and replace it with one of the classic Venom heads from the newer Venom figure, giving him a out of control look, even if the head is a bit big.

So which figure is the better Agent Venom figure? Well, it really comes down to a matter of taste, especially since they retail for similar prices. I prefer the overall look of the Legends figure, and I love the accessories he comes with, though I still really like the Select figure. Funnily enough, both of these figures were exclusive to certain stores, with the Legends being exclusive to Walgreens at $19.99 and the Select being a Disney store exclusive at $24.99. Both figures go for quite a high price on the second hand market because of their exclusiveness. However, the Select did just get a re-release and is also available on Marvel’s online store now, which is where I got mine from, so he’s probably gonna be much easier to get for a normal price than the Legends figure.

Both figures do justice to my favorite Marvel character, and I hope to see Flash get the symbiote back someday.

MARVEL LEGENDS FIGURE:

Pros:

• Awesome accessories

• Very nice sculpt

• Clean paint lines

Cons:

• Very limited chest movement

• Could use a bit more articulation in other places as well

Final Grade: B+

MARVEL SELECT FIGURE:

Pros:

• Good chest movement

• Nice and detailed

• Unofficial accessory is a nice bonus

Cons:

• A bit disappointing paint wise

• Limited elbow, knee, and ankle movement

• Off center collar

Final Grade: B

I’ll just leave you with some more photos, and also a question. I’m planning to review a lot of the Legends waves, going back to the Amazing Spider-Man 2 movie wave with the Ultimate Green Goblin, all the way to the current Sandman wave. Would you rather me start at the current one and work my way back, or start from the older figures and get caught up?

Thanks for reading!