Pulp Arcana Studios: The Captain and the Carnivore

The Captain and The Carnivore

Marvel Legends have consistently been some of my favorite big company figures. The representations, whether comic-accurate or capturing the more realistic looks of the character portrayals in the cinematic universe, are definitely solid. In hand, they tend to be solid feeling and fun to pose. And in front of the camera, they look great.

So when I found out that Marvel Legends was expanding their Gamerverse line with representations from the classic Marvel vs Capcom game, I was intrigued. Of the various two-packs that are being released, it was the Captain America and Venom pack that caught my eye. I have always enjoyed the character of Venom, and this blue, arcade accurate version was unique and appealing. In truth though, I had been looking for a good, comic style Captain America and this version looked like it would fit the bill perfectly.

Come on and take a look as Pulp Arcana Studios takes a look at the Marvel Legends Captain America and Venom Gamerverse Two-Pack.

A PULP ARCANA FIGURE FIELD REPORT Mission Brief:

Artifact Identified:

Gamerverse Captain America and Venom

Marvel Legends

Hasbro

OUT OF THE CRATE:

The packaging for the Gamerverse figures is clean and solid. There is a clear window to showcase the two figures inside, which, as I have mentioned in this space before, is something I do appreciate. The rest of the packaging leans heavily into the Gamerverse aesthetic, with pixelated fonts and character art on the front and sides.

Overall, the packaging is functional, with a nice bit of appropriate flair for the sub-line. I don’t think it will inspire many people to prominently display it on a shelf, but it does look good and gets the job done.

THE DEVIL’S IN THE DETAILS:

With this being a two-pack, I’ll look at the two characters separately. Up first is Venom. Admittedly, I was not terribly excited about the Venom included here. I mainly was picking up the pack for the Cap figure. However, when I saw Venom in the package, I was immediately impressed. This impression only grew better when I got him out of the box and in hand. The blue color is the distinguishing feature of this version of the character, and is a lighter color than many expected. However, it is accurate to the original game, and works surprisingly well on the figure.

The paint apps on mine were great, with the spider emblem emblazoned on the chest and back crisp and clean. For the most part, the cuts and joints are relatively hidden, even with the simple, two-color blocking of the costume. However, there are noticeable pins on the knees, and this does detract a little bit from the overall clean appearance.

The two heads make up for this. The first head is an Eddie Brock head, with the venom mouth coming up at the base, as if it is in the process of covering his face. The second portrait is the large eyed, classic Venom with mouth wide open and tongue extended out and dripping with green slime. Included are a set of gripping/fist hands and open clawed hands, rounding out a set of accessories that, while sparse, definitely get the job done.

Captain America is excellent. While this is the Gamerverse version, what we get is a very effective comic-style Cap. The colors are vibrant and the joints are well hidden. Again, like with Venom, the face portraits are the stand outs here. We get a stoic, classic Cap face, and then one with a fierce, teeth-gritted grimace of fascist-smashing rage. Both are fantastic and give such great character and emotion to the figure.

Cap’s trademark shield is included, with a clip to attach it to either arm. Further, the clip can be flipped back, revealing a peg that will allow Cap to carry the shield on his back. The shield looks great, however it felt just a bit on the small side. This is not necessarily a problem however, as the slightly smaller size allows a greater ease of posing. A translucent effects part comes included as well, to mimic one of Cap’s iconic special moves from the game. I was pleasantly surprised at not only how well this fit over the shield, but also how good it looks in place. Finally, we get additional hands, including a left and right fist, and a left and right thumbs up. Again, a bit lean, but definitely serviceable.

MOBILITY AND MANEUVERS:

It is in hand that these figures truly shine. I personally find the articulation on most Marvel Legends pretty good for mainstream figures. However, I will admit that some of the bodies have better articulation suites than others. Both of these are on the higher end of mobility for Legends.

Venom was the bigger surprise. For a figure I wasn’t as excited about, once I started posing him, I was having a blast. The big standouts are a really nice upward angle on the neck, that allows the face to look forward, even in those iconic spider-crouch style poses. The best point of articulation on Venom though are the incredibly deep butterfly joints. They give such a range of motion at the shoulders that the figure comes across far more dynamic than expected. This, combined with the great movement at the wrists for the hands allows exaggerated posing that really works well with the figure. There was just something really fun about posing this guy, and I kept picking him up just to get him in one more cool pose.

Captain America is, if anything, even better. This figure poses beautifully. Just messing around with him in hand, I kept finding poses that made me want to reach for my camera. Again, those butterfly joints are doing some heavy lifting, but I also really was loving what I could get from the pinless, double-jointed knees and highly mobile ankles. A pleasant surprise was how shockingly stable the figure is on his feet, even in strong, lunging poses. And just like Venom, he was just so much fun in hand.

RECOVERED EVIDENCE:

FINAL RECKONING:

All told, this is a two-pack that I absolutely recommend. While the Venom figure may not be as iconic a representation of the character, he has a charm and a presence that grew on me dramatically, and was incredibly fun to mess around with. Captain America is fantastic, and if you were going to have just one Cap figure for a collection, you sure could do worse than this one. Iconic, clean, and excellently poseable, he is a great choice for a Captain America for your collection.