Agent Venom BootLEGO minifig

Agent Venom. I know nothing more about this character than the facts that he is Flash Thompson, former bully, now friend of Peter Parker, former soldier, and currently fused with the Venom symbiote.  So he's a paramilitary Venom, and a good guy to boot.

Awe. Some.

The Agent Venom minifig comes with a couple machine guns - more AWESOME! - and is one of the higher quality BootLEGOs. And now one of my personal favorites!

BootLEGO Iron-Man Black Spider-Man Armor...

Just top off the fluids, Jarv old buddy

...or maybe Venom armor, or maybe Agent Venom armor. I don't know, but I know I dig him!

The BootLEGO companies have had a field day with the Iron-Man minifigure, painting him up as everyone from, well, Iron-Man to Robin to Green Lantern to Wolverine and everyone else in between. You have to admit, it's a pretty genius move on their part.

But as much as I love BootLEGOs, I had yet to own any of the Iron-Managerie until I picked up this Iron-Black-Spider-Man minifigure which arrived this week. He was just too cool  to resist...and being sold as a single minifigure. I have passed on obvious choices for me like Iron-Batman and Iron-Robin because they are usually sold in multi figure lots and I am just not that into Iron-Man. But I'm enough into Spider-Man to have bid a few pence for this guy, and I'm glad I did.

Iron-Venom is made by the company 'Elephant', and this is my first experience with that particular bootLEGOer. And he's just as good as the Sheng Yuan and Decool I have in my possession.

Iron-Agent-Venom comes with a stand and a few parts to build a Jarvis arm.

I hear KISS needs a new drummer

The paint is simple but well applied. And yes, he's painted on his back. I always forget to take pics of the backs! His original headpiece is your basic BootLEGO rehash of the LEGO Tony Stark face, with only one expression painted on it, but I had other plans for this minfigure, so I swapped Tony for...

I Am Spidarmor-Man!

...a Spider-Man headpiece I have from another bootLEGO  minifigure. Because it makes more sense to me this way, and is far cooler than the actual Iron-Spider armor from the comics.

Venom Bootleg LEGO Minifigure Bigfig

Another incredible installment in the book of bootLEGO is this Venom 'bigfig.'

This guy doesn't even exist in the LEGO toy world (although he was seen in the Marvel LEGO video game.) But the crazy awesome Chinese bootleggers have made him available and I was able to nab this guy off eBay for less than a dollar shipped!

This Venom bigfig is pretty much a Venom version of the LEGO Incredible Hulk. Nothing new on the engineering front. But it's Venom! Awesome!

Additionally awesome is that his eyes, teeth and spider-symbol are not simply painted on, but they are actually sculpted in relief. A level of detail not necessary or expected from Chinese bootleggers, but greatly appreciated!

Venom even has his symbol in relief on his back!

Venom also comes with a black 'rope' spider-web thingy. Not sure if this guy is ShengYuan or DeCool because he came to me in a plastic bag with Chinese writing on it, but either way, he's well made, highly recommended and an awesome addition to anyone's minifigure or bigfig collection!

Proof of 'Venom' infused Bane in The Dark Knight Rises?

I'm sure I'm not the first to notice this, but I haven't heard anyone mention it in internet land yet, so it came as a bit of a surprise when I did spot the obvious clue in the following image the other day...

Check out the back of Bane's neck: A surgical scar running all the way up his neck, from under his vest to under his headgear!

The scar is there in all the pics of Bane. Now that I've spotted it, it stands out like a sore...super-soldier medical procedure.

See, there it is again!

I was already sure that the vest plays a role in the transmission of 'venom' to Bane's brain/spine/muscles, but seeing this 'scar' cinches it for me. Of course an exposed tube is just stupid; Nolan et al would certainly have made the 'venom' transmission tubing internal.

It also ... SPOILER ...


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...would help explain why Bane said that removing his mask would be 'extremely painful' in the prologue. Because it's connected to a tube in his spine!

I'm convinced, Bane will pump 'venom' in The Dark Knight Rises!

Marvel Heroes Cars

MGA Entertainment has been offering Spider-Man and Marvel themed die cast vehicles for a few years now.

A decent superhero themed toy vehicle has always been a tough thing for toy makers to get right. Historically, they tend to be normal/generic cars with gaudy hero images and titles across their sides and hoods. Okay, Superheroes can be a bit gaudy, and tend to wear their names or symbols blazoned across their chests/heads/capes etc. - but if Batman, the king of superhero "mobiles," doesn't drive a car that says "BATMAN" across the hood and have his grinning mug on the doors, then no one should.

So I usually avoid these types of things, even though I am a 1:64 die cast AND Super hero aficionado.

I avoid them to the point of actually seeing AND avoiding some new MGA/Marvel die-cast at K-Mart this weekend. They were cars with comic cover images covering them like a car-cover from marketing hell. Their only saving grace was that they came packaged with mini versions of the comics they referenced. Cool, but still avoidable.

My tune changed later that same day when I went to the dollar store. And not just because the price was right.

I found these Marvel cars among the cheap lead-laced booty of the dollar store toy aisle.

First off - the Punisher car. Okay, this thing is perfect. And I'm not even a Punisher fan. But who WOULDN'T drive a suede black Camaro-esque with a skull on the hood/doors? Seriously. I can GUARANTEE the Punisher would! Also it is very reminiscent of the Nova in the recent movie Deathproof. Cool on so many levels you have to take an elevator to enjoy it.



And to top off the awesomeness of the design, there are BULLET HOLES! And not just holes on the sides and back, but bullet ricochet marks on the top of the fenders as well!

Okay, whoever designed this one is a genius of minimalism. Pure, unadulterated brilliance! And for a dollar!?!?! Get outta town!

Next up we have Captain America. As I was leafing through the pegs, I was thinking to myself "please be a Cap car, please be a Cap car..." and my prayers were answered. Maybe I need to aim higher with my prayers.



The same Camaro-esque vehicle as the Punisher, this one is painted no more or less gaudy than the Cap himself. But with no "Captain America" or pics of Cap throwing his shield on the car itself, it is perfect. I love it! I can see this car in that old seventies Captain America TV movie - it would have been great.



And look at the cardboard these cars are attached to. Each one had the character die-cut in the center. This one is too pretty to destroy.

Okay, so I was only going to buy the two. They are perfect. But hey, I was at the dollar store. So even though some weren't even worth that (the Spider-Man quad and Hulk Hummer to mention a couple) the following two couldn't escape my grasp.




The Wolverine car is pretty silly, but it is a wholly original design and reminiscent of the Batmobile from the nineties animated series. The Venom mobile is almost cool - as a Corvette-esque creation with the spider symbol on the hood and four headlights that look like a spider's multiple eyes. The only thing that makes it less than perfect is the previously mentioned character image on the side. Oh well, the cardboard is very cool and I am keeping this one carded for now.