Genis-Vell

The taste of a new generation. Born of a Titanian Eternal, Genis-Vell possesses indomitable strength and uses powerful Nega-Bands to channel incredible energy blasts! Yes, despite this being the son of Mar-Vell, it's more "genetic clone engineering" than "slap and tickle," which is how he was able to come to be even years after daddy dearest succumbed to cancer. Genis was introduced under the name "Legacy" in the 1993 Silver Surfer Annual, making him the most (read: "only") successful character to come out of that year's Marvel Annual gimmick - rather than a crossover or anything, 24 books all introduced new characters, and the only ones anyone could possibly name today are Captain Marvel, smalltime X-Men villain the X-Cutioner, and ultimate '90s punchline Adam-X the X-Treme. What a success! While Genis has had a Marvel Legend before, that was in a different costume, so the only way to get this one was to make it yourself. The design is by Alex Ross, and began with the same "the body is a starfield" concept as his Starman. That's not how he physically looks, by the way - it represents him constantly using his "cosmic awareness" to know everything that's happening in the universe all at once. The figure is built on the medium-sized body, a fine choice for him: he's never been a huge guy, but there have been so many uses of the small body that going up a notch makes him look just a little non-human. The head is a new mold, but it's not great. He's wearing his Spartan-style Kree helmet, but it looks too large on a head that already felt oversized. Plus, the socket for the neck's balljoint isn't molded deep enough into the head, leaving it not only sitting too high on the neck, but hovering slightly away from the body. It's definitely not ideal. Genis' torso, hips, shoulders, and head are molded from translucent black plastic with sparkles mixed into it. Not a lot of light makes it through, because translucent black plastic is still black plastic. The arms and legs are more solid, because they're getting painted with some metallic green costume details anyway. Still sparkly, though! The figure gets new shoulder pads, Nega-Bands, a holster on his right thigh, and a smooth band around his torso (just remember, it's supposed to go over his left shoulder, not his right; it's on backwards in the package). Despite his phenomenal cosmic powers, Captain Marvel carried a gun when he wore this costume. That's why he has a holster. It'd be weird to have a newly molded holster and no gun for it, right? The gun is the same gold as his Nega-Bands, and looks more like a medical injector than a weapon powered by his innate wellspring of energy. The figure also comes with the right leg of the Kree Sentry, this series' comic-based Build-A-Figure. Genis-Vell could have been a really interesting figure, but the final execution is somehow lackluster. Is it the big, floppy head? The too-close tones of the body and armor? Not sure. He's not a bad toy, better than average, but not exciting. -- 03/02/19

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