Evil Adversaries

Time for some more vintage Spider-Man villains to get an update! Powered up and bent on revenge, these menacing villains are powerful opponents. Yes, "these" menacing villains - it's swap figure time again! Let's see what Electro has been up to since last we saw him. Maxwell Dillon was a lineman for the county until he got struck by lighning while holding a high-power line. Instead of making his eyes and testicles pop like Christmas lights, this somehow turned him into a living capacitor. His powers increased over time, then he started to lose control of them because he was aging, then he somehow got turned into living electricity by the Mad Thinker. Electro has always been a wiry little guy (get it? "Wiry"? Because he's electric?), so the figure uses the skinniest Marvel Legends body. All his costume details are just painted on. His modern costume really isn't that different from the one Steve Ditko originally designed: it's still mostly green, it still has a black collar, it still has yellow boots and two lightning bolts running up the chest from the yellow waist... considering the period when he wore blue and white, this is classic. He's now got bolts running down his arms instead of his legs, and his pants are black instead of green, but the look works. It's definitely recognizable as Electro. One of the changes that came with this costume was the head. As he was losing control of his powers, Max ended up getting burn scars on his face in the shape of his old mask. For this toy they're just painted blue, like he has a big tattoo or something, but they're meant to be physical. We have to say, though, this face is quality! The sculpt, with its angry sneer, is excellently detailed and would be capable of standing next to the best of the ToyBiz years. This is terrific work! If you prefer a more classic look, the set includes a second head, this one wearing the old "I'm angry because a large yellow starfish is humping my forehead" look that has been the character's defining trait for decades. This one doesn't allow us to see much of the face (only the mouth and nose, basically), but you can still tell the sculpt on what we can see is good. The mask itself is thinner and sharper than either of ToyBiz's attempts, and is backed by a black cowl. This head is grinning, and its eyes are silver. And since he did wear this mask with this suit in the comics, the toy looks good with it on. The figure gets the hands from movie Electro, cast in translucent blue with bolts sparking off the fingertips. That's a cool thing to include, except that we don't get any normal hands - it's just the electric ones, all the time. If you want him to power down, you'll have to borrow a set from someone else. He has all the usual articulation seen on this body, which also means that you need to be careful with the shoulders. Electro's piece of the Venom Build-A-Figure is the right leg. It's the twin of the piece that came with Silk, which is exactly as you'd expect. Black and white, though not in the pattern you'd expect. Both of these "Evil Adversaries" needed modern figures, because neither of them have been toyed since the later series of the ToyBiz Spider-Man line. And even if this isn't your preferred costume, the quality put into its creation is evident. -- 02/06/17

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