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We'd love to reuse the Ex Nihilo "who" joke here, but this character has actually had an action figure before. Two of them, in fact!
A sinister mercenary of evil, Lasher thrives
off of the power of the malevolent Venom symbiote.
In the '90s, a group called The Life Foundation captured Venom and extracted five "seeds" from the symbiote - the same things that gave birth to Carnage - planning to bond them with their employees to form a team of superpowered security guards. None of the symbiotes were named when they first appeared in the comics, but Lasher appeared in the 1996 "Planet of the Symbiotes" subline, and got a name there (as did Scream, the yellow female symbiote, but the other three just got fan nicknames that were then somehow adopted as official). The bio on the old toy described the symbiote's host battling for control because he wanted to help humanity, but if he's now "a mercenary of evil," I guess he lost that fight.
The '96 Lasher figure had a very large, muscular body -
like, "big body" big. This one, meanwhile, is a repaint of Superior Venom, which makes him very, very skinny. So he used to be big and heroic, but now he's small and villainous? Dieting makes you go evil! Eat a Snickers™, Lasher - you're not you when you're hungry. [ATTENTION, MARS INCORPORATED: YOU WILL BE BILLED FOR THIS UNSOLICITED MILLENIAL-FRIENDLY PRODUCT PLACEMENT. /SEAMLESS AD INTEGRATION ENDS HERE. --ed.] In the comics and on the original toy, Lasher only had two large, clawed toes on each foot, but molding new parts probably wasn't in the budget for this toy, so he just has the same bare feet as before.
Not even the head is a new mold. Lasher was created in the '90s, so he gets the head with the big Scarlet Spider eyes. All five "Lethal Protector" symbiotes had unique colorschemes - Lasher's was green, so the toy is a dark shade with a metallic sheen on it, then brighter green splotchy patch on the chest and head, and blank white eyes.
Lasher's whole deal was that he had symbiote tendrils coming off his back, which is why Hasbro used the Superior Venom mold for him: Doc Ock's extra arms serve as perfect standins. They add no articulation to the figure, and aren't even bendy, so the one pose you see is the one pose you get. They wrap around the figure pretty closely, but all the other joints still work to make him extra dynamic - even the pec hinges that come along with this body. If you bend him over, though, the longer lower arms stick way out behind him, which doesn't unbalance the figure (they're light), but does make him look slightly silly.
The Build-A-Figure for this series is The Lizard, and Lasher comes with the head. That's a whole lot of "green" in one package!
Lasher is far from a popular character, not someone you'd ever expect to recieve a Marvel Legend. But hey, that speaks well of the longevity this line has had, doesn't it?
Agony | Phage | Riot | Lasher | Scream
-- 05/07/18
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