Go Team Venture!
Dean Venture is always ready for adventure, but he and his brother
are constantly hampered by their naivety and poor rearing. The work of Dr. Venture often puts the boys in danger, though they are generally unaware of how dangerous it is. Even through kidnappings, brainwashing, fondling and repeated targeting by The Monarch, Dean always keeps optimistic and maintains hope of a rescue by his family's bodyguard Brock Samson, or by one of Dr. Venture's inventions.
Dean is the younger brother (by four minutes), which may explain why he's slightly more childish than Hank. Of course, most of his life experience comes the odd mixture of villainy and super-science he's exposed to on a daily basis, so it's no surprise that he loves children's books (the Giant Boy Detective series) and when asked to entertain a girl he likes for an afternoon, his solution was to stage a full production of Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan. Oh, Dean, Dean, Dean.
While Hank is clearly based on Scooby-Doo's Fred Jones, Dean is more of a generic 1950s boy, with a brown sweater vest and the cuffs of his jeans rolled way up. He stands exactly 3¾" tall, almost the same height as his brother, and definitive proof that these toys are not done in a 3¾" scale. Scale is based on the height of a 6' person, and there's no way Dean Venture is 6' tall. Maybe we could believe that these are a 4" scale, because they look appropriately teenagerish next to modern GI Joes and Marvel Universe, but in a Star Wars setting (which never made the jump up to a full 4") they're just too big.
The great thing about Hank and Dean is that they're clearly brothers, not just two random kids who live in the same house compound. Despite the fact that they have distinctly different looks, both brothers have the same facial features, like their skinny, upturned nose. Dean's head is shaped like a corn kernel, pointed on one end and round on the other.
Dean's physique is very much like his dad's: he has very thin limbs and a slumped posture. His vest is the most detailed clothing sculpt we've seen yet in Bif Bang Pow!'s Venture Bros. line, with big distinct wrinkles that show the barest hint of a potbelly beneath. Staying true to the series' model sheets, Dean has longer legs than Hank, but a shorter torso. That's a good attention to detail, and credit to the unknown sculptor. The figure moves at the neck, shoulders, elbows, waist, hips and knees, which isn't very much, but is sufficient. It's enough for him to be held hostage, or to run away in fear.
Sadly, Dean does not come with his hover bike; and how, exactly would that fit on a blister card? His only accessory is a big black and silver shotgun. It's so big that he can't really hold it, and neither can Brock. Really, this isn't a great choice for an accessory, but it's not like there's anything that's specifically identified with Dean, after all.
Dean was originally supposed to come out a few months after Hank and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch, but for whatever reason they've all come out at once. Hopefully this isn't a sign of trouble for the line, because there's more good stuff to come. Buy yourself a Dean and ensure that the rest of the characters become real, as well.
-- 03/23/13
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