Talos

This Skrull is not very super. Talos, perhaps the most cunning spy in all of the Skrull Empire, is a master of shapeshifting and intergalactic espionage. An integral leader in the bitter Kree-Skrull War, the fearsome Talos will do whatever it takes to protect his own. It was really surprising when it was revealed that Skrulls would be the villains for the Captain Marvel movie - since they debuted in an issue of Fantastic Four, their rights belonged to Fox. (Please pay no attention to the fact that Black Panther also debuted in FF - that will just confuse the issue.) Then it was revealed that Fox traded the Skrulls to Disney for permission to change Negasonic Teenage Warhead's powerset in Deadpool, meaning everybody wins! Of course, now Disney's buying Fox anyway, so all that wheeling and dealing was for nothing, but hey, at least we get Skrulls a year or two sooner than we would have otherwise. Talos is a character from the comics, one of the few named Skrulls who have had more than one appearance. It's clear the movie is going to be taking several liberties with the character, however, because one of his defining features was the big metal plate that covered the left side of his face, "Mortal Kombat Kano" style - this toy just shows him as an average-looking Skrull, with the pointy ears, the wrinkled chin, and all that. There are marking on his head that mimic the classic Skrull skullcap, but they appear to be organic, not something he's wearing. What he is wearing is a long, asymmetrical jacket with a nearly organic pattern upon it. You can open it, if you want, but there's really not much reason - the torso underneath appears to be the Infinity War Winter Soldier one, nothing special. Besides, if you take it off, you're more likely to notice how the sculpted patterns on his pants get misaligned when you turn his legs so his feet don't point inward. The sleeves are equally asymmetrical, with an armored plate on one shoulder and on the other wrist. His fingers appear to be slightly longer than a human's would be, a little touch to sell the notion that he's an alien. The articulation is as expected, though the chest joint can't really move due to the jacket. And honestly, the jacket doesn't want to stay closed as it is - it keeps gapping open even in plain poses, so if you try turning his waist or lifting his legs it'll get even worse. So you'll probably want to limit your posing to his arms and head. Talos gets no accessories. What, does he not use any space-guns or anything in the movie? He does come with the left leg of the Kree Sentry BAF, but that's not something for him to use, now is it? As we said, the movie is making a few changes to Talos, but we've only addressed one. The second is related, though. Why would a Skrull need a metal plate on his head? Well, it does slightly feel like Disney is thumbing its nose at Fox with this one, because the specifics of the trade they worked out meant that both studios could use Skrulls if they wanted, but Fox got to keep the rights to some specific ones - that's why this is Talos and not one of the famous ones, like Paibok the Power Skrull or something. Anyway, Marvel picking Talos for their movie is funny, because Talos is a mutant. Like, same as the X-Men. His mutant power is that he can't shapeshift (hey, nobody said they had to be good powers), something we know he's going to be doing in the film, so they're clearly not directly adapting him, but you have to admire the "up yours"-ishness of Fox saying Disney could only use certain Skrulls, and Disney specifically picking the one who's an off-limits mutant. -- 03/06/19

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