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Venom Through The Ages Box Set


mtd20_2000

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When first announced, I figured I'd hate Flash/Venom. I checked it out out of morbid curiosity than anything else. I will confess I enjoyed it quite a lot. It has the benifit of being a completely new take on the Venom idea, and yet you do see in one issue in particular no matter who the host is deep down it's still the Venom we remember. On one side you have the symbiote: hungry for adrenaline, angry at being captured and controled, still fighting it's own predatory nature and it's need for emotional connections. On the other there's Flash, never the brightest bulb, but a good, brave, flawed man, who has never wanted to be anything but a hero in some form. You know when they establish all these means of preventing the symbiote from permenentaly bonding with or controling Flash that they will break down eventually. That before the end it's going to come down to an alien that just wants to put the host in situations that get the host's adrenaline going, and Flash trying to remain on the side of the angles and maintain his sanity, something Brock, Weying, and Gargan failed to do. And it does not disappoint... at least not yet.

I also know this won't last. The day is coming, soon if the book continues to struggle to find a solid audience, that Brock and the Alien are going to reunite. That they will be given a new reason to renew their hatered of Spider-man, and rediscover Spidey's ID. What will happen to Flash at that point is anyone's guess.

Not to disregard what you're saying on the majority of this. However, I will disagree with the need to find audience. The five separate comic shops that I keep in touch with (that are in three different areas) all can not keep any issues in stock.

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Good to hear, it doesn't seem to be moving locally as well. wonder why?

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I've warmed to the idea of Flash as Venom. It resolves my issue with Gargan as Venom, which was that we gave up two characters to make one new Venom, as Brock disappearred for a while and we lost Scorpion. Now we have a Venom, Gargan is Scorpion again and Brock is Anti-Venom. I would definitely prefer Venom as a villain, and I still think they've yet to find a host for the symbiote who allows them to write the Venom they want without all Brock's baggage. But I don't believe that Flash was ever intended to be Venom permanently, and after a while they'll have a villainous Venom again, but for now I don't mind this take on Venom. I think this all derived from the What If? issue where the symbiote merged with Punisher, but since the change in the character is predicated on the host instead of trying to change the character from a villain into a Lethal Protector, I don't mind it for now.

Compared to Marvel's other stunts this one seems ok. It's far from the stupidity that is Red Hulk....

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I think with Gargan Venom/ Brock Anti-Venom the goal was to give fans both of what they wanted= A monstrous, over the top evil Venom, and a "Lethal Protector" Venom at the same time. But as you said, Valo, they did so at the expense of the Scorpion. Neither character caught on, proving something in those original Venom stories was greater than the sum of its parts. I think one of the strengths of the Flash incarnation is its providing a better glimpse and insight into the other, answering the question how much of the previous Venoms' darker actions were the alien, how much were the host.

The Red Hulk... short sited mess is what it's become. First they have pretty much decimate the Hulk's rogues gallery, ironically including Gen. Ross, in an attempt to build Rulk up. But then Rulk is too popular to leave a villain. So they try the reluctant hero thing with him. Now we have a cartoon and a movie featuring the Hulk in the Avengers. Putting the real Hulk back in the Avengers would rob the Hulk of his outsider status, so that was out of the question apparently. So Rulk becomes an Avenger, but from what I've read, it's not even Rulk really- they are writing Rulk more comedic, more simple minded, i.e. more like EMH Hulk than Ross or the formerly ruthless Rulk. And leaving Hulk with an even thinner bench of foes, even friends, than ever. I could have lived better with the Ross/Rulk idea if he'd stayed the Hulk enemy, but as a Hulk substitute its not working for me. (in my collection, Rulk stays on the villains shelf.)

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I think with Gargan Venom/ Brock Anti-Venom the goal was to give fans both of what they wanted= A monstrous, over the top evil Venom, and a "Lethal Protector" Venom at the same time. But as you said, Valo, they did so at the expense of the Scorpion. Neither character caught on, proving something in those original Venom stories was greater than the sum of its parts. I think one of the strengths of the Flash incarnation is its providing a better glimpse and insight into the other, answering the question how much of the previous Venoms' darker actions were the alien, how much were the host.

Exactamundo. As a Marvel/Spidey/comic fan from practically birth, I hated what they turned Scorpion into with the symbiote. And while Flash without legs and as Venom wasn't something I thought I'd enjoy much as an olde-timey purist, I tried the stories anyway and really am enjoying them. The insight into what's the host/what's the symbiote is really entertaining and seeing Flash struggling but hopefully coming out on top of his demons is quite enjoyable too.

In a perfect world, do I want to see Brock as Venom and Flash with legs? Absolutely. But I can also enjoy the changes in both characters enough to give the current stuff a try.

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"Punisher Venom" is the Flash Thompson version that BarRoom described.

The female looks like "She-Venom", Anne Weying, Eddie's Ex-Wife. She ever so briefly became the "other"'s host after she was shot by Sin-Eater and Eddie asked the Symbiote to save her life. Between this and a second later temporary bonding, She-Venom racked up quite a little body count. Anne was so disturbed by the experience she commits suicide.

Didn't it bond with her in Venom: Along Came A Spider as well?

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Conversely, I HATE that crummy chest-piece on the male Venom pictured next to the female one. I wish they'd retire that shit-piece TOOT SWEET. Yes, I have a big problem with not being able to full pose my minimates with their hands in the air like they just don't care.

I think you and I are the only ones on the forum who feel this way... or at least we're the only ones who complain about it all the time. :biggrin:

Totally love the bulked up Brock Venom, though. I've been wanting one of those to go with my standard Venom with Back in Black Spidey torso to avoid the torso piece.

Edited by minivenom
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Conversely, I HATE that crummy chest-piece on the male Venom pictured next to the female one. I wish they'd retire that shit-piece TOOT SWEET. Yes, I have a big problem with not being able to full pose my minimates with their hands in the air like they just don't care.

I think you and I are the only ones on the forum who feel this way... or at least we're the only ones who complain about it all the time. :biggrin:

Totally love the bulked up Brock Venom, though. I've been wanting one of those to go with my standard Venom with Back in Black Spidey torso to avoid the torso piece.

There are 3 things I'll always harp about regarding minimates it seems:

- Please give Thing the neato hands he's always shown with but never gets.

- Please give us Kang, the Conqueror.

- Please give that shitty torso piece a rest. It turns a great mate into a meh-mate.

Edited by Mystery Man
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Ironic, really. miniv, and Mystery hate the "flaps" chest piece, but love the completely bulked up Venom, even though the bulked up figures to this point are even more restricted in their movement. Sure they can point their arms straight up, but you lose a lot or side to side movement that even the PH chest piece normally allows. So if limited articulation is the issue, shouldn't you hate the bulked up characters even more? (and their arms fall off if you look at them funny)

Not a criticism, just an observation.

@symbiote- yeah that's one of the two times she was briefly a host.

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I guess you are sacrificing movement from the get-go when you go for the extremely sculpted pieces, so you don't mind if they can move or not. But when you get a more tradition looking Minimate that still can't pose, then. . .unless you just like the original Minimate aesthetic (I do, but I can see how others may not), then you don't have much reason to like it at all. And it may piss one off.

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Ironic, really. miniv, and Mystery hate the "flaps" chest piece, but love the completely bulked up Venom, even though the bulked up figures to this point are even more restricted in their movement. Sure they can point their arms straight up, but you lose a lot or side to side movement that even the PH chest piece normally allows. So if limited articulation is the issue, shouldn't you hate the bulked up characters even more? (and their arms fall off if you look at them funny)

Not a criticism, just an observation.

@symbiote- yeah that's one of the two times she was briefly a host.

That's partially true, I agree.

However, with the bulked up Thing, Hulk and Juggernaut that I love, they actually CAN move their arms side-to-side. Not as much, it's true, but still about the same as the shoulder-flap chestpiece allows.

Also, the arms on mine don't fall off. Of course, I *do* alter mine somewhat. For example, both the newest Thing and series 41 Hulk's bicep covers don't fit all the way around their arm. So I glue mine in place and test to see where they'll fit and look the best while also not limiting articulation. A side-effect of that may be that a small bit of extra superglue finds it's way in the arm socket, which helps to tighten the joint and keep the arms on. Just conjecture, as it's not something I purposefully do but may work to my advantage all the same.

Edited by Mystery Man
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Yeah, only issue is that the blue highlights might be a different color. At which point, you might as well just take the head and leave everything else behind.

Based on the photos it looks to me that the highlights are intended to be the same color, but I guess that comes down to execution at the factory.

Edited by stack32
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Like K80 said, when you get into the bulked up figures, you go in knowing you're getting a mate with limited movement already. Venom's been done to death, so I'm OK with the bulked up version. If it had been the ONLY Venom we've ever gotten, I'd be disappointed.

I've always said that my favorite Minimates are the ones that look the most like a regular Minimate. In my ideal world without size restrictions, there would be no powerhouse torsos, and minimal sculpted pieces. Larger characters would be 2.5" mates. But, here in the real world, I just have to hate the powerhouse torsos. hahaha :lol:

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