Until Hasbro started cranking out symbiote figures over the last three years, I had forgotten just how many symbiote Spider-Man characters were out there. We’ve had both classic Venom and Agent Venom Marvel Legends figures released in the past two years, but the Build-A-Figure you get by buying all of Spider-Man Legends 2016 Wave 2 is even more recent (and a lot weirder) than the Agent iteration–it’s the Marvel Legends Venom Space Knight figure!

The Right:

Ordinarily I don’t even blink when a new Hasbro Marvel Legends Build-A-Figure is announced, as its ordinarily something pretty classic and recognizable. But when I saw the words “Marvel Legends Space Venom” for the first time, I definitely did a double take (though not nearly as big as the double-take I did when Hasbro debuted Titus The Space Tiger Man at SDCC 2016).

I was a little bit in disbelief when I first heard about this particular BAF, but reflecting on the last few years’ releases, it’s not surprising that we’d get the latest Venom redesign from the Marvel Now Guardians of the Galaxy and Venom Space Knight comic books.

I’m a big believer in the Legends series being comprised of both classic and modern characters, so this pick ultimately get a big ol’ thumbs up from me.

As for the figure itself, well–this is like no symbiote that Hasbro has done before! The Space Knight Venom Build-A-Figure is far and away the most beefy, linebacker-like symbiote that Hasbro has ever done–and I love it.

It’s basically the coolest that this figure is large enough and stable enough that this Venom can hoist up Spidey with one arm and manhandle him!

While most of the symbiotes we’ve seen in the Marvel Legends Spider-Man series have been pretty similar size-wise, Space Venom comic accurately manages to feel totally fresh and different. At around 8″ tall, this figure absolutely towers over the Spider-Man Legends Venom 6″ figure I reviewed earlier this year.

Though this figure is obviously the largest Symbiote from Hasbro to date, they didn’t sacrifice much of the articulation in his bulky body. The Build-A-Figure Venom features a ball-hinge neck, shoulders, and wrists; swivel waist, biceps and thighs; double-jointed knees; hinged elbows; ball-jointed hips and an upper torso ab crunch.

Unlike many six inch action figures released this year, Space Venom has a great range-of-motion for his head and can look up a bit as well as way down.

Space Knight Venom’s head had a crazy alien shape that’s totally different from any symbiote that we’ve previously seen, and it gives the figure a really unique aesthetic. Though the head looks a little disproportionate to his massive body, the proportions are authentic to the source material.

There’s only one part of Venom that’s not monochrome: the blue Space Knight logos on his shoulders. While the paint elsewhere on the body isn’t perfection, the logos have been printed on perfectly.

As this Space Venom figure is made up of a ton of black plastic, I was really worried about the toy having the same problems that have plagued other recent ML figures that used cheap black plastic, but I haven’t had any issues with rubbery limbs or weak joints (at least, not yet).

The Wrong:

I don’t have any big complaints about the Hasbro Venom Space Knight Build-A-Figure, but I’m not as blown away by him as I’d like to be by a figure that you have to buy $120 worth of other figures in order to get the parts to build, either.

With no alternate hands to hold things or fists to punch with, the number of fun poses you can get intergalactic Flash Thompson into is  greatly reduced. I always love interchangeable symbiote weapons, but there’s none of that here.

Even an “unmasked” Flash Thompson Venom head could have been a really neat inclusion. With no accessories at all, Space Venom feels a little, well… plain.

In addition, the paint apps on this figure really are a bit sloppy. Painting white on black is always difficult, but there’s too many uneven lines and black-on-white/white-on-black paint mistakes for my taste. The paint QC certainly isn’t bad, but on such a basic figure, it is a mite disappointing.

Overall: I really like this Spider-Man Legends Space Venom Build-A-Figure, but I don’t love it. The size and proportions of the body definitely set is apart from all other symbiote figures we’ve gotten, and the head sculpt and colors look terrific, but I feel like there’s just a little something missing to make this figure feel really special (like accessories). This is a solid Build-A-Figure, but just not quite up to the level of my favorites.

GRADE: B