New York Comic Con 2018 is less than a week away, and as usual, the anticipated pre-NYCC Marvel toy news lull is upon us. But while we wait to see new offerings revealed by Hasbro, Kotobukiya, Diamond Select and more next week, it’s the perfect time for me to dig back into my cache of Marvel Legends figures needing a review. And this time, it’s a figure guaranteed to be one of this year’s most popular figures: Venom Marvel Legends Carnage may be two per case and fairly easy to order online for MSRP , but he may actually (rightfully) be the fastest seller in the Venom series!

While Spider-Man likely has the most popular and recognizable rogues gallery in the entire Marvel Universe, it’s been quite a while since a truly iconic Spider-Man villain has been created. While there’s a bit of a push for Mr. Negative going on with the new PS4 game, he’s still lightyears away from being a world-famous villain.

No, when it comes to Spidey villains, the last truly iconic one to be created came about in 1992–the year that Carnage made his violent debut! It’s been four years since Hasbro last unleashes a Carnage Legends figure—is this one a worthy successor…?

That actually turns out to be a tough question to answer, because this is basically just the previous Carnage figure released, but with a few really great new accessories.

The most interesting new inclusion with this 6” Carnage action figure is definitely the all-new interchangeable Cletus Kassidy head. Cletus Kassidy is one sick S.O.B., and I think the deranged look on this portrait’s face gets that point across perfectly. This guy is twisted “af” (I hear that’s what the kids are saying these days).

And unlike the ludicrously oversized Eddie Brock head that came with the new Venom figure, the Cletus Kassidy Carnage head is actually proportioned correctly and looks tremendous on the body. The paint is also excellent. Basically, this head is all win.

The other two new accessories here are a pair of interchangeable hands: a super-cool scythe hand that looks crazy lethal, and a clawed left hand of a different size than the original one (also included). I wasn’t sure I would care much about having two differently-sized left hands, but it’s actually more fun to mix and match than I expected.

Meanwhile, the scythe right hand finally gives Cletus one of his most famous “weapons” from the comics. “My” Carnage in my mind is always hanging out with dual claws, but I enjoy having the option of slicing enemies to bits with the scythe hand as well.

A duo of other accessories also come packed-in: the Monster Venom Build-A-Figure head piece and the removable symbiote tendrils “backpack”. The tendrils plug in tightly, and I think they’re just as awesome now as I did four years ago. Love ‘em.

QC-wise, this Hasbro Carnage six inch figure is aces. All of the joints are nice and tight, and the red and black colors all over the body don’t bleed into each other unintentionally. The construction is solid and the paint deco is all clean—can’t ask for much more than that!

I also want to note that I’m extremely pleased that Hasbro took the high road and packed this Carnage action figure at two-per-case so that it’s moderately easy to pick it up for the $20-$21 MSRP. He still sells out fairly frequently, but he’s also quickly replenished due to being heavy-packed in the cases.

This is one of the absolute most popular villains in the whole Marvel Universe, so the one-per-case shortpacking that occurred back in 2014 that made this figure near-impossible to find for many folks should never be repeated. Thanks, Hasbro!

The one area I would have slightly improved on this figure is the articulation. While I got the swap-out hands I complained were missing in my review of the 2014 Carnage, there’s still no hinged jaw on the head sculpt, which I think would have really made this figure stand out personality-wise.

In addition, I would have liked to have seen butterfly swivel shoulders integrated on this figure somehow: Carnage is the type of character who could really benefit from those—especially when equipped with the scythe arm.

As it is, we get the same standard of (outstanding) Marvel Legends articulation we’re all accustomed to:

• Ball-hinge neck, shoulders and wrists
• Swivel biceps,waist, thighs and calves
• Double-Jointed elbows and knees
• Upper torso ab crunch
• Ball-jointed hips
• Hinged ankles with rockers

The articulation on this figure isn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination, but it doesn’t quite reach the level where I’d be comfortable calling this Carnage “perfect”.

Overall: Whereas I felt like this series’ Eddie Brock Venom figure added little of value to the figure from a few years back, this Venom Legends Carnage is a whole other story. The new interchangeable hands are a delight, and greatly increase the number of poses that you can achieve with this version of Carnage. And the Cletus Kassidy interchangeable head looks all kinds of twisted.

The only real improvement I would have asked for is butterfly swivel shoulders, but otherwise I’m content with what we’ve gotten here. If you have the previous iteration of ML Carnage, this isn’t necessarily a must have, but it is a definite upgrade that I felt was well worth my $19.99.

GRADE: A