Sarcasti Blog

thoughts on the Rogue One trailer

I recently viewed the Rogue One trailer and while it appears to be the best Star Wars movie since 422733600 (that’s May 1983 for those of you who aren’t on Unix time) there are 10 glaring issues with it.

0) Where is Wedge Antilles?

He’s either in or leading Rouge squadron since let’s say Always! Since Mon Mothma was apparently cloned for this movie you’d think they could clone Wedge, and no Wedge isn’t loosing his pasty complexion and acquiring rhythm since Riz Ahmed is playing someone called Bodhi Rook.

1) More importantly the editor is clearly anti droid. Droids are in less than 10 s of a 117 s trailer, And the shots are all terrible just look at this.

bot_2 background_2 — out of focus, out of shot and obscured

bot_3 background — You can barely see this droid behind the asshole who’s cutting it off in an emergency.

bot_1 background — this is the longest shot with a droid in it. Where the droid is largely hidden by I assume Generic_Rebel_Trooper_1

bot_4 action bot — and a ‘classic’ shot of it’s back panel. At least it knows which way to look when escaping, unlike the skin tube next to it.

I realize Star Wars isn’t exactly the droid friendliest place in the universe, but this is ridiculous.

Starting Malwrath’s Tower

Since we dropped no hints about a new project last week, and we’re not serial developers you’ll be shocked, SHOCKED! to learn that we’re starting a new project. In slightly surprising news this will not be a space/scifi themed game. This time we’re working on a fantasy RPG called

Task 0) do something with that 'M" — Task 0) do something with that ‘M”

Malwrath’s Tower is currently a hack and slash heavy and story light invade the evil wizard’s tower take his stuff and kill him style game, but with roughly nine months of development time in front of us we’ll see where it goes. We’re hoping the engine will be flexible enough that we can use it for a couple of future games too.

And now the moment everyone has been waiting for the schedule update. We’re currently looking at a Q1 2017 launch. Why is it going to take so long? 0) this project is big we’ve got engine + graphics + levels that need to be done. 1) we all have day jobs so we can’t put that many hours into this every day.

red and blue lines are now 95% and 5% completion chance respectively

Coder’s Corner: Using Log4j in a LibGdx project in Intellij – Gradle hiccup

Apparently stuxnet managed to hybridize in a way such that it’s taken Josh out for the foreseeable future. Either that or he succumbed to snowcrash. In any event, that means that Rho-Bot and I will be conquering our weekly blog for the foreseeable future. And starting our new and likely recurring segment: Coder’s Corner.

Earlier this week I was setting up our new project (no, we’re not going to squeal on what it is yet), and I wanted to use the Log4j libraries. My primary motivation for doing so is that I like data and, if I’m not the one doing the testing, I usually get incomplete descriptions of bugs back. Since libgdx’s built in logging only outputs to the console we need some way to create actual log files ergo Log4j. I’ve used these libraries in our earlier projects with no problems. But last week I started using Intellij as my IDE. This time, however, after I dropped the libraries and my config file into the same location as the last project and I got this error:

log4j error — ERROR StatusLogger No log4j2 configurationfile found. Using default configuration: logging only errors to the console.

I know what you’re computing ‘ACMU you forgot to add ?*.xml to the resource patterns in your compiler settings. As it happens, 0) I did not forget to do that, and 1) as I found out the next day it’s not strictly necessary to do that for Log4j anyway.
With that most obvious source of my difficulties out of the way I clicked over to the Log4j manual and it says

“If a JSON file cannot be located the XML ConfigurationFactory will try to locate log4j2.xml on the classpath.”

So you’d think that if my project structure looks like this:

the library would find a configuration file acceptable and use it. No dice (Did you processor that pun?). So I spent a few hours on stackexchange making no progress. Then, through some fluke, I read the Log4j configuration page again and realized that a line up at the top says,

“Log4j will inspect the “log4j.configurationFile” system property and, if set, will attempt to load the configuration using the ConfigurationFactory that matches the file extension.”

Alright so we’ll just got to Run->Edit Configurations, set our system property like this:

Drop the config file into your working directory and voila, Log4j is configured.

The next morning when I got to work it occurred to me that a work project was using Log4j too. I had just started using Intellij at work too, and I didn’t remember having any configuration issues, so I did a little digging. I went looking for the project’s log4j2.xml file and found it sitting in the /src/ directory and I hadn’t even marked *.xml as a resource file type.

Which leads to the question, “What are the differences between these two projects?”. Well, at home I set up a libgdx project using gradle for dependency management; at work I just write code with no dependency management – because enterprise applications are boring. So, an alternate (and probably better) solution than the one I found is to include the Log4j configuration file as a resource in the gradle.build file. And no I’m not going to tell you how to do that. In the words of many a professor and textbook: it’s left as an exercise for the reader.

Stoned in Space For Mobile

The android version of Stoned in Space has finally achieved escape velocity. This time it only took two more weeks than I would have liked which makes it much faster than Cosmic Bootlegger which I believe took over three months to bang into a releasable state for mobile devices. Anyway Stoned in Space is now available on Google Play

The premium version gives you access to the other 1/2 of the ship configuration options, and three free continues of each type every day.

Also, we made enough tweaks that I felt compelled to update the desktop version you can find the updated download on the games page.

Stay tuned for information on whatever our next project turns out to be.

PS new screen shots

Stoned In Space Desktop Release

In a sort of coincidence a release lines up with my regularly scheduled development update. So, without Further ado.

Hey look at that an updated feature graphic, and this one has lens flare. It must be fancy — Hey! look at that, a new feature graphic, and this one has lens flair. Isn’t it fancy?

You can download the desktop version here.

So what’s the whole story line for this game anyway? I’m glad you asked…

Meaningless Flavor Text

While couch sitting in a basement with your friend, said friend bogarted all the Funyuns!

And you thought Luke was upset about getting a robot hand. — And you thought Luke was upset about getting a robot hand from his father.

Since couch sitting is hungry work you have decided that you need to go get some more. Fortunately there’s a convenience store just a few 100,000 km away on the other side of that asteroid field. You think briefly of plotting a course around the asteroids when your stomach says, “Grrrrrrrr need Funyuns NOW!” Quickly, to the ship and straight through the asteroids we go!!

Unfortunately all of that basement sitting has left you with a bad case of “can’t fly straight”. So the odds are that you’ll just keep flying faster and faster in loops through the asteroids. But, hey, funyuns are worth dying for and you’re in a rush.

Overview
You’ll be flying endlessly through an asteroid field trying not to hit anything hard or run out of fuel.

stoned ship explosion — Ships still don’t react well to asteroids. But now you can continue after face planting.

Before each suicide run you’ll get to pick the configuration of your ship because you’re rich!

Hulls

Each hull has a different size body, a different sized fuel tank and consumes fuel at a different rate.

Weapons
Nuke A – shoots a cluster of asteroid destroying missiles.

Nuke B – shoots a different cluster of asteroid destroying missiles.

LASER – shoots a powerful asteroid vaporizing LASER straight ahead.

Wave – a gravimetric distortion pulses outward from the ship for two seconds causing nearby objects to disintegrate.

Shields
Barrier – puts a force field in front of your ship.

Bubble – puts a force field around your ship.

Shrink – makes your ship smaller but provides no other benefits.

Extra Tank – attaches an extra fuel tank to the shield mounts.

Special
Dooms Day – destroys all asteroids within view.

Invincibility – makes you immune to asteroids for some time.

Cluster Bomb – launches a cluster of anti-asteroid bombs forward.

Converter – passively increases the number of fuel asteroids encountered.

Things You May Encounter in Space

Asteroid – it’s a rock.

Fuel Asteroid – blow it up to release a fuel ball.

Fuel ball – fly over it to replenish fuel.

Hull Patch – can be used to continue after a collision. Expires after 1 day. Made from two part epoxy nanites.

Aux Fuel Pod – can be used to continue after running out of fuel. Made from an isotope with a short half-life… it’s useless after 1 day.

And since a monthly update wouldn’t be complete without a schedule update.

The lines have crossed and Stoned in Space is finished. If only we were sad to see you go.

We’re currently going through testing on the mobile version so that should be released soon. And the people rejoice yaaay.

Stoned in Space Feburary

Rho_bot has been hard at work on the graphics and I think it’s safe to say that the artwork is done. While some final layout adjustments need to be made. Which means, of course, new and updated screenshots.

game screen feb — Filler graphics have been left where they belong, in November.

In other exciting news the sounds are pretty well wrapped up. All of this points to Stoned in Space going to beta testing sometime next week. We just have to do a few minor tweaks and an in game tutorial.

And that brings us to this month’s schedule update.

Squinting at the right side you’ll notice the dramatic 2-3 month pull-in of the completion date in the last couple of days. Well, after the third straight month of push outs this time for no easily explainable reason I did a quick estimate of the expected completion date by hand on an envelope and found it to be near the beginning of March. Much closer than the scheduler was predicting. After a quick perusal of the scheduler’s code a bug was found and crushed, and henceforth schedules will be ‘totally accurate’. Well they’ll at least be somewhat more predictive at least.

Stoned in Space January

It’s a good news bad news month. Bad news is; We’re still not actually getting any closer to the completion date. This time due to really poor estimation on the schedule. Basically numerous tasks in the spec for the game were inappropriately rolled into one task and that task was allocated about 10% of the time it should have been. It’s possible that the Holidays didn’t help, but I don’t think that contributed to the bulk of the continued delay. We now looking a release some time in April.

And we've turned into a real game development company the delivery date just keeps pushing out. — And we’ve turned into a real game development company; the delivery date just keeps getting pushed out.

For good news; rho_bot is back and has completed many of the graphics. With mostly screen backgrounds left I’m hoping those will be done by the end of January. We also have enough of the game together to start tweaking the difficulty, and we’re slowly moving away from the initial state of absurdly easy.

Also in an effort to prevent a further push out of the release at least initially some features will be dropped these will mostly be special asteroids or critters which hadn’t been well thought out in the first place, and the global leader board.

Marvel Select Anti-Venom

Finishing off my symbiote kick, I figured I’d talk about someone that’s not technically a symbiote anymore but is still Eddie Brock aka the original Venom. I mentioned in the Marvel Select Venom review that once Eddie lost the symbiote, he learned he had terminal cancer. The cancer went into remission for a while and Eddie turned over a new leaf and began working at a mission called The F.E.A.S.T. in New York City. F.E.A.S.T. was run by Martin Li, who was also the new crime boss Mr. Negative. As Martin Li, he had healing hands and, as a publicity stunt, secretly used his powers on Eddie Brock to cure him of his cancer. However, the remnants of the symbiote in Venom’s body reacted with Li’s healing touch and manifested itself as a symbiote-like creature and turned Eddie Brock into Anti-Venom. Anti-Venom was obsessed with ridding the world of the scourge of the symbiotes and while he’s technically dead (Short Version: Eddie Brock is still alive but was purged of the Anti-Venom entity to cure a spider-plague in New York City), he’s still a cool looking character and has been translated to action figure form excellently by Diamond Select Toys.

Anti-Venom is a stoutly built figure. Seriously, I think he’s one of the heaviest action figures I own. Since he’s a Marvel Select figure, that means he uses all new, well-detailed molds and that really makes him look impressive. Anti-Venom has hinged ankles, hinged knees, swivels at the top of his hips and balljoints at the hips, a waist swivel, balljointed shoulders, hinged elbows, wrist swivels and a balljointed neck. I’ve had this figure out of his package for over a year now and have noticed one complication with his weight, though. The weight has begun to affect his joints and gives Anti-Venom a pretty substantial lean if I don’t tweak his pose every couple of weeks. I’ve found out that I’ve forgotten to do that before because he’s gotten so leaned he actually fell off the display shelf. That’s some bad engineering. I don’t know if it’s just a problem my Anti-Venom has because I like to have him in a slightly more dynamic pose or if it’s universal, but it’s something to watch out for after you’ve bought the figure. The sculpt itself is quite impressive. I mentioned in my reviews of Venom that the symbiote has been traditionally depicted and sleek and smooth. Anti-Venom takes his “opposite of Venom” motif far enough that even the symbiote-like creature isn’t smooth. When John Romita Jr. first started drawing the character, it looked very desiccated and that continues to the sculpting done on this figure. Anti-Venom had gotten smoother by the time the character ceased to be, but Romita Jr.’s art is just so striking that I love seeing it referenced here. Anti-Venom is also a decidedly adult-oriented collectable because he’s very pointy. All those spikes jutting off the figure are surprisingly sharp. I’m not saying you could hurt yourself with them, but if this had been a toy for children, those definitely would have been blunted. Even Anti-Venom’s big claws are quite pointy. The head sculpt is spot on with Romita’s take and like Marvel Legends Carnage, they went with the mouth being an open element rather than just black over red. It looks much better that way and again adds to the overall pointy-ness of the figure. The teeth look sharp and his spike goatee is surprisingly pointy. What I love about the Marvel Select line is that the figures are often based by a certain artists’ particular version of a character. I grew up on the work of John Romita Jr., and while he may not be everyone’s cup of tea, he’s probably my favorite Spider-Man artist so considering he created Anti-Venom, it’s a great call to make him the artist that this figure’s design is based on.

I’ll admit, the name and design of Anti-Venom is a bit cliché, but it still works. Venom is all black with a large white spider on his chest. Since Anti-Venom is the opposite of Venom, he’s mostly white with a large black spider on his chest. A black and white figure can be kind of boring, but Marvel Select wisely decided to accentuate the dryness of the figure with a light black wash. It’s enough to bring out those details but it doesn’t overwhelm the figure like some less talented paint teams do. Remember, folks, when using washes, less is more. The spider is well painted and there’s no slop on the black paint. Anti-Venom’s face is also black. The face is where Anti-Venom really steps away from Venom. The black takes the place of the white on the eyes, but it also extends down to his mouth. That’s more of a Carnage detail than a Venom detail. Anti-Venom also has some yellow for his eyes and some dark red in his mouth. It’s not a fancy paint job but it’s effectively done and looks sharp.

Marvel Select figures often eschew accessories for elaborate bases. Oddly, this is the first Marvel Select figure I’ve reviewed to actually come with a base. Anti-Venom first appeared after the Thunderbolts attacked The F.E.A.S.T. while hunting Spider-Man. Anti-Venom manifested to protect Eddie Brock and the innocent people from the attack. To reference that, Anti-Venom’s base is a bunch of rubble with Anti-Venom’s creature coming up through the ground like it just protected him from the falling rubble. The base is painted very well, though the wash used on the Anti-Venom pseudopodia is applied a bit too heavily, meaning they look a lot darker than the creature they’re supposedly an extension of. The rubble on the ground looks appropriate weathered and what little of the actual ground we can see is not pristine, so it looks like a building was just severely damaged. It’s a nice piece for Anti-Venom to have and since the figure is so heavily influenced by his first appearance, it’s great that his base is, too.

For a while, Anti-Venom was a bit hard to find. Marvel Select apparently periodically re-releases popular recent figures, so I think this was easily a third-run Anti-Venom, but that’s fine. There were no changes in the different runs of Anti-Venom. The only reason that would matter is for a mint-in-box collector. However, as someone who like to open their toys and pose and play with them, it’s fine if my Anti-Venom isn’t one of the original hard to find ones. It’s a solid figure and as a bit of a symbiote freak, I kind of like seeing Anti-Venom on my shelf. I was surprised it only took a couple years for him to get a figure, especially since the character didn’t last that long. Eddie Brock is currently kicking around the Marvel Universe with another symbiote. I think he might be Toxin’s current host after the government used the same techniques they developed to control the Venom symbiote to control that one, but I’m not totally sure. There are a lot more symbiotes than there used to be and it’s sometimes hard to keep track of them. However, I really enjoyed when Eddie Brock was his own man and became Anti-Venom. Yes, in story, he became Anti-Venom totally by accident, but it was still a fun ride. Plus, Eddie Brock finally got to be the hero as Anti-Venom because he sacrificed his powers to undo the spider-plague. Anti-Venom may have only existed for a couple of years (though he did show up recently during the Axis crossover in a couple of crowd scenes, so I’m thinking it was just a continuity oversight), but it was a cool addition to the Spider-Man universe. Plus, I really liked the idea that Eddie Brock became so anti-symbiote that he used Anti-Venom to help hunt them down and cure the hosts of their sickness. It was an interesting motivation for Eddie Brock and that’s something that’s been lacking with that character for a long time.

Marvel Legends: Infinite Series Spider-Man Assortment Ultimate Green Goblin BAF Wave Carnage

I’ve been on a bit of a symbiote kick lately here on the blog, but I’m finally moving on from Venom. The first Spider-Man action figures I ever got were a three pack of Spider-Man, Venom, and Carnage, branded with the Maximum Carnage video game graphics. I didn’t even know who Carnage was back when I got that figure, but over the years, I’ve learned more about the second symbiote and while he’s honestly not that great of a character, he’s still very popular and it’s no surprise that Carnage showed up in the Marvel Legends line.

Carnage was released in the Marvel Legends Amazing Spider-Man 2 line. Considering how few movie characters get released in “movie waves” anymore it’s not surprising to see him show up here. I do, however, have to roll my eyes at all the fans who thought that meant Carnage would be getting the movie treatment at some point. While I think he looks cool, Carnage is honestly a pretty crap character. He’s a serial killer obsessed with chaos who can kill people super effectively now that he’s got a symbiote. It’s not exactly the most movie-friendly character out there since he doesn’t really have a plan beyond killing everyone he can. If Marvel ever wanted to make an R-rated Spider-Man movie, he’d be great, but since they’re logically focused on PG-13 movies, Carnage isn’t going to show up any time soon, and that’s fine. The Marvel Legends Carnage uses the base body they’ve used a lot over the years, and that’s unfortunately a problem for me. Under the symbiote, Cletus Kasady was a pretty thin guy. Yeah, the Carnage symbiote bulked him up, but this is way too big a body for Carnage. I wish the wirier new Spider-Man body had been around at this point because that would be the perfect base for Carnage as well. Since this is the first time I’ve reviewed a figure based around this body, I’ll discuss the articulation a little more in depth. Carnage has hinged ankles, swivels at the mid-shin and just below the hip, the standard ball-and-socket hip joint, a waist swivel, an ab crunch, ball joints at the shoulders, bicep swivels, double-hinged elbows, hinges and swivels at the wrists, and a hinge and ball joint in his neck. This makes Carnage quite poseable and everything moves quite well. Despite being built around the standard Marvel Legends body, Carnage gets a surprisingly large number of new pieces. Both this lower legs and lower arms are new pieces because there are ports that allow Hasbro to plug tendrils into. No other figure before Carnage had something like this, so I think they originated with Carnage. Carnage also gets new hands with large, knife-like fingers. This fits Carnage quite well because that’s how he spends most of his time. Unlike Venom, Carnage is always ready to kill and his symbiote reflects that. Up top, Carnage also has a new head and this is a great piece. Carnage’s mouth has always been a bit weird. Originally, when Carnage transformed in the comics, the pink of the symbiote’s mouth actually covered Cletus’ face. Over the years, that’s evolved more into an actual mouth with pink inside. The Marvel Legends version opts for the second design and as such, Carnage’s head sculpt is actually two pieces. The lower jaw is a separate piece, but it’s not poseable. However, doing it this way adds some depth to the sculpt and makes Carnage look like he’s got an evil smile. Considering how much he loves killing, I think that’s a great call. The head sculpt is also where most of the actual sculpting is done. His eyes are slightly recessed and that’s literally the only sculpted detailing on the body. Carnage may be a simple figure, but the simplicity serves it well and makes for a great version of the symbiotic serial killer.

Carnage is mostly red, and with a name like Carnage, that’s not surprising. Add in the fact that in the modern comics, the Carnage symbiote is now literally part of Cletus’ blood, and the red everywhere makes sense. Carnage is molded entirely out of red plastic, yet there’s enough depth in the design that he doesn’t look plastic-y. Black swirls are painted over the red. In the comics, they’re kind of used to show the chaotic nature of the character. In fact, in the original discussions about the character, Marvel’s editors wanted Carnage’s patterns to look entirely different in every panel of the comics he appeared in. Mercifully, cooler heads prevailed and while the black swirls aren’t always consistent, the black is usually in the same spots. The black is well done throughout the body, though the paint work on the head is a little weak. There’s a bit of black slop on the eyes and a bit of white undercoverage as well. While the eyes are a bit weak, I do like the pearlescent white used. It just looks a little more sinister than the pure white that’s often used for Carnage. There is a pretty noticeable paint flaw on my Carnage’s right eye. Normally, that would be a deal-breaker, but Carnage was such a popular figure that I only ever saw him once on the pegs, so I figured I’d better buy him. Carnage was released labeled “Spawns of the Symbiote.” Marvel has started doing this thing where, to sell more figures, some characters are released under generic names so they can swap in a different figure later in the run. In this case, Carnage was released first but then down the road, Hasbro released a version of Carnage’s spawn, Toxin. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the cool, original version of Toxin but the crazier, Venom-like version. Carnage definitely moved a lot better than Toxin, so it was out of necessity that I bought a slightly-flawed version of the figure.

Carnage is another accessorized Marvel Legends figure, though it’s not much considering what they could have done. Carnage is known for forming wicked weapons like axes and huge blades with his symbiote that take the place of his hands. Marvel Legends has dabbled in swappable hands before, but unfortunately, they didn’t do that with Carnage. The bladed fingers are nice, don’t get me wrong, but I’d love to have seen an axe hand like my vintage Carnage figure had. He does, however, get a batch of tendrils that plug into has back. That works well for Carnage because he’s traditionally drawn with a lot of tendrils coming off his body. It’s another way to quickly differentiate Carnage’s silhouette from Venom’s when drawing him. The tendrils are made of soft plastic and plug securely into his back. They really do add a lot to the figure, but it still would have been nice to see some sort of symbiote weapon for Carnage.

Many people consider Carnage to be a character defined by 90s excess. Basically, he was created to be a more extreme version of Venom. However, just because the character’s origins and the character itself aren’t that great, that doesn’t mean it’s not a cool looking character. Sometimes Spider-Man doesn’t need to fight someone that has plans of world domination. Sometimes he just needs someone to flatten and Carnage fits the bill well. Yes, the symbiote makes him more formidable, but at his core, he’s just a souped-up punk with a hard-on for killing. I still disagree with many fans that the symbiotes need to show up in the Spider-Man movies eventually, but I can’t disagree that Carnage, when used properly, can be a fun character. I have strong ties to Carnage because of my first Spider-Man action figure purchase ever and being a comic child of the 90s, I definitely remember Maximum Carnage. At the end of the day, Carnage is a character that sells action figures, so it makes sense for Hasbro to make him and it’s a solid figure of a less-than-impressive Marvel character.

Marvel Legends: Infinite Series Spider-Man Assortment Rhino BAF Wave Superior Venom

Venom may have only been introduced in the early 90s, but the symbiote has had a lot of hosts. In fact, the original idea was that Venom would just float around the Marvel Universe, bonding with anyone it thought could help it get revenge on Spider-Man. That didn’t take off, but lately the symbiote has been a bit more peripatetic. Not every host lasts long, but that doesn’t mean they don’t sometimes get action figures. A couple of years ago, Dr. Octopus finally won and beat Spider-Man by taking over his body. Dr. Octopus-in-Peter-Parker declared himself the Superior Spider-Man and Doc Ock’s arrogance led him to screw things up even worse than Peter ever had. At one point, he forced his old villain allies, the Sinister Six, to be his crimefighting partners, which ended about as badly as expected. However, Doc Ock’s dumbest move was thinking he could control the Venom symbiote. Storywise, it’s what led to Peter Parker’s consciousness being able to reassert itself over Doc Ock. While the Superior Venom may have only existed for at most three issues, he just got a Marvel Legends figure, and he’s pretty great.

Superior Venom was designed by Humberto Ramos and while I don’t generally love his art style, the guy knows how to make cool-looking monsters. Ramos’ design transfers surprisingly well to the three-dimensional world. Superior Venom uses the base Spider-Man body with a few new pieces. The feet are monstrous, with exposed toes and sharp claws on the end of each toe and clawed hands. On his back, Superior Venom has a permanent piece attached to the hole in the back. Into that piece, you can plug in Superior Venom’s four tentacles. When Doc Ock was masquerading as Spider-Man, he built in mechanical spider legs into the back of his suit, because of course he did. Why wouldn’t Doc Ock add some extra arms? When the symbiote took over, these became more monstrous. Since he’s using the new Spider-Man body, that means Superior Venom has great articulation. For a full run down of the articulation, check out the Black A.N.T. review. The other new part Superior Venom gets is a new head. I’ll admit, I wasn’t a huge fan of Ramos’ Superior Venom in the comic, but in action figure form, it actually looks really good. It’s still got a Spider-Man feel to it, but the jagged teeth are also present like Venom. Honestly, considering how close Doc Ock got to controlling the Venom symbiote it makes a lot of sense that there aren’t too many Venom references here. As he started losing control of the symbiote, the look got more monstrous, but at the beginning, it was a pretty tame look. This figure moves very well and the arms on the back, while static, do allow you to get it into some great poses that you might not be able to otherwise due to balance issues.

Once again, this is a Venom figure, so you can guess what the colors are going to be. Once again, Superior Venom is black and white. Like every iteration of Venom before him, Superior Venom has the large stylized spider on his chest. However, this time, it carries over to his shoulders and doesn’t tie into a large spider on his back. Above the spider, Superior Venom also keeps the Spidey-style weblines on his costume. I’ll admit, it does leave the head looking a bit too busy for my tastes. At a quick glance, the weblines are more eye catching and obscure the sinister eyes and, more problematically, obscure his teeth. Venom’s always been defined by a fanged maw. That should be the focal point of Venom’s face, but it doesn’t stand out as well here because of all the other white lines up there. Despite the upper body being a bit busy, the paint work is crisply done. The wobbly weblines on the face are true to the art so I understand why Hasbro did it that way. Unlike other Venoms, Superior Venom does have a little splash of color on the figure. The Superior Spider-Man costume had some gauntlets on his wrists and they remained visible after the symbiote took over. To show that, there are red spots on his forearms. They should be raised, sculpted elements rather than just paint, but it’s not a big enough detail that Hasbro should have invested tooling dollars to recreate it. The red spots work well enough.

I’ve already touched on Superior Venom’s accessories, but I still feel I should mention them again. The tentacles are designed very well. They look like a combination of organic and technological elements and that’s a good call to make here. They look jagged and scary and considering how out of control Superior Venom was when he started manifesting these in the comic, it’s a good look. The figure remains well balanced even with them on his back and they assist in getting him in some cool, menacing poses. It’s the best of both worlds.

Superior Venom may have been a thing for all of three issues, but it’s still an interesting take on Venom. It’s the most Spider-Man-like Venom out there and I like that for some reason. It’s a unique look and it’s something a little out of the box, and I have to applaud Hasbro for making that call. I may still hate Humberto Ramos as an artist, but it’s hard for me to deny that he can design and draw monsters very well. Considering how cool Superior Venom looks, it shocks me that it came from the same pencil as the guy who made the absolutely asstastic Green Goblin redesign in the mid-2000s.