Toy Review: Planet of the Symbiotes - Riot

Planet of the Symbiotes: Riot

I reviewed one figure from Toy Biz’ Planet of the Symbiotes line, Venom: The Madness, the other day and I have to say I was really impressed with the work that they did on that one. I was never really a fan of the vintage (pre-Marvel Legends) Toy Biz even though those lines were on the toy shelves for a decade or more. Due to the limited articulation of action figures and the cartoonish sculpting of the time, I only have a few of the toys from that era. I got them mostly because they filled holes in my collection of Marvel Legends figures, like my Blink figure or my Madureira Colossus. Venom really changed my thoughts on the vintage Toy Biz run and from now on I’m going to keep an eye out at toy stores for more figures like him, ones that will fit into my 6″ collection.

When I borrowed Venom: The Madness from my friend, I also borrowed his other Planet of the Symbiotes figure, Riot.

He’s purple.

He’s got four arms.

He’s really tall.

That’s pretty much it. Like his buddy, I got this one loose from my friend. I’ve seen pictures of him MOC online which show how fragile the card must have been. I can see those J-hooks all ripped up, falling off the pegs now. This would have been all but impossible to find mint the way toys are handled here, but then again, I’d hate to keep this guy in a box.

Images from www.figurerealm.com

Out of the box is where this guy really shines. Like Venom, he’s very well sculpted with tons of detail that you’ll be hard pressed to find on a Marvel Legends figure these days. He’s sort of like a bug mixed with a lizard, mixed with a flying purple people eater. Or Barney.

Riot has a gimmick too, but I can’t say I like it as much as Venom’s. You can ignore Venom’s and when you display him, it doesn’t really affect anything. That’s sort of true for Riot as well, but the gimmick is a rocket launcher.

Now the spring-loaded rocket launcher has it’s place. It’s great on military themed toys like GI Joe, or Star Wars, or even Transformers, but it looks odd on biologicals. Remember that Mazinger Z cartoon with the girl robot that shot her breast at the enemy? Scarred for life.

Since his projectiles are his second pair of arms, they’re non-articulated and stick out of his torso right in front. They can’t grab anything. They look like they’re reaching out for a hug. It’s odd. And anyone who has a few of these knows how easy it is to lose the missiles.

Actually, losing the missles might be a good idea. It’s kind of fun getting a toy with a sword to cut them off (to activate the launch, you just have to move his other arms up or down) or have Spider Hulk tear them off just so:

If you can get him standing straight, with his legs extended (he’s got those chicken legs that are all the rage in the movie Transformer line now) he’s extremely tall. He towers over all the other toys on my desk at home. Take a look at this family portrait:

He’s a little fiddly though. Aside from the fact that his legs aren’t really sculpted to allow a great many poses, his joints apparently made to last. Granted the thing’s a decade old or more, but the the joints flop around like Elastic Man after a massage. He tends to just sink right down to the sitting on his haunches pose, which isn’t the most fun stance.

While I wouldn’t mind having this figure and maybe the red and black variant, I have to admit that it’s not as impressive as the Venom toy. The sculpt isn’t quite as great, with the bunny like horns, the tongue glued to his cheek, and the second pair of arms making sort of funny looking. Plus despite his size, he doesn’t have the imposing presence that Venom has on the shelf.

If you just want a generic bad guy/monster on your shelf, this thing fits the bill, but it’s not a must have. He never even appeared in the comic story arc.