Superhero Times: a service of Action Online
At first glance you may think to yourself, just who or what is The Vulture? Rated a “B-list” Spider-man villain at best, Adrian Toomes is just a retired engineer who designed a suit that gave him the ability to fly along, granting him super strength.
Using his flight and strength to plight against Spider-Man on his own was not always his choice of deceit, on several occasions he teamed up with Doctor Octopus, Sandman, Electro, Mysterio and Kraven the Hunter from the original villainous “Sinister Six”.
Diamond Select has taken the idea of a “Build-a-Figure” to a whole new level with a “Build -a-Statue” of sorts to honor the "Sinister Six" in a new set of statues. While each piece is designed to be a stand alone statue, they can also be joined together to recreate a famous scene straight from the pages of Marvel Comics.
PACKAGING: We get the standard DST packing with this one, full color box with nice photos of what’s waiting inside for you, but the bottom line is when your buying a piece like this the box is really only needed to keep it safe on the trip home.
SCULPTING: This is were Diamond Select statues always shine, they use some of the best sculptors available today and DST regular Jeff Feligno, brings this villain life by capturing the aged, weathered look of Adrian's face and suit perfectly. For the un-educated comic book fan one look leaves you wondering, "What is that hideous thing? " For those in tune with the Sinister Six there comes a personified realism that almost makes you believe Vulture will come to life and fly off the tower he is mounted on.
The wingspan on The Vulture is impressive to say the least, each feather is detailed and incredibly life-like. The hands and arms are molded into the wings representing The Vulture as if he was poised to strike atop the included rooftop.
This brings us to the rooftop itself, this separate piece may be over looked by most people, but you have remember that Jeff took just as much time working on this as The Vulture himself, and it shows in detail. Complete with shingles, stress bands on the side of water tank and a slightly broken ladder.
PAINT: Although this piece in general has limited color hues, it is the paint shading that is used to bring it to life, The Vulture suit ifeatures a weathered look using multiple shades of green to enhance the suit and the detail of the wings. The paint is tight and clean; there is no over-painting or under-painting.
While limited in color hue, the multiple shades carry over to the rooftop. Overall brown in color, the multiple shades of brown enhanced with black allows this piece to stand out, which truly completes the over all appearance of the complete piece itself.
OVERALL: This Vulture statue gives fans a chance to pick up a great looking Marvel character that you wouldn't normally have access to. Let's face it, if their not on the “A-list” so to speak we don’t see much merchandise of them.
That is the beauty of the “Build-a- Statue” concept. Diamond Select now has the opportunity to give villain fans more rare pieces to add to their collection. The Vulture is the fourth piece of the set to be released, and once you see how amazing this he looks, you'll be asking yourself “How do I immortalize the Sinister Six in my home?"
If the Vulture is your first piece purchased in this dynamic collection, you will want the others in the series. Wings down.