RAFR – LEAPIN’ LIZARDS! Hasbro Spider-Man Lizard Review

I’m a comic nerd.

I’m also a Dinosaur nerd.

Being a dinosaur nerd means I like reptiles by default. Crocodiles and Alligators are my favorite but Komodo Dragons, Jackson Chameleons and Iguanas are equally ass-kicking in their scaly, cold-blooded awesomeness!

So it should come as no surprise that of the comic book world – specifically within the Marvel Universe – my favorite villain has to be… DR. CURT CONNERS!

Didn’t see that one coming, did ya’?!

“Who the hell is Curt Conners?” You ask.

Well he is the Lizard!

In a nutshell – Dr. Curt Connors lost his arm working a field surgeon in the Army. Ever since, he has spent his life into unlocking the secret that reptiles possess with regards to limb regeneration. As biology professor at Empire State University, he taught several of Peter Parker’s classes. It was during this time that Connors thought he unlocked the genetic mechanism and injected himself with an untested serum. Oh sure he grew his arm back, but it also turned him into a humanoid reptile who hates ALL warm-blooded life. Poor Spider-Man often found himself chasing after Connors during these transformations, usually administering the antidote to save his teacher and friend before he or someone ended up hurt or worse.

Voila!  The Lizard!

Needless to say, when I saw this guy in the store, I snatched him up without thought!

Well – I thought he looked pretty bad-assed, but yeah – I didn’t care how much he was or nothin’ – he was going home with me. Oh Hasbro – how much impulse-spending-cash you take from me (see the forth-coming Parachute Captain America for more proof)!

So here he is – fresh from the sewers:

I'm too ssssssssssssexy for my ssssssssshirt...

The Lizard!

See? Bad-assed, right? Right?!

So let’s get to the basics, shall we?

Dr. Conners  here has a metric ASS-TON of articulation! Shoulders swivel and twist, waist twists, legs swivel and twist, legs twist at the calves, head turns and yes…

Oh my! (Insert "It's so big" joke here...)

…he has a three-piece segmented lizard-tail that burst out through the ass of his pants! How embarrassing!

All his joints are nice and tight and adjustable to just about any pose you would want. The tail helps with the balancing and he has yet to fall over due to any accidental bumps or nudges.

The paint could be a bit better, particularly on his nails and eyes, and really this is nit-picky. One of the things I like about the reddish splotches and markings is the fact that they are NOT uniform and it sells the “reality” of the beast, as nature is seldom symmetrical.

My dentissst lovesss me...

Added bonus? He comes adorned with a ripped-up lab coat complete with brown and gray stains on it as if he was truly hanging out all night in your toilet, thinking up the best way to end your primative, monkey-like existence!

The sculpt?

Balls! Out! Amazing!

Who do we have to thank for this?

Meet the talented, cute and plucky Sarah Richard – sculptor of this masterpiece!

Ms. Sara Richard and the infamous Charlie P. Pancake

“Who is she?” Gawd! STOP ASKING QUESTIONS!

She’s an illustrator/graphic artist /sculptor, fool!

“I grew up in a little town in New Hampshire, been drawing forever. When I’m not drawing (which seems like most of the day) I like running around, outside, inside, I have about 8 cups of tea a day.” she said, “I like tea. All sorts of tea. I like being outside, reading/ watching stuff about dinosaurs, hang gliding…..more tea.”

Whoa!

Wait!

Dinosaurs?!  How’d that happen?

“I can tell you exactly. I was in my senior year of college (Columbus College of Art and Design) working on my Hasbro entry figure of some harpy chick design I came up with with 24 points of articulation (I wanted that job really bad) and I decided to pop in Jurassic Park in the background. I hadn’t seen it in years and figured eh, whatev. Buuuut for some reason viewing then really sparked something and I watched the other two right away (I know they’re bad, but I can’t hate them. They have dinosaurs in them!) And then I just got hooked, I looked into paleo art, sculptures and Illustrations, I wanted to sculpt a raptor in my 3-d illustration class. But My teacher, Mark Hazlrig (pretty much the best teacher in the world) told me to stay on task with my Hasbro project.” she says,  “I remembered Hasbro did the Jurassic Park toys in the past and that fueled my drive to make the sculpt I was working as good as I could. Aaaaand I got into Hasbro. “

I was just about to segue into that – just how did the Hasbro thing happen? How did you get the gig to design Marvel’s bestest super-villain?

“Well that was designed by Logan Lubera, a designer at Hasbro. I just sculpted the piece based on Logan’s kick-ass design. I sculpted that figure during my second 6 month stint in-house at Hasbro last year. Now I’m freelancing from my home studio. Which is awesome, cause I am no morning person and zombie-crawling from my bed to desk at around 10am is fantastic.”

Sweetness!

Hey – this is pretty cool – it’s like I’m asking actual questions in real-time! GO ME!

So any other reptile / Dinosaur projects in the works, miss?

“I do have one I can’t talk about that’s pretty big for me. And I have a few ideas for some stories I’ve wanted to make happen. One is called Paleo-femmes. It’ll be about different tribes of female warriors pretty much kicking the crap out of each other. Each tribe will be influenced in mannerisms and dress by a certain species of dinosaurs so you’ll have a raptor tribe really making life miserable for some sort of hadrosaur tribe. 🙂 I’m hoping to get started on these sequentials this year. It seems like I keep talking about it and it’s been a year or so since I mentioned it first, and well….not enough hours in the day. I’ll make sure to let you know when I get it going. I’m also always trying to get something to show up in Prehistoric Times Magazine in an art section.”

You heard it here, folks! How cool was it to have some insight from an actual toy sculptor?!

For more info on Ms. Richard, why don’t you all get your butts over to her website: http://www.sararichard.com/ and check her out!

Er…check out her website!

THE LIZARD COMMANDSSSSSSSSSS IT!!! SSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

 

About G.D. Strauff 40 Articles
G.D. Strauff is the pen name of an upright, omnivorous hominid. Inhabiting the central New York region, he has been sighted foraging for comics, movies, monster legends and the occasional action figure which he decorates his cave with. A shy beast, he likes dinosaurs, bats, sharks and other nerdy things…

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