The Darkness

Jackie Estacado was just your average psychotic womanising Mafia hitman - until he turned 21, and the powers of The Darkness awakened within him. Mafia hitman Jackie Estacado was both blessed and cursed on his 21st birthday when he became the bearer of The Darkness, an elemental force that allows those who wield it access to an otherworldly dimension and control over the demons who dwell there. Forces for good in the world rise up to face Jackie and the evil his gift represents, but there is one small problem. In his story... they are the bad guys. I must confess that I know next to nothing about The Darkness, neither the comicbook nor the videogame, even though I have both lying around waiting for me to get to them. The drawbacks of having a fulltime job as well as a gig reviewing movies and a love of videogames, TV, films, cocaine, comics... always too much to do and never enough time. Regardless, ToyBiz Marvel Toys made an excellent figure based on the visage of The Darkness seen throughout the series. Standing just over 6¼" tall, The Darkness is sculpted with the mystical body armor used to protect himself, emblazened with metallic green and gold openings all over his body. His body is shaded with black to excellent effect, and he's well detailed all over, especially his nifty hair and face, which features a mask detailed with the same silver colors as those on his boots, knees and gloves. Tentacle-type things sprout from his back, which may or may not be part of the armor, or might be the tentacles he can create, I just don't know. Either way, they look cool! Jackie features a sh*tload of articulation to go with the sculpt. (Excuse the french, I'm getting into character, motherf*cker!) Balljointed shoulders, legs and neck go alongside joints in the elbows, upper arms, wrist, fingers - ahh, hell, let's just say that wherever you want articulation, there's articulation. It's also a very durable figure, standing up to some tough play - kudos to ToyBiz on another great figure for kids and collectors, even though this line is aimed at the latter. The Darkness even features accessories - he comes with two Darklings, the small, foul-mouthed imps that do his bidding. About 1" tall and preposed, these little buggers are exceptionally well detailed and very cool, even without any articulation. The first, whom I'll call "Trump," has a long, pointy head with his mouth closed, and a golden ring in his right ear. His legs are spread wide, and he seems to be swinging his arms - one's forward, one way back. His little friend "Muchango" is almost all mouth, with huge sharp teeth and a long purple tongue. Finally, The Darkness also has his Monkeyman part, the giant monkey crotch, essential for making your complete Monkey Man. It's got hips, a waist, and the spring-loaded pegs that will eventually attach it to the chest. Five soft rubber flexible pouches hang from the belt all the way around. The last "flexible pouch" is covered by his pants, if you know what I mean, ha ha! (I mean his testicles.) Back when the Legendary Heroes line was first announced, there was going to be a two-pack of Darkness and Witchblade, but that never came to pass. Witchblade would have had a different color armor, so presumably we would have gotten some different Darklings, or maybe a different paint app on Jackie boy. Even though I know little about The Darkness, what I do know sounds great, and this is an awesome figure very worthy of your purchase. It's sad to see the Legendary Heroes line go, especially with figures of this caliber available, but so it goes. -- 08/11/08

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