Electro

ZZZZZzzzzzzzzap! ZZZZzzzzzap! The electricity-wielding villain bends high-voltage current at will and has brought New York City to its knees! Here's a question brought up by a guy at my local comicshop: why is it that black characterss always have to have electric powers? Think about it - other than Black Panther, how many black heroes can you name who don't have electrical abilities? Not a lot. It would be like if every Asian superhero was a teleporter, or if 50% of all females had some sort of mental-based ability. [You saying they don't? --ed.] You've got Black Lightning (and his various expies, like Supervolt), you've got Storm, you've got Static... and now even longtime-honkie Electro is getting on the act! Here's another question: did Hasbro's Amazing Spider-Man 2 license not include likeness rights? Because this is the second movie Electro toy they've released, and so far neither of them have looked even a little bit like Jamie Foxx. In fact, both of them have looked like some random white dude. Foxx was cast ages ago - did they think he was going to get fired? In the new movie, Electro seems to somehow get his power from eels (despite the fact that eels do not work that way), and rather than being able to channel/control electricity like the comic version, he appears to be made of it. His costume appears to be some kind of thick, insulated suit - possibly rubber? It's an entirely new sculpt, with raised piping around the seams and large electrodes on the torso, shoulders and legs. There's a thick (metal?) collar, a zipper down the back, and an irregular grainy texture that pops up in a few different areas. Not sure what that's about. There isn't a lot of re-use potential here, so it's impressive that they'd spend that much money on one-shot mold. The suit itself is black, while the collar and the panels above his hips are silver. To convey his electricity, his head is cast in translucent blue with white eyes, and there's pale blue airbrushed on his upper torso and his wrists (which works about as well as airbrushed glows usually work). Electro has a balljointed head, hinged neck, swivel/hinge shoulders (only minorly blocked by the electrodes on his suit), swivel biceps, double-hinged elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, hinged torso, swivel waist, swivel/hinge hips, swivel thighs, double-hinged knees, and swivel/hinge rocker ankles. None of the joints were stuck, though a few were tough to get moving at first. The figure gets no accessories, but he does have a few extra body parts: two translucent blue hands with electricity shooting off the fingertips, and a second head with flares of energy coming out of his eyes. It's nothing amazing, but it's a nice little extra that allows you to have the toy in either "powered up" or "powered down" versions - and it's especially unexpected when you think about the Iron Man figures that had swappable hands designed, but not released. Of course, he also has a piece of this series' Build-A-Figure, Ultimate Green Goblin. It's a big arm, with a pebbly texture, large spikes on the shoulder and elbow, and a separate piece of fire that fits around the wrist. It's got swivel/hinge joints at the shoulder and wrists, and a double-hinged elbow. When we reviewed Movie Masters Scarecrow, we said it would be weird if the Webb Spider-Man reboot had stuck with the Raimi villains. Well, Vulture wasn't the only bad guy planned for Spider-Man 4: the movie was also going to feature Electro; and movie Electro, judging by the concept art, would have been a fully electric character wearing a fancy rubber containment suit. Huh, how about that. At least in this one, the odds of him being defeated by Black Cat flashing her boobs at him are pretty low. -- 13/27/13

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