Have you ever had a character that you wanted so badly, but knew it would never happen? And then despite all the odds, it happened? It’s a great feeling and I highly recommend it. ROM is that number for me, so an already impressive panel becomes epic.
The panel started with a review of recent releases, but then started with an unexpected calmness, a mention of the Inuman! Trismus is one of the characters I’ve wanted for a long time, so I was excited to see him. I like the idea of the back legs being replaceable in the sitting position, but wish he had knee joints on the front legs. I think my impression of Lockjaw is more Kirby-esque with the bigger head, but I’ll get used to the more realistic dog proportions. The crystals are beautiful. No notes! I also like that they come in a two-pack, so I don’t have to worry about having a doll in the BAF that I don’t like.
From there we move on to classic Avenger and Crystal’s sometimes-husband, Quicksilver. This is another example of me prefabricating Kirby, so I’m leaning towards thinking his gloves and underwear are light green. I’m sure this version has reference points that I’m not aware of, so I’m not mad about it. Hair wings are great.
Another really cool and unexpected character is Wong from Doctor Strange. He’s a classic supporting character from that book, so I’m glad I got him, even though I don’t think I need Do’aum to infect Doctor Strange. All the magic parts and kung fu options look fantastic. His ghost dog is cool, I guess that’s a modern thing?
The Punisher Jungle Wacker set looks fun. I have a few books about Bushwacker from the ’80s, so I was excited to see that weirdo. Even though his powers look disgusting here, they’re even more disgusting in the book IIRC. I’m not a Punisher, but that portrait is pretty good.
Next up is some Deadpool stuff. Not for me, but I know it’s a big deal right now. I hope those who care about this. I have to say, though, that Jackman’s portrait of Wolverine is simply fantastic, and the addition of the movie Colossus was an unexpected draw.
The MCU’s army builders look pretty rough. I have such a large collection of Marvel heroes, so I appreciate them creating more antagonists. They mentioned that there might be more Marvel Cinematic Universe army builders, so I’m hoping Chitauri will be on board.
There’s a trailer for the upcoming character. I think the shoes are a reference to Spider Boy, but not sure what the bracelet is about, other than it reminds me of the plastic Halloween spider rings I sometimes get trick-or-treating.
Next up is another character I’ve been waiting for, a draconian rework. They mentioned that this will be a more expensive exclusive on Pulse than HasLab, and I’m glad the Marvel team is moving in this direction. It feels a bit like the Classified team adding higher-priced exclusive items like VAMPs to build the world.
His height is all over the place in the comics, so I think they picked a good height. There’s not always a scaly texture in the book either, but I like the way it looks here. So, the whole group was outstanding. We thought we were done, then Jesse Falcon started screaming at us, asking if we wanted more. To be honest, I kind of rolled my eyes at all the yelling (I’m old, guys, too old to yell anymore) until the word “more” became “ROM” and I Also joined in the madness, shouting like a madman.
Before the panel, I discussed with Veebs and Robo what we’d most like to see. The funny thing is, Veebs said Inhumans and I said ROM, but we both said we didn’t really expect to get what we wanted. Man, do I like being wrong sometimes. They were just digitally rendered at this point, but Dwight did mention doing something special to capture the ROM’s unique eye. If you’ve read the book, you’ll notice that he’s almost always depicted with glowing red eyes, so I’d love to have some light tubes or maybe even an LED-powered glow feature. At times, the eyes in the comics look like the tiny red laser explosion effects we already have in the lore, so maybe some kind of explosion effect will work. I don’t know, the renders look awesome and I’m so excited that we finally got one of my most wanted characters in Legends. If you don’t know ROM, there are now several comprehensive collections of his books.
