CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

In 2006, Toy Biz was in their last year of making Marvel toys. In that year, they were committed to offering Marvel figures in just about every style imaginable. Marvel Legends was their flagship line, so they used its name on a few different things, including the double-sized Marvel Legends Icons. When Hasbro picked up the Marvel license, they continued Icons for a few more series, but the line ultimately fizzled. With Marvel Legends back on the upswing, Hasbro has decided to give the scale/style another try. Of course, like the recently renamed 3 ¾ inch line, this new line has *also* just been named Marvel Legends Series, which makes differentiating between all the lines a bit difficult. It’s Star Wars: The Black Series all over again! Oh well, might as well just look at this here Captain America.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America is one of the first three figures in the 12-inch Marvel Legends Series. He uses a variation of Cap’s “Marvel Now” look, which is a pretty solid meshing of the comic and movie styles. The figure actually comes in at 11 ¾ inches, so he’s just under 1/6 scale. He has 32 points of articulation, which includes moving shoulder pads, but doesn’t include any actual waist movement. He does still have some movement further up on the torso, but it doesn’t offer quite the same movement. When Toy Biz did the Icons figures, most of them had sculpts that were more or less up-scaled versions of some of their 6-inch Legends. At first glance, I thought Hasbro may have just up-scaled the 6-inch Marvel Now! Cap, but this figure appears to have an entirely new sculpt. The overall quality of the sculpt is quite good. The uniform exhibits a number of fun textures, which make it look like it’s been assembled from a number of different materials. I particularly like the knit appearance of the white areas of the costume. I also quite like that you can actually see the zippers and stuff that show how the costume would be put on in real life. It’s nice that Hasbro is taking advantage of the larger scale to add in details that you might not expect to see. One of my main issues with the smaller-scale Now! Cap (and most of Hasbro’s comic Caps) was the head, which I felt didn’t have the classically heroic look I’d expect from a Captain America. This figure does a bit better, mostly due to the larger scale, but I can’t help but feel that his eyes are just the slightest bit too wideset. It’s not enough to ruin the figure, but it’s enough to bug me a bit. The helmet is a separate (non-removable) piece from the actual head, which is a nice touch, which helps sell that it’s a helmet. Cap’s paintwork is pretty decent. Perhaps not as impressive as it could be, given the scale, but it’s still pretty nice considering Hasbro’s track record with such things. There are even a few bits, such as the kneepads, where they even go above and beyond what we’ve come to expect, and give us some actual detail texture work. Cap includes an extra, unmasked head, as well as a spare empty helmet for him to hold, two sets of hands in fist and gripping positions, and, of course, his mighty shield. The shield is tied into the figure’s “action feature.” When you press the star on Cap’s chest, the star on his back pushes out, and can be flipped over and plugged into the center of the shield. The shield’s straps can then be removed and it can be mounted on Cap’s back. It seems like a rather complicated way of handling something that’s usually done with a simple peg system, but I guess that might not have worked as well at this scale.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When this guy was announced at Toy Fair, I was actually pretty excited. I mean, yeah, it’s another Captain America, but it’s a pretty cool one. My parents bought me this figure on my birthday this year, at my request. I can’t say that I would spend $50 on every figure this line decides to offer, but I feel like Cap was worth it, and I’m happy to have him. Here’s hoping Hasbro can make this line a success!