WINTER SOLDIER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Winter Soldier is a fierce combatant and an asset in battle, no matter which team he fights for.”

Alright, let’s jump back into these Marvel Legends reviews, shall we?  Like most movie assortments, the Black Widow tie-in is split between film-based figures, and some appropriately-themed comic-based figures.  I’ve looked at all of the movie figures, so now I’ll be jumping into the comics guys.  The first of the bunch is the one that’s probably got the best ties to Widow, the Winter Soldier, Natasha’s love interest in the comics for the last few years.  We’ve gotten a few movie-styled takes on the character, but it’s been a good long while since a comics version came along.  Let’s have a look, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Winter Soldier is figure 4 in the Crimson Dynamo Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s our second comic-based Winter Soldier Legends figure, following up on Hasbro’s two-pack release way back in 2010.  That’s a long wait, but that old release was honestly pretty strong, so any follow-up had a lot to live up to.  The figure stands just over 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  The sizing is the one issue I really have with this figure.  At his current height, he’s a little taller than the 80th Cap figure, which doesn’t seem quite right, since Bucky’s typically depicted as a little smaller than Steve.  It’s not a terrible size difference, but it gets a bit nuts if you compare him to anyone built on the Bucky Cap body.  He just seems a touch too large overall.  It’s admittedly minor, however, and I’m used to seeing the flip side occurring more frequently.  Sizing aside, Winter Soldier is a pretty sensible mix of old and new pieces.  He uses the pelvis and legs from the Netflix Punisher, and the right arm from tactical Killmonger, along with a new head, torso, and left arm.  The overall design is based on Winter Soldier’s earliest comic appearances, which is really when he was at his most distinct.  He’s got the long-haired appearance, which is typically how he’s best remembered.  He does slightly amalgamate a few later design elements in, such as the pouches on the front of his harness, which showed up during Brubaker’s Winter Soldier solo series (who’s design inspired the very impressive Select figure).  I like them more than the initial holster design, though, so I’m not really bugged by it.  What I *am* a little bugged by is the permanently sculpted-in gun that resides in Bucky’s hip holster.  It’s something that every use of this mold has, but it’s no less frustrating here.  Bucky’s paint work is mostly pretty basic stuff.  I’d have liked to see him get more detailing on the various add-on bits; a lot of stuff just gets left an un-painted brown, which doesn’t look quite right.  Nothing super pivotal is missed, though, so I don’t hate it; I just think it could be a little better.  To match the updated harness design, he also gets the slightly more ornate red/white/blue star insignia on his metal arm, signifying this as a post reformation-Bucky, so he’s firmly on the hero side, I guess.  Winter Soldier is packed with an M4 with a grenade launcher and a Colt 1911 (rather American guns; he *is* a post-working for the Russians Bucky, so I guess it makes sense.  Shout out again to Tim for the gun ID here), plus the head to the Crimson Dynamo Build-A-Figure.  It would have been nice to get an alternate short-haired head to mix up the display a bit, but he doesn’t feel *too* light.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Winter Soldier is definitely the single-release figure I wanted the most from this set.  I missed out on the two-pack version, mostly due to not really being up on the character at the time.  Since then, I’ve definitely picked up an appreciation, so I was down for this guy.  He’s not perfect, and I definitely wish he were just a touch smaller, but he’s still very high on my list for this assortment, and there’s no denying he looks very nice next to that 80th Cap.  He’s a very fun figure.

Winter Soldier was purchased from my friends at All Time Toys.  If you’re looking for Marvel Legends, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.