FALCON

AVENGERS: UNITED THEY STAND (TOY BIZ)

“As the Falcon, Sam Wilson became the dedicated defender of Harlem. Pledging to protect the innocent, Wilson used a falcon as inspiration when inventing high-powered armor – extendable robotic wings for swift aerial maneuvers and soaring flights, razor-sharp claws from wrist, and battle boots with retractable steel talons and missiles. He fights crime and shares a telepathic link with his trusty falcon, Redwing. As one of Earth’s mightiest heroes, he is always ready to answer the call, ‘Avengers Assemble!'”

Even before getting his big on-screen focus in 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Falcon’s always been pretty fortunate when it came to the smaller-scale tie-in stuff.  He’s been included in every major Marvel scale and style when it comes to toys, and when it came to 1999’s Avengers: United They Stand cartoon, he got the important role of being the team’s newest member, and in many ways the audience surrogate as the team makes their way through the larger Marvel universe.  I’m looking at his figure from that line today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Falcon was part of the second assortment of Toy Biz’s Avengers: United They Stand tie-in line.  This was only Falcon’s second figure from Toy Biz, but it was his fourth overall, following his Mego and Secret Wars figures. The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 13 points of articulation.  He continues the trend of improved articulation on these guys, which was really great.  Falcon’s design for the show was a much more armored up design, much like the rest of the cast.  He did keep more of the broad stroke elements of his classic design than the others, and this design differed from the rest in that it actually even made a transition to the comics, at least for a short while.  Some parts of it are a little clunky, but it’s generally one of the better looks from the show, and I’ve always had a real soft spot for this one.  The sculpt does a very nice job of replicating his animation design, keeping him rather clean looking.  The armored parts actually use some separately sculpted pieces, which gives him a nice depth to his design.  His wings are also split between upper and lower arms, allowing for more posability, making a notable improvement over the Secret Wars figure, and even putting him above Toy Biz’s own Marvel’s Gold release.  Falcon’s paint work is generally pretty solid.  It’s largely just basic color work, but it was pretty clean, and the accenting on the armored parts is pretty cool.  Falcon was packed with his pet falcon and sidekick Red Wing.  Redwing had a magnetic connection on the front of his harness which could connect to Falcon’s corresponding magnet on his right arm, and would launch a pair of missiles from his back pack.  There were a lot of gimmicky accessories in this line, and this one certainly had a gimmick, but it was at least not terribly disruptive, and it meant we got a proper Redwing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Falcon and Tigra were the first figures I got from this line when it dropped.  While they weren’t quite at the top of my list, they were both still pretty high (really only Wonder Man and Vision topped them).  The show and this toy both served to really solidify Falcon as a character I really, really liked, and he’s remained one of my favorites to this day.  This figure is still a lot of fun, and remains my favorite version of the character.  And there have been some really good Falcon figures, so that’s saying something.