Tag Archives: Captain America

#3928: Captain America vs Venom

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

CAPTAIN AMERICA VS VENOM

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

In the ‘90s, Capcom’s arcade fighting games were a pretty notable thing, and also Marvel Comics was a pretty notable thing.  So, Marvel and Capcom opted to do that whole “two great tastes that taste great together” thing, and teamed up for some crossover action.  First starting more focused with X-Men vs Street Fighter, they eventually added the larger rosters of both Marvel and Capcom to the mix, and even got some toys along the way.  There’s remasters and all sorts of nostalgia going on right now, which always leads to an interest in some merchandising.  Jada has been running a really strong showing with a number of the Capcom properties, and, in a bit of an informal crossover, Hasbro’s doing their own line of just the Marvel half of the games.  Would you believe I bought the Captain America?

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Captain America vs Venom is a two-pack release from Hasbro’s Marvel Legends.  They’re part of the first big push of the “VS” set under the “Gamerverse” banner.  Though the packaging uses sprites and design elements from Marvel vs Capcom, there’s no actual mention of the game on the package, again keeping the informal crossover bit going.

CAPTAIN AMERICA

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag you’re buying the same thing over and over again?  I mean, I frequently am doing *exactly* that, but, like in a more metaphorical sense?  That’s where I’m at with this Captain America.  He’s the next progression of the journey to a classic Cap that we started back in 2016, with the Cap Wolf Cap, who debuted Cap on the “new” Reaper mold.  Wow, I said “Cap” a lot of times in that sentence.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Remember my “Ship of Theseus” comment in the Secret Wars Cap review?  Well, this guy just sort of furthers that.  All that remains of the original Reaper body use at this point is, in fact, his belt piece.  He gets the lower torso first used for the 80th Cap, and the standard calm masked head included with the 20th Anniversary Cap.   His lower arms, pelvis, and legs to the top of the shin are all the modified pieces used on the Secret Wars Cap last year.  That leaves a new upper torso, upper arms, and boots for this specific release.  Cap’s game design notably omitted the usual scale-mail that his upper torso spots, so this figure does that as well,  but it still grants him a lot of sculpted elements, rather than simply painting them all on, like the Cap Wolf figure did.  Most notably, the new upper torso gives Cap butterfly joints on his shoulders, something he hasn’t had since the Toy Biz days.  They’re quite handy when it comes to fighting poses, which is ideal for a figure that’s specifically for a fighting game.  Cap also gets a new alternate head, with another expression.  This one takes the teeth-gritting expression of the Secret Wars release and dials it up to 11, for a full on scream.  It’s not your typical Cap expression, but it feels exceptionally true to the sprite models from the game.  Cap’s color work is perfectly fine, if not above average in terms of paint work application and quality.  But, once again, we’ve gotten *another* shade of blue, meaning that you can’t swap the heads on this guy with either the 20th or Secret Wars figures, which continues to feel like a missed opportunity.  Presumably, Hasbro’s waiting to unveil a Maximum Cap that has all the heads and retools this torso into one with the scale mail.  Cap is packed with two pair of hands (fists and thumbs up), his shield, and a bash effect piece for the shield.  The thumbs up hands are really cool, and offer a lot of fun posing options.  I wasn’t thrilled about the move back to the smaller shield, but I think it does work a bit better for the game look.  It’s amusing that this shield is smaller than the one included with the original TB MvC Cap figure, though.

VENOM

Venom.  Yay.  Venom.  I totally bought this set for both figures, and not just the one.  Of course.  I totally know all of the facts about the different Venoms, too.  Like, this one’s…blue?  Cuz of the sprite.  That’s why.  The figure stands 7 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Like Cap, the classic Eddie Brock Venom’s gone through a lot of different mold variations.  This appears to be the same mold used for the Amazon three-pack Eddie that came with Riot and Agony, which itself was based on the Omega Red molds.  It means he’s still got visible pins on the knees, but otherwise modern articulation.  It’s not a bad sculpt by any means.  It feels very true to the character, and the heads both feel very much in line with his game design.  I especially like the partially unmasked head, because it reminds me of the old Spider-Man Classics figure.  In terms of coloring, he is, as noted above, blue.  It’s honestly a pretty good way of getting him to stand out from the others.  Generally, the paint’s pretty basic.  I do really love the green saliva on the tongue, though.  Venom is packed with the alternate unmasked head, and two pairs of hands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m cursed to keep buying every Captain America from Hasbro as they continue to make them incrementally better every time.  I’ve just accepted that.  This time, they also made me buy a Venom.  Wasn’t thrilled about that, but I really wanted the Cap, so I did it.  I’m glad I did, because I do really, really like this Cap.  The changes feel worth it, and he feels more like a new figure and not just a retread of the ones from before.  I think Secret Wars may still be more of a definitive Cap for me, but this one’s exceptionally fun, and I especially love all the fun stuff you can do with that screaming head.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased these figures for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3914: Captain America & Bucky

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

CAPTAIN AMERICA & BUCKY

AMERICAN HEROES (TOY BIZ)

“Taking Part in the U.S. Army’s Super-Soldier program during the World War II, Steve Rogers was transformed into red-white-and-blue shield-throwing Captain America! Fighting against the enemies of freedom, Cap inspired millions of people around the world with his bravery–and one of these people was teenager, Bucky Barnes. Learning the secret of Captain America’s true identity, Bucky became Cap’s friend and sidekick–joining him to fight evil on their many adventures as they became two great American Heroes!”

Fighting Nazis: it never goes out of style!

Captain America and his sidekick Bucky Barnes debuted alongside each other in Captain America Comics #1 in 1941, and remained a pretty fixed pair for their first seven years of existence.  However, when Cap was revived in the “modern” age in the ‘60s, it was revealed that the accident that froze Cap also killed Bucky.  For 40 years, Bucky was on the list of exceptions to the “nobody stays dead in comics” rule, alongside the likes of Jason Todd, Uncle Ben, and Gwen Stacy.  Boy, that’s a shorter list these days, huh?  During his 40 years being dead, Bucky was kind of rare on the toy front.  Cap and his related characters were generally on the rarer side in general during the early Toy Biz days, but Bucky did get one figure during the run, alongside another figure of Cap himself.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Captain America and Bucky make up the “American Heroes” two-pack, released as a one-off two-pack as part of Toy Biz’s wider 5-inch Marvel range in 1998.  They had an edition size of 20,000, at least according to the package.  The pack includes the two figures, as well as a magnetic address book with an illustration of the two on the front.  Why do they come with an address book?  Great question.  No clue.  But there it is, and Toy Biz isn’t taking my calls.

CAPTAIN AMERICA

There were seven Captain Americas in Toy Biz’s 5-inch line, and four of them were variations on the same figure.  This is one of those four.  The figure stands about 5 3/4 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  His mold is a re-use of the Electro Spark release from the Spider-Man line in 1996.  The mold has its ups and its downs.  It was certainly one of Toy Biz’s favorites for the character, but it’s rather big and bulky, and he’s quite angry looking.  All that said, it’s got a sort of quaintness to it, and I find myself always enjoying it whenever I mess with it.  The sculpt remains unchanged here, so this figure has two notable change-ups.  Firstly, there’s the paint work.  The actual paint masks remain the same as the Electro Spark version, but the colors themselves have changed.  The blue is notably a much brighter shade, his skin isn’t quite as pale, and the white sections have a more pearlescent sheen.  On my copy, the general application also seems to be a little cleaner than his earlier release.  It’s just a much better set-up than the prior figure, and really the best this mold got to look.  The other change-up is on the accessories, or rather accessory.  He drops the weird transforming armor bit, and instead of the really thick light-up shield, he gets a more proper version, which is similar to the one with the Marvel vs Capcom figure, but less fragile.

BUCKY

The still very much dead at this time Bucky had never gotten a figure prior to this, making him very definitely the selling point of this set.  He’s seen here in his classic attire, because what else are you going to put Bucky into, I guess?  The figure stands right at 5 inches tall and he has 10 points of articulation.  Bucky is a total parts re-use like Cap, but since this was the first Bucky figure ever, he’s re-using parts from other characters.  He’s mostly re-using parts from the Incredible Hulk line’s Doc Samson figure, topped off with the head of Peter Parker.  Samson’s kind of bulky and muscle-bound for what I’d usually think of for Bucky, but at the same time, when paired off with that really quite large Captain America sculpt, he doesn’t feel too crazy out of place.  If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say Samson was largely chosen because he has the cuffed boots already.  He doesn’t have Bucky’s cuffed gloves or collar, though.  In the case of the gloves, he gets extra wrist cuff pieces made from cloth, while the collar is just ignored by the sculpt all together.  The paint does what it can to transform the re-used parts into something more Bucky-like.  The head’s mask does an okay job of differentiating him from Peter, and most of the costume elements are fine.  As is so often the case, you have to ignore some sculpted details that just get painted over, in this case Samson’s etched-in collar to his shirt.  They do at least use the front of that detail as the top of Bucky’s jacket flap, so it could be worse.  The red collar being painted is probably the weakest element here but ultimately, it all works a bit better than expected.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, I spent a lot of time watching my VHS copies of the Ruby-Spears Captain America cartoons, which Bucky figures quite prominently into.  As such, I was always eager to add a Bucky to my collection, and I recall being very excited when this set was announced.  Unfortunately, it never really showed up in stores near me, so I never got one.  Bucky had my animated Nightwing figure as his stand-in, with a story that he had actually been woken up years before Cap and that was why he was older and his hair was longer…did I come up with the Winter Soldier idea in 2000?  Maybe, but also is it really *that* original an idea?  I assure you that 8-year-old me certainly didn’t have a Russian sleeper agent angle…mostly because I didn’t really know what that was.  I’m getting sidetracked.  I’ve had my eye out for this set for a while, and I finally found one for a price I liked over the summer, so here it is.  I like it a lot.  Cap is the best version of this mold they did, and that’s pretty cool.  Bucky feels like he *shouldn’t* work being cobbled together the way he is, and yet, in “whole is better than the sum of the parts” situation, he really just does.

#3898: Captain America

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

CAPTAIN AMERICA

SILVER AGE (TOY BIZ)

“Steve Rogers, a frail, sickly orphan, enlisted in the army on the eve of World Ear II but was rejected due to this poor physical condition. Given a second change, Rogers volunteered for a special experiment called Operation Rebirth. He was injected with a “Super Soldier” serum and his body was transformed into a body as perfect as a human can be. He was trained in gymnastics, hand-to-hand combat and military strategy and became Captain America. In addition to speed, strength, agility, endurance and reaction speed far superior to any Olympic athlete, Captain America was given an unbreakable Adamantium shield as his sole weapon. Captain America has since faced all types of threats and has and always will be a true symbol of truth, liberty and justice.”

In 1999, Toy Biz was exploring direct market options for keeping their 5-inch Marvel offerings going, and wound up offering a handful of one-off sets of figures, each with a loose theme.  There was a pair of them based around different eras of the Marvel Universe, one Silver Age, the other Modern.  Today, I’m jumping into the former, with a look back at Marvel’s Silver Age of comics….sort of….not really.  Look, I’ll get to it.  The important thing here is that I’m looking at a Toy Biz Captain America, and that’s always a good time for me.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America is the first of the four figures that make up the Silver Age line from Toy Biz.  While Modern Age skewed a bit more obscure with some of its choices, Silver Age was very heavy hitter friendly.  Both line-ups were offered up through Previews, so they were predominantly comic store exclusives.  I know KB got Modern Age, but I don’t recall if Silver Age ever made that jump.  Anyway, let’s talk about Cap!  So, let’s be clear about something right out of the gate: this is emphatically *not* a Silver Age Captain America.  They gave him a card with the cover of Avengers #4, which introduced Cap to the Silver Age, but the actual figure is very much first appearance Cap, which makes him a Golden Age Cap.  But, I suppose a “Golden Age” line of Marvel figures would struggle with a wider audience, so Cap got shuffled. The figure stands 5 3/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  He made use of the mold from the Marvel vs Capcom Cap from earlier that same year.  It’s my favorite of the Toy Biz Cap molds, for sure, and generally the one that works best with their overall 5-inch line.  The only thing that’s a little off about it in a non-video game application is that the head is definitely a Capcom Cap, not a straight comics one, and this figure is definitely aiming for a more direct Kirby vibe.  There *were* new parts in this line-up, but not a ton, so they may have just figured it was close enough.  I still don’t hate it, even if it’s not crazy accurate.  The primary change-up is the paint, which serves to make him all not-Silver-Age-y.  He’s got his modified mask, without the neck coverage.  It doesn’t really follow the sculpted lines, of course, so you just have to ignore that and hope for the best.  Otherwise, he also changes the colors a bit, so the blue is a lot darker here than on others.  Beyond that, application’s pretty clean, and he gets some okay accent work.  Cap is packed with both of his shields, the circular one and the original badge-shaped one.  The circular one is the same mold as the MvC one, but using a different plastic, so the clip isn’t as prone to breaking, making it a perfect replacement for the MvC one that broke.  The other shield is neat, because you didn’t tend to see it, and this was its first toy coverage.  It’s also got actual cloth straps, which are very fun.  Lastly, there’s a trading card with the Avengers #4 cover that doesn’t have anything to do with this figure, but is still a nice example of a good cover.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

There were three Captain America figures released in 1999, and I got two of them.  I wanted all three, but my parents were still working towards grasping why I needed nearly identical figures of the same guy.  I’d already gotten them to buy me the United They Stand Cap, and I guess I just didn’t want to push my luck with this one?  I looked at it a lot of times, I recall, and I’m sure if I’d really asked, they would have bought it for me.  I recall being a bit frustrated by a clearly Golden Age Cap being in a Silver Age line, even as a seven-year-old, so perhaps I just wasn’t personally ready to own him.  He’s been on my list for a while, though.  He’s not rare, but he’s not super plentiful, so he never landed in front of me.  At the beginning of the year, as I started to get back to my Toy Biz collecting, he was on my short list, and now here he is.  I do sure like him a lot.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0034: Captain America

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , ,

CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL SUPER HEROES (TOY BIZ)

Hey, it’s July 4th.  Well, isn’t that something. Really going great for us as a country here, huh?  Lot to celebrate?  American Dream feeling super realized?  Oh, wait, no, it’s actually none of those things.  Well, gee, that’s a bit of a bummer.  And I’m not even writing a proper review today?  Wow, guys, sorry.  If nothing else, I’ll lean into my own personal coping mechanism for the ugliness surrounding us, which is championing behind a man who’s loyal to the dream and made a career out of punching Nazis, Captain America!

“When Captain America throws his mighty shield! All Foes who chose to oppose his shield must yield!”

-Captain America Theme Song

My first introduction to Captain America was through VHS copies of the ‘60s cartoon. As cheesy as they are, I loved every minute of them. Sadly, in the mid-90s, when I was becoming so fond of Cap as a character, he was more or less absent from toy shelves. I eventually got the Spider-Man: The Animated Series version when it was finally released, but the figure I always wanted was Toy Biz’s first version of the character, which I’ll be looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America was released in Series 1 of Toy Biz’s Marvel Super Heroes line. This Cap stands just under 5 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation. This figure predates elbow articulation becoming a standard for Toy Biz’s Marvel stuff, as they were still very much aping the Kenner Super Powers style, and none of those had elbow movement. Really, this whole figure in general feels like a Captain America figure done to fit with Super Powers (well, aside from size, since he’s taller than any figure Kenner put out), which is far from a bad thing. Rather than the more ‘90s-esc proportions of which Toy Biz would later become so fond, Cap is pretty subdued, and looks more or less like a real person. His torso features some awesome detailing for the scale-mail, and I love the way they’ve sculpted the star logo so as to make it pop a bit more. Figures of Captain America have the unfortunate tendency to miss the mark on the good Captain’s face. I guess he’s just one of those characters where it has to be just right. I think this figure’s the closest anyone’s ever gotten to my ideal Captain America, at least from a comic-based perspective. It’s a little round by today’s standards, but I really like the overall style present here.  There’s just a certain sincerity to it that lots of Caps lack. Cap’s paintwork is quite nicely handled, especially for the time. The colors are all nice and bold, and he really sells the whole patriotic super hero thing. His eyes are admittedly a little wonky, and it would have been nice for his belt buckle to be something other than the unpainted blue plastic, but those are relatively minor complaints. Cap was packed with his mighty shield, as well as a weird launching device for it. However, my figure sadly lacks these pieces.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I noted in the intro, this was a figure I really wanted growing up. Unfortunately, he was released before I got into collecting, and wasn’t very easy to find after the fact. So, I had to settle for the US Agent repaint from a few series later. In fact, my dad, as awesome as he was, even bought me an extra US Agent and we painted him up in proper Cap colors, which held me over quite nicely. This particular figure ended up being one of the fifteen figures I picked up at the last Balticon. I’m glad to finally have the official version, and he’s aged a bit better than a lot of Toy Biz’s output from the same time period.

Well, after being rather disappointed with my own review for last week’s Addendum, this one feels more on the money.  Admittedly, it was a generally better time for my writing.  I’d just graduated from college, and I was writing this in my down time on an RV trip I took with Jess and her aunt and uncle.  It gave me more time to properly appreciate things.  I do still really like this guy.  Since my original review, I did manage to track down a shield and launcher for him.  It’s the same one used with US Agent, of course, but in more proper coloring.  It’s gimmicky, but ultimately not in a really obtrusive way, so I don’t hate it.  All-in-all, Toy Biz kind of hit it pretty strong with their original Cap, and I don’t really know that they ever truly topped it.

#3804: Captain America – Ultimate

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

CAPTAIN AMERICA — ULTIMATE

MARVEL LEGENDS (TOY BIZ)

“In 1940, as America prepared for war, young and frail Steve Rogers volunteered for an experiment that transformed him into the ultimate physical specimen: Captain America. Enhanced by the Super-Soldier Serum, Captain America’s agility, strength, endurance and reaction time were superior to those of an Olympic-level athlete. Cap also mastered a number of fighting forms, including American-style boxing and judo. These abilities, combined with his indestructible shield, made him one of the finest human combatants Earth had ever known. Steve Rogers battled the Nazis until a mishap placed him in suspended animation deep within the Himalayan Mountains. Decades later he was discovered by Tony Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D. and became a cornerstone of the Ultimates.”

It’s a new month, but I’m still keeping that Toy Biz Marvel train rolling, albeit in a slightly different fashion.  Last month it was all 5-inch figures, but this month, I’m taking it up a notch…and I mean that literally, because the figures are actually gonna be taller, because we’re jumping ahead into the Marvel Legends era for a bit.  Yeah, it’s classic Marvel Legends!  And, I’m still sort of staying in a comfort zone, with a look at one of the line’s Captain Americas…well, two of them, I guess.  And, sure, it’s Ultimate Cap, but I’ll take what I can get.  At least he always makes for a pretty decent toy.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultimate Captain America was released in Series 8 of Toy Biz’s Marvel Legends, which was the last series before the introduction of Build-A-Figures, which also led to Toy Biz abandoning the actual numbering for the line.  He was one of the three figures in the line-up to get a variant, which I’ll touch on later in the review.  The figure stands just shy of 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 46 points of articulation.  His articulation’s pretty typical of this era of Toy Biz’s run.  It’s not bad, but it’s definitely a little over complicated relative to the range of motion he gets.  It’s also prone to getting a bit loose over time, especially on the hips.  The sculpt was all-new, and it was…well, it was certainly something.  The articulation definitely took the precedent on this one, so the flow of the sculpt is a little bit odd and disjointed.  His proportions are sort of odd, with the head being a bit small, and the hands and feet being a bit large.  He’s also got a little bit of a hunch.  That said, the work on outfit, especially the texturing, is really good, and conveys the modernized take on his design well.  The variant figure gets a unique head sculpt, which adds the classic head wings.  It’s also just totally different from the standard, with a slightly friendlier expression, which makes more sense for the 616 version of the character.  He’s more modernized to match the body sculpt, so there’s extra stitching, as well as straps on the sides.  It’s an interesting approach, but perhaps not the most truly classic version.  It serves more as a prototype for the more proper classic Cap they built out of this mold the following year.  The paint work on the figure is pretty decent.  There’s a lot of accenting to bring out the sculpted elements, and it works pretty well.  The standard version gets additional grey detailing, as is proper to the Ultimate design, while the standard is straight blue.  However, early versions of the two figures had the details reversed, giving Ultimate Cap the full blue look, and Classic Cap the grey, meaning there are actually a total of four different versions of this figure.  Regardless of the version, Cap is packed with his shield (the same one used with the Series 1 figure), a display stand, and a poster booklet (in place of the usual comic book).  The poster book, interestingly, is actually more classic Cap images than Ultimate, but I’m hardly complaining.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m really not a fan of Ultimate Captain America as a character, so I wasn’t much for this one at the time of his release.  I also had the Series 1 version, and he was pretty much perfect to me.  That said, I’ve gotten more comfortable with having a lot of Captain America figures these days, so I ended up snagging the standard release sealed a couple of years ago, and then the variant loose just last year.  And now I have them both.  They’re kind of a mixed bag, but an intriguing part of the Cap Legends genealogy.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with these figures to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3776: Captain America – Brave New World

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

CAPTAIN AMERICA — BRAVE NEW WORLD

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“After carrying the mantle of Captain America for a few years, Sam Wilson must use his intelligence and make new allies to stop a force unlike any he’s seen before.”

Every so often, it’s good to highlight some people that like to punch Nazis.  Because Nazis need some punching.  And who better to lead the charge in Nazi punching than Captain America?  There’s a new Captain America movie coming out next month, and I sure do love Captain America movies (well, most of them; I don’t wanna talk about the 1990 one), so I’m excited.  This one is Sam Wilson’s first time headlining a film in the title role, which I do love as well.  And, there’s new toys.  I especially love that.  Here’s one of those!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America is one of the three Deluxe-sized Marvel Legends releases tying into the release of Brave New World.  It’s not a bad approach, and certainly works a bit better than the Build-A-Wing approach of the prior Sam Cap.  This way, he’s a nice one-and-done offering.  At his core, the figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation. He’s got what appears to be an all-new sculpt, based on his new design for the film.  His new costume isn’t ultimately too drastic a departure from the last one when you get down to the sculpted details; a lot of the elements are the same, just recolored in such a way to more closely mimic some of the Steve Cap costume elements.  He does go a little more casual, loosing the “mask” elements that connected to his goggles, and rolling up the sleeves (a change that Carol Danvers also did in her most recent movie; I guess the Captains are all just rolling up their sleeves now).  I feel like he maybe seems a little bit too skinny for Sam, but it might just be me.  It’s got some respectable proportion balancing, though, and the likeness on the head is a very good match for Anthony Mackie.  As with the last figure, he’s also got his wings, which add an additional 8 points of articulation to the figure.  They’re a total rebuild from the last ones, adding an extra segment with an extra joint, as well as being sharper and cleaner.  I honestly thought the old ones were pretty good, but these ones just improve on them and are super awesome.  Sam gets a fair bit of painted detailing, and it all works pretty well.  It’s generally pretty clean on the application front, and the new color scheme is at the very least an obvious departure from the last one.  Sam is packed with two pairs of hands (fists and open), an extra helmeted head, an alternate folded up backpack, Redwing, and his shield.  The helmeted head is nifty, but really hard to get on the body, so I don’t see myself using it much.  Redwing appears to be the same one from the Build-A-Figure release, but has no stand or anything to mount on, so I don’t really know what to do with him.  The shield is the John Walker Cap version of the mold, so it can be mounted on either of the two backpacks, which is certainly an improvement.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

These figures snuck up on me.  Admittedly, so did the movie.  I have no real excuse for the second one, because it’s been delayed and all.  It’s on me, you guys.  I haven’t been as up on things.  I didn’t *need* this one, of course, but it’s a new Cap, and I always have a hard time saying no to those.  Ultimately, this one’s pretty darn solid.  Not perfect, but the wings alone make him worth it.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3763: Captain America

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“When the Avengers, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four are transported to a strange planet, Captain America is chosen to take the lead in fighting the ultimate war!”

As much as it’s become something of a rarity these days, since I tend to buy most Marvel Legends for myself, there was a time when Legends invariably made up a large component of what I got for Christmas.  We’re, of course, going largely back to the Toy Biz days, but still.  Thanks to a new set of figures that came in right under the wire on last year’s deliveries, the timing astoundingly lined-up for that to happen again.  2024 marked the 40th anniversary of Secret Wars, an event designed to sell toys, so what better way to mark the occasion than by selling some more toys?  It gives Hasbro a good excuse to re-release some heavy hitters, like, for instance, Captain America!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America is part of the six-figure “Secret Wars” anniversary assortment of Marvel Legends, which hit right at the end of last year.  He’s joined by the similarly heavy-hitter-y Wolverine, Spider-Man, and Iron Man, as well as the all-new but still very much important to the actual event Beyonder and Titania.  They’re all patterned on the vintage Mattel line, with replica retro card backs, and a few of the gimmicks as well.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Structurally, this figure’s the same kind of “Ship of Theseus” set-up as the Renew Your Vows Spider-Man, just for Cap.  His oldest parts are from the Grim Reaper body, who was reworked into Cap Wolf.  Cap Wolf got upgraded to 80th Anniversary Cap, who was also used for the 20th Anniversary Series 1 Cap.  This figure further upgrades the body by adding pinless construction on the arms and legs, as well making the glove cuffs a separate piece, making for a cleaner assembly.  In general, it takes a base body that was already quite strong, and gives it that winning edge, making this the best Cap base body to date.  Cap gets two new head sculpts, both sculpted by Paul Harding, who handled the heads on the 20th Cap.  According to him, all four heads were sculpted at the same time, and these ones were saved for later.  This time around, he’s got one smiling head, and one gritting his teeth.  They’re both quite nice, and just as solid as the prior two.  Personally, I think the smiling one’s my favorite of the bunch, but I like the versatility in general.  There’s only one drawback, and that’s to do with the colors.  This figure is notably NOT the same color palette as the 20th release, which in a vacuum isn’t terrible.  Clearly, they’re trying to emulate the Mattel colors more directly, right down to the reversed stripe pattern on the mid-section.  The blue in particular is a bit warmer, and I do honestly prefer that.  The biggest trouble with it, however, is that it means you can’t swap the different expressions between this guy and the 20th, so there’s no neutral expression for this figure, and you can go more intense with the 20th.  It’s not the end of the world, but it’s a little more limiting than I’d expected.  In terms of actual application, he’s generally alright.  The glove construction in particular clears up the problem with messy edges on the gloves that we saw with the earlier mold.  On my figure, both heads do have some slight issues, with part of the A being scraped off on the happy head, and a weird flecking of flesh tone paint on the angry head.  Neither is a major issue, but it’s frustrating.  Cap is packed with three sets of hands, in fists, gripping, and flat/pointing.  The gripping are an interesting choice, and I assume they’re just there to reference the vintage figure?  I do miss the open gesture hands from the 20th, but I always miss the open gesture hands when they get left out, honestly.  He gets two different shields, and neither of them is standard, continuing the bit of this updated Cap mold not getting standard shields, and also the gag of the vintage Secret Wars Cap not getting a standard one either.  He’s got a throwback vintage shield, complete with the lenticular gimmick, as well as a shattered version of the standard shield, which even includes the broken off pieces.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I love the 20th Cap, but even when he was new, I was aware there would be another on the horizon.  This one didn’t surprise me.  I ended up getting him as a gift from Max, who sniped me purchasing him on the basis that he didn’t know exactly what to get me, and knew I wouldn’t have the new Cap that just came in.  It’s a solid observation.  I’ve gotten something out of every successive iteration of the Caps that led to this version of the mold, and this one is certainly the best thus far.  Sure, the color change is frustrating, and we still don’t have a proper undamaged classic shield for him, so I know there’s another one on the horizon with all the heads and a repainted Ultimate shield.  And, I’ll buy that one too, because I’m weak.  But, until then, I do really, really like this one.

#3652: Captain America – Symbol of Truth

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

CAPTAIN AMERICA — SYMBOL OF TRUTH

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Sam Wilson takes the mantle of Captain America to new heights, combining the iconic shield with his signature wings versus threats near and abroad.”

So, like, not to be that guy who critiques the bios again, but, umm, I’m gonna do exactly that, because there’s an irony to this particular Sam Wilson Cap figure calling out his use of the iconic shield, when, umm, this one doesn’t?  I mean, I guess the spirit of the thing is still there, right?  Sure, let’s go with that.

Shortly after introducing Sam Wilson as the Falcon in the MCU, the comics had Steve aged up and unable to keep Captaining, so Sam stepped into the role, a move that I always found sort of amusing given that, well, you’d only just introduced people to the Falcon identity, and then you immediately took it away from him.  Steve eventually took the title back, of course, and while they had a touch of overlap, Sam went back to being Falcon again…and then he got handed the shield in the MCU.  We had a while where Steve was the only Cap in the comics, while the MCU built up Sam, but somewhere along the way, someone had the bright idea to just let them both be Captain America for a while again, and thus Sam became the Cap with the sub-title “Symbol of Truth” (Steve for his part got to use his recurrent “Sentinel of Liberty” monicker).  Steve is currently back to being the main focus Cap at the moment, but Sam hasn’t reverted to Falcon, and with a Sam Cap movie just having dropped its trailer, it’s unlikely he’ll do that any time soon.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America – Symbol of Truth is a Target-exclusive Marvel Legends release.  He’s at the deluxe price-point, and started hitting retail right around the beginning of the summer.  It seems likely he was intended to tie-in with Brave New World‘s original intended release date, much like those McDonald’s toys we got, but as a comics figure, his placement is a little less weird, especially with this effectively being Sam’s evergreen look these days.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 36 points of articulation counting the wings.  By-and-large, this figure is a re-use of the Sam Cap figure from the three-pack in 2016, which was itself a re-tool of the Marvel Now Cap.  It’s a sculpt that wasn’t without its flaws at the time, but it’s honestly not bad, and it’s held up surprisingly well given the oldest parts of it are now a decade old.  It’s still got visible pins, of course, and I’m still not sure I love the head, though I’ve warmed to it a bit more in the eight years since its first release.  The primary change-up here is the presence of the wings; they were a rather glaring omission when the original figure dropped, and time hasn’t really lessened that.  This figure gets them as one separate wing-pack piece, which plugs into the peg hole already present on the back.  They’ve got 4 point of articulation, with a swivel at the base of the pack, and a hinge actually on the wings proper.  They’re a little rudimentary, but they get the job done, and we’ve certainly seen worse wings in this line.  Cap’s color scheme is also slightly changed up.  It’s nothing drastic, with the most notable shift being the switch to a brighter blue this time around, which gives him a little more pop.  The paint is also a little cleaner this time, largely because that’s just an area where Hasbro’s improved across the board.  Cap is packed with two sets of hands, the fist/gripping combo from the original mold, plus a right grip/left open gesture from last year’s Ultimate Cap.  The glove detailing isn’t an exact match, but it’s close enough to not really throw the whole look off either.  Cap is also packed with his shield, and yes, it’s very specifically Sam’s shield, since it’s got the new design from Symbol of Truth.  It’s using the tweaked Anniversary Cap shield mold that was also included with Ultimate Cap, which is by far the best version of the shield Hasbro’s had, and the new detailing looks really nice.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: I didn’t intend to get this figure.  I had my three-pack figure, who lacked the wings, and I had the MCU figure, who didn’t, so I figured my bases were covered.  What changed?  Well, Max found two of them at Target, and texted to ask if I wanted one.  Through a comedy of errors, I didn’t get back to him in time, but he didn’t want me to miss out, so he grabbed one just in case.  Once he’d bought it, I felt it would be rude to leave him out the cost of the second one, so I figured I might as well get one.  And you know what?  I’m glad I did.  The wing pack is fun, and I’m glad to have the new shield, and, heck, I even like the new shades to the coloring.  If I’ve already got all those Steve Caps, is it really that bad to have a few extra Sams as well?  I don’t really think so.

#3646: Captain America – Fighting Armor

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL FIGHTING ARMOR (SENTINEL)

Isn’t it funny that so very many of the import figures I look at here on the site are Captain Americas?  I mean, a notable swath of the Figuarts here on the site are Cap, but I didn’t want to just leave it all to Bandai.  There’s plenty of other companies out there, looking to get in on the action, right?  A company  I haven’t yet looked into here on the site is Sentinel, who have gotten into the Marvel license with a couple of lines in the last few years.  Their more wide-reaching line is their Fighting Armor one, which asks that oh so rarely asked question of “what if the Marvel heroes had armor?”  That never comes up, right?  Okay, it does, but on the plus side, the answer is usually something along the lines of “it would be very awesome”.  I’ve explored this question twice before on Captain America, but I certainly won’t let that stop me from giving it yet another shot!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America is figure 3 in the Marvel Fighting Armor line from Sentinel.  The figure stands 6 3/4 inches tall and he has 42 points of articulation.  Compared to, say, a Figuart, the articulation is certainly a lot more straight forward.  It’s not quite as simple as a Legends figure, though; it sort of falls in between.  There’s a degree of moving panels around for proper range of motion, but it feels like it has a good flow about it.  Cap’s sculpt appears to be unique, at least for the most part.  I don’t have any of the others, of course, so I can’t say for certain.  It’s a solid set-up.  He’s got a new design, made to fit in with the rest of Sentinel’s in-house looks for the Fighting Armor figures.  It takes the classic Cap design, with a bit of the Marvel Now design thrown in, and armorizes it, but notably in a different fashion than, say, the Tech-On Cap.  The whole thing is very sleek and clean, which I love.  It also just feels very intrinsically Captain America, which I also love.  His construction uses a little bit of die-cast metal.  It appears to be largely confined to the core of the figure, and mostly serves to give him a reasonable heft when you pick him up.  I don’t mind that so much.  Cap’s color work is dialed into the traditional Cap fare, being very heavy on the red, white, and blue, albeit mostly metallic.  He’s got a flat shade in place of the white, though, which breaks things up pretty well.  Cap is packed with three sets of hands, in fists, gripping, and open gesture, as well as an armorized version of his Shield, and a standard display stand.  The shield’s got a kind of interesting way of attaching; there’s like this whole arm on it, which swings in and out relative to how you want it to be attached, be it his back, or either of his hands.  It’s an interesting idea, but the joints are a little loose on mine, so it flaps down a lot.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was aware of the Fighting Armor figures, but I hadn’t jumped in just because the figures are all pretty pricey, and I just wasn’t sure.  But, when a bunch of them landed in front of me, and there was a Cap in the mix, it felt like the best time to jump in.  And also I was weak.  Look, cool Captain America, okay?  I’m just a man!  I’m glad I got the chance to snag him, because he’s an immensely fun figure, and a neat alternate take on the armored Cap idea!

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3643: Captain America – Age of Ultron

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

CAPTAIN AMERICA — AGE OF ULTRON

MOVIE MASTERPIECE SERIES (HOT TOYS)

I said I might break the hiatus for the odd review, didn’t I? Well, I’m cashing in. Why? America, that’s why. Okay, specifically Captain America. It is his birthday after all. Also America’s too, but can America do this all day? Depends on how you define “this” I guess. Well, Captain America is a better fit for review here on the site than just America, so I’m going for him. I’ve reviewed a lot of Hot Toys Caps here, but I’ve got one more, so guess what we’re doing today! …did you guess “reviewing a Hot Toys Captain America?” Because I tried to really set the bar low on that one. There’s a picture of him at the top and everything. Well, whether you guessed it or not, that’s what we’re doing!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Avengers: Age of Ultron Captain America is part of Hot Toys’ Movie Masterpiece Series. He’s figure MMS 281 and he was released in the midst of all of the other AoU figures. While Hot Toys usually has quite a wait on tie-in figure releases, the AoU figures had a surprisingly quick turnaround, with Cap himself hitting before the end of the summer in 2015, just a few months after the movie’s release. He’s based on Cap’s team-oriented suit from the movie, and stands about 12 1/4 inches tall with over 30 points of articulation.

After the Winter Soldier release skipped it, this Cap goes back to the first Avengers set-up of including two head sculpts. The first is masked, and uses the same sculpt as the STRIKE suit figure. I was surprised to find it didn’t get the extra joint at the base of the head, just the bottom of the neck. It’s a little more restrictive in posing, but it does look a little cleaner. The likeness is solid. Not quite as good as the Endgame figure, but a step up from the prior two film’s figures. The unmasked head is a reuse of the one from the Winter Soldier Civilian Steve, and would be kept in circulation for Civil War, before being replaced after the solicitation stage of the Endgame figure. It’s a solid sculpt, with an even stronger likeness than the masked head, so I can get why it got so much mileage. The paint work on both heads is up to HT’s typical high standards, but it’s worth noting that the unmasked head has its pupils offset, so he’s looking to the side. It’s an interesting change-up.

Cap’s outfit uses a similar set-up to the Endgame figure, with the underlying suit being made up of a shirt and pants. They’re fairly decently tailored, though some of the stitch work is a little bulky. In contrast to the belt line on the Endgame figure sitting too low, this one actually sits a little too high, which makes the whole torso seem a little small. There’s a cloth harness with metal fixtures, as well as a mixed media belt, and plastic sculpted boots, which use the two part set up for better movement.  The structure of the boots on this figure is a little awkward, I feel, and they sit a little strange in more basic poses, making his ankles look disproportionately large.  That said, the general assembly of the outfit is a decent match for his uniform from the movie, and there were no major inaccuracies or areas of concern that I saw.

The underlying base body is a smaller one than some of the other Caps have used, which is a little surprising.  It makes him seem a little scrawny, and gives the head the slightest bit of a bobble-head vibe.  It’s far from *awful*, but it’s not quite right either.  Articulation is notably restricted here as well, with the legs getting okay movement, but the arms, especially the shoulders, getting a rather tiny range.  They can move out to the sides okay, but forward and back isn’t really happening.

Cap is of course packed with the two previously mentioned heads, but in addition to those, he also gets:

  • 8 hands
  • Shield
  • Empty helmet
  • Display stand

It’s a lighter load for a Hot Toys release, honestly, but I guess the two heads balance things out a bit.  The hands have pairs of fists, tight grip, and loose grip, as well as a wide gesture right and a shield holding left.  They’re tricky to swap, which is always the case for Cap, but I didn’t have any issues with breakage.  The shield is metal this time around, and there are magnets to allow attachment to the forearms and tight gripping hands for holding, or the back of the harness for storage.  The magnetic feature ties it more directly to the movie, of course, but is also just a much easier way of attaching it than we’ve seen on other HT Caps.  The empty helmet looks to be the same piece as the Endgame one; it’s the same helmet on the main head, just with no Steve head in it.  The display stand is yet another different shape, this time a kind of a trapezoid thing, which matched the other AoU figure stands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

By Age of Ultron, I was totally off the Hot Toys train and moved onto other things.  I didn’t imagine going back to the Caps at the time, especially after skipping the Winter Soldier figures.  It coming out so quickly after solicitation, and then also jumping so high in price for a while certainly didn’t help.  Honestly, after going back, I wasn’t even sure this was one I’d get to, since he’s not drastically different from the Endgame costume.  I know, I wasn’t particularly convinced by that last sentence either.  When the huge 1/6 collection was filtering into All Time some months back, I kept thinking “there’s not really going to be anything else I need”….and then there kept being one or two more things I needed.  This was nearer the end, and when he first came in, he was missing his stand and alternate head, so I played the waiting game until the end of the collection.  But, sure enough, the extra parts were there, and therefore he was mine.  Ah, who am I kidding?  I would have bought him even if he were incomplete.  He’s decent, though compared to more recent ones, he’s not quite as technically impressive.  That doesn’t make him any less valuable a piece of my Cap collection, though, so I appreciate him all the same.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.