Tag Archives: Captain America

#0160: Captain America & Absorbing Man

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA & ABSORBING MAN

MARVEL MINIMATES

After another short break, I’m once again going back to my favorite toyline: Minimates.  Once again, I’m pulling a set from the Marvel Minimates line.  This set is one of the earlier sets in the line, and features the first releases of one very prominent character and one moderately well-known character.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This set was released in the 5th series of the Marvel Minimates line.  That was quite a while ago.

CAPTAIN AMERICA

This here is Captain America’s very first Minimate release.  It’s very funny to think that he wasn’t released until 5 waves in, and he was the first Avenger to see a release, but the characters had yet to see their big resurgence at this point.  Cap is of course based on his classic look.  He’s built on the typical Minimate body, though it’s important to note that he sports the original style feet, which were longer and lacked the peg holes in the soles.  Cap features 3 sculpted pieces: mask and a pair of gloves.  These pieces would see quite a few reuses later, but this is the first appearance of them.  They look pretty spot on, and fit great with the more simplistic style of the line at the time.  The paint is quite good.  Minimalistic, of course, but very well handled.  The face has a great look of friendly assurance, which looks perfect for Cap, and I really love how well the eyes match up to the mask.  Cap includes his mighty shield, and a clip to put it on his arm.  Unlike later releases, he doesn’t have a spare non-gloved hand, which makes putting the shield on a pain, but it’s easily remedied with a spare hand.

ABSORBING MAN

I just recently looked at the most recent re-release of Absorbing Man, so it’s cool to get to look at how far the line has come.  Absorbing Man is based on the same basic look as the newer figure, just done a bit more simply.  Like Cap, he’s on the usual body, with the earlier style feet.  He’s a “vanilla ‘mate”, so not add-ons.  The paintwork isn’t bad.  Quite a bit of detailing for the time, but I’m not sure it works.  They’ve given him a screaming face, which doesn’t really suit Absorbing Man, in my opinion.  The details are all pretty well done, but he’s missing some details, such as ears.  Absorbing Man includes one accessory: his ball and chain.  It might be the same piece included with the new one, but I honestly can’t tell.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This was the 5th set of Minimates I ever got.  I acquired it from a nearby comic book store.  I know I had heard that the set was being released, but I didn’t know they were out until I came across them in that store.  I remember being very excited to buy them.  Cap was my default version of the character until about wave 45, and to this day still remains one of my very favorite Minimates.

#0131: Captain America & Red Skull

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

FIGHTING CHANCE CAPTAIN AMERICA & ROBOT RED SKULL

MARVEL MINIMATES

Continuing the theme started two days ago, I’ll be looking at another set from my recently received shipment of Minimates.  Today marks my first of three reviews from the most recent wave of Marvel Minimates.  With increasing regularity, waves will follow a set theme, and this wave continues the trend.  All the figures in this wave are based around Captain America, likely to somewhat tie-in with the upcoming movie.  This review focuses on variants of Cap and his arch nemesis the Red Skull.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of the 54th wave of the Marvel Minimates line.

CAPTAIN AMERICA

First up, the lead hero of this wave, Captain America.  He’s billed as “Fighting Chance Captain America,” and according to the back of the box, this figure depicts Cap from a storyline where the effects of the super-soldier formula began to wear off, which served as an excuse to give him padding and pouches.  Because the ‘90s, that’s why!  Cap is built on the usual Minimate body, so he features 14 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall.  He features 9 sculpted add-ons: Mask, shoulder/chest padding, glove cuffs (with straps!), a leg holster, a matching leg-thingy for ammo, and his trademarked boots!  The mask is a reuse from the WW2 Cap released in the Captain America Through the Ages set, but everything else appears to be a new sculpt.  This includes the boots, which have been reworked to fit a bit better.  Everything else looks appropriately detailed, and very “pouch-y”.  The paint is quite good.  Cap’s face is covered in lines, which seems right for the art style, and the torso is fully detailed under the armor, in spite of the fact that the armor can’t easily be removed.  There are a few fuzzy lines, notably on the sleeves, but overall, everything looks okay.  Cap includes an alternate hairpiece, which was reused from The Walking Dead’s Rick Grimes, a handgun, his mighty shield, and a clear display stand.

RED SKULL

Next, the arch enemy of Captain America, the Red Skull!  …Sort of.  This is “Robot Red Skull”, who supposedly represents the Red Skull after he transfers his mind into one of Arnim Zola’s robot bodies, following the death of the Russian general he was inhabiting before.  Okay, so that happened.  I think that was actually during the Ed Brubaker run on the series, so it was probably much better than it sounds.  Robo-Skull is built on the typical body, so he’s got the usual stats.  Robo-Skull is one of the less sculpt-heavy figures in this wave, but he still features a brand new head, plus shoulder pads, and a skirt.  Go ahead, insult the skirt.  I dare you.  The head looks nice, and seems to be accurate to what they were going for.  The rest of the figure relies on painted details, which look very nice.  The face on the torso in particular is very cool looking!  Robo-Skull includes a Red Skull mask that fits over the robo-head, a hand holding the Cosmic Cube (you call it a Tesseract and I will hurt you), and a clear display stand.  The Cosmic Cube in particular excites me, because it’s a piece that’s been sorely missing for far too long!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

These two were part of the large shipment of Minimates I ordered from my favorite Minimates retailer, Luke’s Toy Store.  I really only got these two because I was buying a whole set of wave 54, but they aren’t too shabby.  The Cosmic Cube is practically worth the price I paid alone!

#0100: Captain America – Avengers Version

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

THE AVENGERS (HOT TOYS)

Hey look!  100 reviews!  That’s not too shabby, is it?  Like with my 50th review, I’ll be doing another “Deluxe Review.”

For those of you that don’t know, Hot Toys is a toy company based in Hong Kong who are renowned for their almost life like 1/6 scale figures.  They cater strictly to those with a large amount of money to spend on such things, as each figure costs anywhere from $200 to $300 on average.  They tend to pick up the licenses for big block buster movies, and last year they released figures from The Avengers.

Today I’ll be looking at their take on Captain America from that film.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

So, like I mentioned before, this figure is based on Cap from the Avengers movie.  He was #174 in Hot Toys’ Movie Masterpiece Series.  The figure stands about 12 inches tall, and has a whole lot of articulation.  I don’t know exactly how much, as most of it is hidden by his costume.  So I’m gonna just go with a bunch.

Cap-AvengersCloseUp

THE HEAD IN QUESTION

I’ll look at the basic head here, and the extra head in the accessories section.    The basic head depicts Cap with his helmet/mask on.  The helmet appears to be a separately molded piece, but it’s not removable.    Sculpt wise, all the details look great.   I’m not sure that they’ve quite gotten Chris Evans’s likeness down, but they’ve came pretty damn close.  The helmet is pretty much a miniaturized version of the actual one from the film, with pretty much every little groove and detail included.  The under-the-helmet-hood is also well done, simulating the texture of the fabric impressively.  Paint is one of Hot Toys’ strong suits, and this figure doesn’t disappoint.  The level of detail and the lifelike quality is nothing short of amazing.  Viewed from the right angle, this figure could pass for a real person.

THE COSTUME IN QUESTION

This is kind of a new category for me, as the costume features few sculpted pieces and very little paint.  That isn’t to say he has no sculpted pieces.  He’s got his hands, boots, gauntlets, the chevrons on his shoulders, his belt buckle, and the star on his chest.  These are all fairly well executed, although, the boot and gauntlet sculpts may be a bit on the soft side, sculpt-wise.  All of the sculpted parts are painted quite well, with no slop or bleed over.

So, I’ve looked ate the sculpted parts, now I’ll move on to the rest of the figure’s costume, which is all cloth.  Cap’s costume is tailored specifically to fit his body, and is handled with two main pieces:  Shirt and Pants.  Most of his uniform is made from the same coarse blue fabric.  I find it’s a bit on the dark side for Cap’s look from the movie, but it isn’t too bad.  The costume is assembled from multiple layers, which really adds to the realism.

THE ACCESSORIES IN QUESTION

Cap comes with quite a hefty selection of accessories.  They are:

  • Unmasked Head
  • Pulled down Hood to display with the unmasked head
  • 7 spare hands
  • 2 shields: Regular and Battle-Damaged
  • Chitauri Arm Cannon
  • Display Stand

The alternate head is pretty good.  Once again, I’m not sure they’ve completely captured Evans, but it’s hard to tell given the choice of expression.  I don’t really know why they decided to go with an angry expression for the unmasked head, since that isn’t very characteristic of Cap in the movie, but I guess it looks okay if you’re going for more of a battle-damaged, end of the movie look.  The head switches out at the base of the neck, and does so with relative, which is nice because it means you don’t have to man handle you’re $200+ action figure.

The alternate head is complimented by a hood piece to replicate what Cap’s hood looked like when he pulled it down in the movie.  It’s pretty much just a piece of blue cloth.  It’s okay, but it has difficulty hanging properly, which can look a bit awkward.  It’s attached via two snaps that hook on the inside collar of the costume.  They’re unreliable, and don’t tend to hold well.  Overall, this is kind of an extraneous piece.  I’m glad they included it for those that want it, but it’s not something I ever plan to use.

Cap includes seven hands in addition to the relaxed pair he has on in the box.  The hands include: gripping(R and L), Pointing(R), splayed(R and L), and fists(R and L).  They’re all sculpted well, and offer a nice variety of gestures.

Cap’s most important accessories are his mighty shields.  He includes both a clean and polished one and a scuffed up, battle-worn one.  The clean one is vac-metallized, which is a decision I question, as it doesn’t really accurately depict what Cap’s shield looks like in the movies.  Also, if you’re unlucky, all to paint might start flaking off like some people have experienced, so there’s that.  I much prefer the BD shield, as I feel it looks more like the one Cap carries in the movie.

Cap also includes a Chitauri arm-cannon thing.  He takes one from one of the aliens during the movie’s climactic battle, so it fits.  It’s pretty cool, and can be plugged into Cap’s hand peg if you so desire.

Lastly, Cap includes a black display stand with his name and the Avengers logo on it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When Hot Toys announced their Avengers line, this was a figure I wasn’t going to buy.  I planned on getting the rest, and need to save the money for them.  Plus, I already had Cap from his solo film.  That should be enough for me, right?

Well, as you can see, no, it wasn’t.  I broke down and bought the figure because I really wanted that really cool Avengers set up, and First Avenger Cap just wouldn’t look right.  I’m glad I bought him in the end, but man I am such a push-over on these figures.

Cap-AvengersUnmasked

#0020: Reborn & Suspended Animation Captain America Minimates

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

REBORN & SUSPENDED ANIMATION CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL MINIMATES

For today’s review, I’ll actually be looking at something I just got, for a change.  This is another Minimates entry.  Today’s review focuses on half of a set that was both a Toys R Us-exclusive and a Fan’s Choice set: Captain America Through the Ages.  The set was released to coincide with Cap’s return to the land of the living, and featured four of his looks from throughout the years.  I’ll be looking at two of those today.

REBORN CAPTAIN AMERICA

First up is the figure that functions as the set’s definitive Captain America.  This figure depicts Cap as he appeared right after his return from the dead.  It’s the classic Captain America look with a few minor changes that aren’t really noticeable.  The figure stands about 2.5 inches tall, and has the standard Minimates articulation of 14 points (well, technically 12, since the boots remove the foot articulation).  Minimates mostly rely on paint to convey the character, and it all looks crisp and well applied.  Like most of the more modern Minimates, he does have his share of sculpted pieces: Glove cuffs,  Mask, Belt and Boots, as well as an alternate hair piece for an unmasked look.  He also includes his mighty shield, for throwing, which can either be plugged into his left glove or his shoulder harness, depending on how you want to display him.  One thing he doesn’t come with, however, is an alternate left glove cuff sans the strap for the shield.  This is a bummer, because it effectively makes his really cool harness piece useless, because his glove looks weird.  I gave mine the right glove from SA Cap, because I think that one looks better sans gloves, but it would have been nice for Diamond to include the extra piece.

SUSPENDED ANIMATION CAPTAIN AMERICA

Interestingly enough, this figure also depicts Cap after he returned from the dead…the FIRST time!  Yep, this figure’s based on Cap’s appearance at the beginning of Avengers #4, right after the Avengers find him floating in the ocean, frozen in a block of ice. This is back when Cap’s long nap in the ice was about 15 years, not the 70 years it is now.  Anyway, the figure gives us Cap in his army fatigues, which have been shredded, revealing his Captain America costume below.  He’s got the basic Minimates articulation.  The painted details are once again really well done here.  The tears in the fatigues are quite well done.  He also has a few sculpted pieces:  his hair, gloves, belt, as well as both a mask to put on his head and one to drape over his shoulders.  He also comes with a spare set of ungloved hands, his shield, and coolest (heh!) of all, a chunk of ice to place him in.  I could complain that it’d be cooler if the chunk actually covered more of the figure, but it does the job pretty well.  This is a really neat variant of Cap, and is definitely one that will stand out on the shelf.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was never able to track this set down at retail, and for whatever reason never got around to picking it up online.  When I saw it going for between 60 and 70 dollars, I just figured I’d missed my shot.  Fortunately, I was able to score these two loose on ebay for a decent price, and I’m really glad, because they’re great additions to my already large Minimate collection.  One of these days, I’ll get the other half of the set.  I mean, everybody’s gotta have a crazy 90s armored Captain America in their collection, right?  How could you not?