Tag Archives: Steve Rogers

#3607: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL SELECT (DIAMOND SELECT TOYS)

Fun FiQ Fact #0086: Captain America makes up 1/8 of all of the Marvel Select reviews here on the site.

You know, I don’t really jump on Marvel Select that much, especially in more recent years, with the crazy onslaught of Marvel Legends product.  I’m not *entirely* out of the line, though, and there are certainly still figures that can pull me back in.  Like, you know, a solid take on a character I love.  Take, for instance, Captain America, who’s no stranger to Marvel Select, and was in fact one of the earliest characters to join the line.  And here he is once more.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America is a recent addition to DST’s Marvel Select line, hitting retail just in the last month or so.  He’s a “classic” Cap, the second Cap to be explicitly so in the line.  It’s been a bit since we’ve gotten one, though.  The figure stands 7 1/4 inches tall and he has  34 points of articulation.  Cap is honestly pretty remarkably articulated for a Select figure.  He gets a solid range of motion and a pretty nicely handled articulation set-up.  I’m not 100% how well the articulation is going to hold up over time, as a few of the joints are already a little loose, but for now, it’s a good posing set-up.  Cap’s sculpt is all-new, and it’s a very nice one.  The general vibe of it seems to lean the heaviest into an ’80s Cap design, just based on the more exact details of the costume.  The proportions are a much more natural set-up than prior Select Caps, and there’s less weirdness with the working in of the articulation.  My figure does have one weird quirk, which is that his right bicep is assembled backwards.  It looks a little off, but thankfully doesn’t mess up the articulation too badly.  The standard masked head sculpt is fun; it’s got more of that ’80s Cap vibe, which I definitely dig here.  He’s serious, but not too crazily so.  The paint work on this figure is appropriately patriotic.  Th application is generally pretty clean, the linework is without too much slop, and there’s even some cool accenting on the red sections of the gloves and boots, to make them look like they’re made from a textured material.  I quite like the dark shading on the mask; it gives me Mego vibes and I’m a big fan of that.  One of the coolest aspects of this release is the accessory set-up.  At his core, Cap is a classic take on the character, and gets a standard shield and seven hands (a pair of fists, a pair of flat, a pair of gripping, and a right pointing).  He also gets a larger belt and shoulder harness, for the purposes of modernizing his look a bit.  The shield’s handle is removable, so that it can be placed on his back using the harness.  He’s also got an unmasked head, which is a solid match for the face under the mask, and a corresponding pulled down version of his hood.  And, if you’re not a fan of modern or classic Cap, he also gets an alternate Golden Age-style Cap head, and a proper badge-style shield to match it, granting him a third major look.  That’s a lot of Cap coverage!

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I may not be big on Select these days, but this guy’s interested me since the prototype was shown off.  I heard good word of mouth on him, and got the chance to see him in person while picking up my comics from Cosmic Comix, which was more than enough to sell me on him.  He’s a ton of fun, and certainly the most fun I’ve had with a Select release.  I’m very, very happy with how he turned out.

#3577: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA — CLASSIC

ONE:12 COLLECTIVE (MEZCO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0056:  Classic Captain America was the very first Marvel offering in the Mezco One:12 line.

For the second time in less than a week, I’m going back down a path I haven’t gone down in quite a while: Mezco’s One:12 Collective.  It’s okay, though, because I’m keeping it confined to my “core” character set-ups, which is to say the handful of characters that I like to have in most styles.  Of these core characters, perhaps the one glaring omission from my Mezco collection was Captain America.  I love a good Captain America, so it’s the sort of thing I was really hoping to fix.  And so I have!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America was a summer 2016 release for the One:12 Collective line.  He’s the classically-inspired variant to the more Now!-inspired standard release.  This particular version was an SDCC exclusive the year he was release, and he beat the main release to market by four months.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and, per his solicitation, he has over 32 points of articulation.

Perhaps the biggest selling point for this particular release was his main head sculpt.  While the standard version gave him a more modernized design, with his ears covered and the head wings adapted into printing on the sides of his “helmet,” this one goes for something more classically inspired.  It’s clearly a variation on the same core sculpt, and it retains some of the modernization, but the head wings are a three-dimensional element, and his ears are visible.  The helmet also sits a little tighter to the head, and the “A” is a touch larger.  It’s not a ton of changes, but they add-up, and they make for a pretty solid adaptation of Cap’s design from the comics, into the style that Mezco was building for the line early on.  Cap gets a second head, this one unmasked, which is shared with the standard release.  The two sculpts are internally consistent, but I myself am not quite as sold on this particular style of unmasked head as I was on the masked head.  Still, it’s nice to have the option.

The base body for this figure is a lot more bulked up than others I’ve looked at from the line, barring DKR Batman.  It’s perhaps a touch squat and wide for Cap’s usual depictions, but it’s really not far off, and it’s certainly more posable than I’d expected it to be at first glance.  His outfit is a mix of different mediums, with an underlying body suit, which is actually a few different parts stitched together.  There’s a rubberized scale mail print on the upper section, which works pretty well.  On my copy, the red and white mid-section have bled into each other, so the white’s a bit pink, which is a little frustrating.  For this release, the pants portion of the suit is tighter fitting, in contrast to the standard release.  Cap has sculpted cuffs for his gloves, a sculpted belt, and sculpted boots.  These are all shared with the modern version, and, much like the Cyclops I looked at last week, it’s not strictly accurate to the look they were going with.  However, there’s enough tweaking to the rest of the look that these parts don’t look totally out of place.  The only thing I’m not overly keen on is the knife sheath on the boot, but it’s a minor thing.

Cap is packed with a respectable selection of accessories, which, in addition to the two heads, includes 11 different hands (pairs of fists, gripping, relaxed, and flat grip, plus saluting and point for his right, and a thumbs up for the left), a shoulder harness, his shield, a knife, two grenades, and alternate pouch for his belt, and a display stand with the shield pattern printed on it.  The coolest thing here is definitely the shield, which has a magnet in it, allowing for easy mounting on either forearm (as the gloves have metal in them), or on the shoulder harness.  It makes swapping it around a lot easier than it might be otherwise.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

Back in the early days of One:12, I was still kind of intrigued by it all, and trying to find my entry point.  It wound up being Space Ghost, of course, but it was almost Captain America.  I came very close to getting the standard release, but this one’s announcement, and how hard he wound up being to get, meant that I just gave up on the whole venture of getting a Cap from this line at all.  When All Time got in its recent epic collection of 1/6 and 1/12 figures, I was a little bummed that neither Cap appeared to be in the collection.  I was, of course, getting ahead of myself, as Max wound up pulling this one, as he’d found another batch of Mezco buried.  Since he was the version I’d wanted in the first place, I figured, why not?  He’s actually a lot nicer than I’d expected him to be.  I can be a little down on Mezco, but this is just a very fun figure.

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.

#3512: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Equipped with a streamlined new uniform and his Vibranium shield, Captain America leads a team of covert S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives on clandestine missions into the most dangerous corners of the world.”

During this site’s very first year, I got back into Marvel Legends hardcore for one major reason: Captain America: The Winter Soldier.  That was a pretty crazy shift.  And, as of next April, the movie is a decade old.  It tracks, of course, but, you know, it does still feel a little crazy to me.  Whatever the case, ten years means more toys, right?  It sure does.  In fact, we’re even getting them just a little bit early, so that’s not so bad.  Today, I’m taking a look at our latest update to Cap’s stealth look from the movie.  Oh yeah.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America is part of the 2023 assortment of what has become the ongoing Infinity Saga sub-line of Marvel Legends.  I guess we’re just revisiting it every year now.  I got no problems with that, of course, so let’s do it.  We’re finally getting Cap in a standard release assortment for the line, which I’m always happy to see.  Cap is seen here in his S.T.R.I.K.E. suit from the movie’s opening half, which is patterned on his Commander Rogers gear from the comics.  It’s a very good look, and certainly one of the MCU’s most memorable Cap designs.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  His articulation is a lot like the Stealth Cap from 2014.  In fact, it’s identical to the articulation on the Stealth Cap from 2014.  Do you know why?  Because this figure is, aside from the head, the Stealth Cap from 2014.  The thing is, I liked the sculpt a lot in 2014, and it was very good in 2014.  But that was a decade ago and Legends has definitely made some advancements since then.  This figure, with his visible pins, somewhat limiting ab-crunch and waist swivel, and kind of scrawny arms, is…well, he’s dated.  Don’t get me wrong; the sculpt was top of the line when it hit, and it’s not completely outmoded in this day and age…but it could be better.  In 2021, we got a totally upgraded Mark III sculpt to replace the old movie figure, and this is serving as an update for a figure that’s almost as old, relatively speaking.  At least a new upper torso would go a long way.  He does at least get the updated helmeted sculpt from the First Ten Years two-pack; that sculpt is at least a very strong one, with a much better Evans likeness than the last release of this body.  This figure’s paint work is, unsurprisingly, very similar to the last one.  It’s a little cleaner this time, and he gets the printed face, as opposed to the rather thick paint from the last one.  In terms of accessories…we run into some issues again.  He’s got an unmasked head and a shield.  I can’t tell if the head is the same sculpt as the First Ten Years one, or not.  If it is, the paint’s not holding up its end, because the likeness doesn’t feel as strong this time.  It also looks a bit large on the body, which doesn’t help the overall scrawniness feeling.  The shield is the updated version from the two-pack, now in the stealth colors.  It’s a fine piece, but it again seems too large compared to the rest of the figure, making him feel a bit small by comparison.  And that’s it on the accessory front.  The last release included a shield and an alternate head as well, but also had a second set of hands, as well as a Build-A-Figure part, and he was $5 cheaper.  Now, I understand rising costs and all, but given that this figure features at most a single new part, it sucks that he can’t at least get extra hands.  We finally got a pair of gripping hands for Cap with the Infinity War update, so the fact that we’re back to him not being able to grip his shield properly so shortly after that is definitely frustrating.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been waiting for an update to this look for at least five years, and I was very happy to see his name crop up on this list.  And then the figure arrived and…well, it let me down.  It’s very frustrating that after ten years, we don’t actually get an update to this design, and instead get yet another release of a mold that needs to be retired.  This very definitely should have been our chance to finally get a new Cap mold, built from the ground up, rather than continuing to get MCU Caps cobbled together from old parts.  It feels like a real missed opportunity.  Okay, ready for the flip around?  This figure?  I like him.  I know, I tore him to shreds up there, and brought up a ton of issues.  And I stand by those issues.  But, I also acknowledge that, viewed purely on his own, this is still a very good figure.  After getting through my issues with him, I just sort of sat back and took in the figure by himself, with no other figures, and I remembered why I loved this mold in the first place.  I’d still love an actual update (maybe they can do a new one without the shield and helmet and just say it’s him from the beginning of Endgame), but at the end of the day, there are worse things they could have done than re-use these parts.

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.

#3504: Hydra Stomper Series Wrap-Up

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

WARRIOR GAMORA, NICK FURY, YELENA BELOVA, & HYDRA-STOMPER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

As become the trend for the last handful of Marvel Legends assortments I’ve taken a look at, I’m wrapping up my latest round of Legends reviews by a quicker, all-in-one wrap-up for the figures I’m less interested in for this particular assortment, along with the main course, the Build-A-Figure!  So, let’s jump on into that!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Warrior Gamora, Nick Fury, and Yelena Belova are Figures 1, 3, and 6 from the Hydra Stomper Series of Marvel Legends.  They’re the last three figures that contribute to the assortment’s Build-A-Figure, the Hydra Stomper, who is assembled from parts included with 6 of the 7 figures in the assortment.

WARRIOR GAMORA

“In the MCU, Gamora was raised by Thanos to become a deadly assassin. But in this universe, her tactics are challenged by a new, unusual target: Tony Stark.”

In the first season finale of What If…? we were treated to a team of heroes assembled from the cast of prior episodes throughout the season…and Gamora.  One episode got pushed from Season 1 to 2 due to production delays, and it was the one that would have explained what the heck was going on with this version of Gamora, so we kind of had to infer some things.  Season 2 should finally give us that episode, however, so maybe we’ll finally get what’s going on there?  Well, in the mean time, she’s got an action figure, which stands just shy of 6 1/2 inches tall and has 29 points of articulation.  Her mobility is a little on the stiff side, but she does at least get the pinless joints.  Also of note is just how hard it is to keep this figure standing, which is rather frustrating.  She’s sporting an all-new sculpt, which looks rather accurate to the animation models, placing her on par with the figures from the last set in that regard.  In terms of coloring, she’s again pretty well-matched to the show look.  The paint application is a little sloppy on edges of hands but otherwise clean, and the colors certainly pop.  Warrior Gamora is packed with her own version of Thanos’s double-bladed thing, as well as the left arm of Hydra Stomper, and an extra left hand.

NICK FURY

“In the years following the Blip, a weary Fury must face his biggest and most personal challenge yet when he learns of the Skrulls’ clandestine invasion of Earth.”

As I touched on in my Talos review, I wasn’t much of a fan of Secret Invasion.  It’s handling of Nick Fury was on my list of things I didn’t really care for.  Personally, I felt it to be a bit of a waste of Samuel L Jackson’s talent.  But, I’m not here to review the show, I’m here to talk about the toys.  This Fury is based on his later in the show look, as he’s in the process of going back to being his old self.  It’s a fairly basic Fury, with a little dressing up, so it’s not the worst choice.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and has 34 points of articulation.  His articulation is rather on the restricted front, for a handful of reasons, chief among them being how his coat is set-up.  The figure is based on the tall suit body, or is at the very least using its arms and legs.  He’s got a new head, torso, and coat, courtesy of sculptor Paul Harding.  The head sculpt is sporting a solid likeness of Jackson, and is definitely the best thing about the figure.  The coat isn’t terrible *looking*, but it’s still very restricting.  The hands look a bit too large for the body, and his whole build feels kinda scrawny for Nick.  In general, the figure’s not very fun to mess with, which is kind of a bummer.  His paint work is rather on the basic side, but that’s kind of expected.  It does what it needs to.  Nick does at least get a respectable accessory set-up.  He’s got his knit cap (which sits quite well on the head), plus two styles of pistol, two muzzle flashes, two smoke effects, and the left leg of the Hydra Stomper.

YELENA BELOVA

“After the Blip, former Widow Yelena returns to a world without her beloved sister Natasha. Now, Yelena seeks revenge on the man responsible for her sister’s alleged demise: Clint Barton.”

Yelena’s re-appearance in Hawkeye was hinted at during Black Widow‘s post-credits scene, so it wasn’t a terrible surprise when the masked assailant trying to kill Clint in the show turned out to be her.  But, of course, Hawkeye was generally not a show built on crazy twists and turns, so much as just pretty straight forward narrative payoff.  For the story, Yelena has gone back to a more traditional Black Widow appearance, so that allows for a different approach to her design for a figure.  Said figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and has 27 points of articulation.  Construction wise, she’s got re-used arms and legs.  The arms are from the old Yelena, while the legs are a mix of pieces from the prior Yelena and the solo movie Natasha.  The new suit detailing doesn’t completely match the old sculpt, but I guess it’s close enough. My figure also has a weird mold scarring on the right leg, which was annoying.  She gets a new head, torso, and wrist bracers.  The head sports a better overall likeness of Florence Pugh, but its relative scaling seems a little off compared to the body.  The rest of the new parts are decent enough, fitting in with the old parts.  In terms of paint, the face detailing seems a little dark, but otherwise, it’s not bad.  The body work is pretty basic, but that’s pretty much expected.  Yelena is packed with two sets of hands, batons, and the torso to the Hydra Stomper.  Given how key her masked appearance is to the overall set-up of her arrival on the show, it feels like this figure is missing an alternate masked head.

HYDRA STOMPER

In the first season finale of What If…?, when the Watcher pulls in Captain Carter for his mission, he plucks her out of her timeline’s version of the opening scene of Captain America: Winter Soldier.  When he returns her at the end of the episode, that universe’s Natasha informs Peggy that they’ve found something, revealing a glimpse at some sort of variant of Steve’s Hydra Stomper armor from the ’40s.  Since Steve stepped into Bucky’s overall role in that universe, it is presumed that he will also become that universe’s equivalent to the Winter Soldier.  We won’t really know for sure until the follow-up actually airs during Season 2, but we’ve got a figure of his updated design (which is, disappointingly, not called the “Winter Stomper”), and that’s pretty cool.  The figure stands 7 3/4 inches tall and he has 28 points of articulation.  His sculpt is an all-new one, since its meant to be based on a total upgrade of the armor (based on the one shot of it we’ve seen, anyway).  He’s a lot smaller than the last one, and just how accurate that is remains to be seen, since our only shot doesn’t have anyone else there for any sort of scale.  The new look definitely has a more proper post-WW2 vibe about it, without feeling like it’s 100% modernized, either.  It’s a little sleeker and more rounded off than the previous design, which also fits with that slightly smaller scaling.  It’s still a very chunky sculpt, though.  All that said, his articulation winds out working a little bit better, since there’s not as much boxiness to work around.  The rocket pack also has a much easier time staying in place this time around.  Hydra Stomper’s color work replicates his new, updated color scheme, which is silver and red, instead of the prior drab green and white accenting.  The molded plastic for the silver is the swirly kind, which I’m a tad iffy on, but it does alright.  The painted accents are cleanly applied, and works pretty well.  Though he’s a Build-A-Figure, the Hydra Stomper still gets a reasonable accessory set-up, with two sets of hands and an unmasked Steve head.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Disney+ assortments have been a bit of a mixed bag, but there keeps being enough of a draw in each set (usually, the Build-A-Figure, honestly) to pull me back in.  With the Captain Carter stuff being my favorite part of What If…? by far, there’s no way I was passing up on this set, even if I didn’t strictly speaking want every figure in it.  Ultimately, it’s overall more of a middling assortment.  Not bad, but just more middle of the road than anything.  Stomper and Fisk are both nearer the top of the list, being pretty much exactly what I expected them to be.  Talos winds up as the unexpected gem in the line-up.  The show may not have been great, but that figure sure is.  Goliath is by the numbers, but a thoroughly solid figure.  Agatha is practically a glorified statue; she looks good, but there’s very little play factor.  And the rest?  Well, they didn’t warrant me keeping them, for one reason or another.  Gamora’s a decent sculpt, and probably the best of the three.  Yelena’s got some issues with deco and re-use, and as good as the likeness may be, the first figure still feels like a better overall toy.  And Fury?  Fury is easily the weakest of the bunch.

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.

#3465: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL MINIMATES

“Dubbed unfit for traditional service, Steve Rogers became the first human trial of the Super-Soldier serum – the success of which boosted his strength, endurance and speed to the pinnacle of human achievement and led him to become Captain America!”

Following the boom in popularity that Marvel as a whole experienced in the wake of 2008’s Iron Man, DST’s Marvel Minimates got some new attention and some new life, and that brought with it the need for some new releases of major characters.  Their quick fix was a pairing of sets, one heroes, one villains, offering up classic versions of some heavy hitters.  Honestly, it wasn’t a terrible set-up.  There was a Captain America involved, and I’m pretty much never upset about that, so I’m taking a look at him today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America was part of the four-figure “Heroes to the Rescue” set of Marvel Minimates, released through specialty channels in the spring of 2009, as a pair with the “Bring on the Bad Guys” set with the villains.  While three of the four figures from each set (Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Hulk, in this case) were paired up with their opposite numbers for two-packs in TRU Series 2, Cap and Red Skull were locked into these sets exclusively.  It’s odd in this day and age for Cap to be the one locked behind an exclusive, but it’s where we were.  This marked his eight time as a Minimate, and it was yet another take on his classic attire.  The figure is built on the post C3-Minimate body, with the caveat of using the flappy boots, so he’s about 2 1/2 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation.  Cap has add-ons for his mask, gloves, belt, boots, and shoulder harness.  The gloves and mask date back to his original Series 5 release, the belt and boots came from the “Civil War” set the prior year, and the harness was from the prior year’s “Invaders” Cap.  It’s an interesting mix of parts.  From the neck down, he’s the same build as “Invaders” Cap, with only the mask as a change-up, since the full face mask on the earlier release wasn’t well-received.  The mask doesn’t quite fit right on this one; it seems that a combination of it shrinking and the head being just a touch bigger led to it getting stuck about two-thirds of the way down.  It’s okay, though, because the face seems to have been designed to compensate, and sits higher up than prior versions, so it still *sorta* lines up?  The paint work on this one takes some notes from how the two ’08 Caps had handled their detailing, and tweaks a bit further.  It’s very sharp and clean.  Cap’s facial expression is yelling, in a very Kirby style, which I very much dig.  Under his sculpted belt, he also gets a more streamlined painted one, which is cool, and I really dig the Mego-style painted shadow on the front of the mask.  Cap was packed with his shield (which is back to the original clasp that can go all the way up the arm), an alternate hand for use with the shield, and a hair piece (recolored from Star Trek‘s Captain Kirk) for an unmasked look….if you can ever get the mask off, of course.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I passed on the entire heroes set when these dropped because Cap was the only truly exclusive one, and I didn’t feel I needed another version.  I know.  I read what I wrote, too.  Yes, it does seem insane, doesn’t it?  In my defense, I was still very much a Series 5 Cap purist at the time, and even “Invaders” Cap only got in on the technicality of being a unique look.  Later, I learned to love all Cap Minimates for their own reasons, independent of Series 5 Cap, and the world was a better place.  I wound up getting this one (and a great many other Cap ‘mates) as part of a large Minimates collection that All Time bought back in 2019.  He’s not really much to write home about in light of others in the Cap line-up, but he’s a solid Cap on his own, issues with the mask not withstanding.

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.

#3460: Civil War Captain America

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

CIVIL WAR CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL MINIMATES

“Steve Rogers has fallen into a clash with both his government and his friends over the Super Human Registration Act – a battle that will end with his surrender, arrest and ultimately, his assassination.”

Wow, spoilers much?  I mean, yeah, okay, the story is, like, 16 years old and all, but it wasn’t 16 years old then!  …Okay, yeah, Cap’s death was reported by every major news organization the day it happened.  But still!  While it was touted as a big deal in the comics at the time, there was very little in the way of toy coverage for Civil War when it hit, or even very soon after.  The first true tie-in was a Minimates set, which hit more than a year later, in April of 2008.  Marvel was just about to be on the upswing again, and DST was aiming to capitalize on that.  The set covered some of the story’s major players, including the leaders of the two respective sides.  And you know that means a Captain America for your boy Ethan.  Let’s check that one out.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Civil War Captain America is one-quarter of the Marvel Minimates Civil War boxed set, which was released April 21, 2008, as an Action Figure Xpress-exclusive offering.  This was Cap’s sixth time as a Minimate, and his second time getting some variation on “Battle-Damaged”.  The figure is built on the post-C3 ‘mate body, and stands about 2 1/4 inches tall, with 12 points of articulation, thanks to the boot pieces.  Cap got add-on pieces for his mask, belt, gloves, and boots, a noted upgrade from the just mask and gloves set-up of the prior versions.  The gloves are the same flared pieces used on the prior Caps, but everything else was all new.  The mask piece is unique to this one, and depicts Cap’s torn up mask from the end of Civil War‘s final battle.  It’s a really nice offering, with a surprising amount of detailing.  His belt and boots were new here, but would be quickly put into service as standard parts for the character going forward.  The boots, in fact, would become the standard Marvel Minimates flared boot pieces.  I never liked them quite as much as the DC Minimates equivalent piece, but they still got the job done.  Cap’s paint work is quite impressive.  He gets the full scale-mail detailing on the torso, plus plenty of damage detailing all around.  There’s quite a lot going on.  This set was one of the first for Marvel to really dive into alternate parts for different looks, so Cap was quite well accessorized.  He got his shield, a pair of handcuffs, two alternate flesh-tone hands, and an alternate hair piece (repurposed from Biff Tannen).  The shield gets quite a bit of very impressive detailing on the front, and is hampered only slightly by the fact that it’s one of the very few times they used the modified shield mount that has to stay at the base of the wrist and can’t move up the arm.  He can at least swap out for one of the ungloved hands to make the whole thing work better, though.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m *not* a fan of Civil War, so I wasn’t actively hunting down any of the merch from it at the time, but I’ve always liked the look of this Cap in particular.  I just didn’t really want a whole boxed set just for him.  Thankfully, I was able to snag a loose one as part of the very large collection of Minimates that came into All Time back in 2019.  He’s a pretty darn cool ‘mate, even removed from the source material.

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.

#3449: Commander Rogers

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

COMMANDER ROGERS

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Steve Rogers is chosen to take a lead role in global security after the dissolution of Norman Osborn’s corrupt H.A.M.M.E.R. agency.”

And we’re back on over to Marvel!  In the ’00s, Marvel had this thing where they just kept moving from status quo shift to status quo shift.  It was all rather frustrating, honestly.  Like, there were good things mixed in, but you couldn’t really focus on them, because of everything else that surrounded them.  Wedged into all of that was Ed Brubaker’s run on Captain America, which brought back Steve’s long -dead partner Bucky, killed Steve, had Bucky take over the mantle, brought Steve back, and had him take over S.H.I.E.L.D.  It was honestly kind of cool, except for that part where they left Steve dead for a while and refused to admit that he was coming back.  But, at the end of it all, we got Steve as Commander Rogers, and that’s super cool.  And here’s a Legend of that!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Commander Rogers is figure 6 in the Totally Awesome Hulk Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s the last figure to contribute a Build-A-Figure part, the second to last comic figure, and the figure where we really loose grip on the theme of this set.  I’d say that both Steve and Carol are “Captains”, but this is a Steve from when he was emphatically *not* a captain, so we lose the thread again.  Whatever, I’m just happy to have the figure.  This is the second time this look’s been in Legends form (third if we’re counting the variant, but they’re really no that different), but it’s been a while.  Back when the first one was released the suit was still relatively new, whereas now it’s retro.  Crazy.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Commander Rogers is built on the Reaper body, which Steve has been on and off since its introduction.  The build works fine, but like with Pizza Spidey, this one’s a little outdated, and puts this assortment at three out-of-date re-uses.  Still, it does at least look pretty solid.  He re-uses the shield harness from the 20th Cap, and gets a new head, hands, shins, and feet, as well as new add-ons for his belt and wrist straps.  The head keeps the Steve likeness we’ve been seeing on more recent Cap figures, which I definitely like.  The hair I’m not super sure I love, but it’s something different than the unmasked head from the 20th figure, so I can appreciate some variety.  The new pieces for the outfit mesh well with the re-used parts, do a good job of capturing the comics look, and get a good deal of sharp detail work.  Rogers’ paint work is nice and sharp, especially on the suit, which gets a lot of pop.  The head also gets some really solid accenting on the hair, as well as the usual printing for the face, which gives him a nice lifelike quality.  Rogers is packed with the holographic Cap shield and the head of Totally Awesome Hulk.  The shield is built on the Cap Wolf version, rather than the new 20th mold; it’s smaller, but I suppose that isn’t that weird for the holo shield.  He notably doesn’t include the guns or even hands to hold the guns like the older figure.  In general, he seems a little light, especially given the re-use and the fact that he’s got the smallest BAF part.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When the first Legends Commander Rogers was released, I was still on the fence about going back to Legends, so I didn’t get one.  And then, after many years, I finally tracked one down…about a week before this one got released.  You win some, you lose some.  Whatever the case, I was pretty pumped about getting this guy, and while he’s a little light on the extras, he’s still a pretty darn solid figure.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review. If you’d like to see a video of this figure (and the rest of the series) in action, I helped out with one for their YouTube channel, so check that out.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3392: Ultimate Captain America

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

ULTIMATE CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“The Captain America of the Ultimate Universe has served as the Allies’ super-soldier in World War II, the leader of the first Ultimates team”

You know, it’s kind of crazy, but in the ten years I’ve been doing some sort of Captain America reviews in July 4th, I’ve never actually reviewed a new item on the day. I’m just bad at saving that sort of thing up, I guess. Well, I did it this year! So a-ha!

For today’s review, I’d jumping into an area of Captain America stuff that I only very rarely venture into: The Ultimates.  I’ve made it no secret that I’m not much of a fan of the Ultimate Universe’s take on Steve Rogers, at least from a characterization side, but on the flip side, he definitely made out pretty well from the design side of things.  While his altered WW2 uniform is my main jam from that line, his modern day outfits are no slouch either, and they all certainly make for some pretty good toys, including Cap’s most recent Legends treatment.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultimate Captain America is figure 6 in the Puff Adder Series of Marvel Legends, which is 2023’s first Avengers-centric assortment.  It’s a real mix of looks, with Cap representing the “modern” side..or at least as modern as any design from 20 years ago can really be.  Cap is based on his main look from the first Ultimates, which is his most distinctive, so it makes sense.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  Cap’s articulation is really just a set of butterfly shoulders away from being the best the line has to offer, and even then, it’s still very good.  He’s got the pinless construction on his arms and legs, and his mid torso is a ball-joint, in contrast to the ab-crunch we’ve seen the last few times.  It all makes for quite a fluid set-up to the movement, and I very much dig it.  When this figure was first shown off, I had assumed that he’d be making liberal use of parts from the 80th Cap body, since that’s the new standard.  I was rather surprised to get him in hand and discover he’s actually sporting an entirely new sculpt, courtesy of Rene Aldrete.  It maintains a nice bit of internal consistency with how the two Anniversary Caps were handled, but just improves the layout of the articulation, as well as adding a bit more depth to the detailing of his actual suit.  Ultimate Cap may not be my go-to design, but this sculpt certainly takes advantage of the additional elements Hitch’s design added.  Cap’s got two new heads, one calm, the other angry.  They’re both a bit meaner than the 20th Cap heads, which is appropriate for this version of the character, but they still look like the same guy, which is especially impressive given the change of sculptor between the two releases.  Of the two, I do like the calmer look just a touch more, but the teeth-gritting look makes for some fun action poses.  Cap’s color work is a little more in depth than a “classic” Cap, largely because of the little bit of grey and brown added to the design.  His paint work is still more on the basic side, which works well enough.  On mine, the paint on the face and the emblem are prone to rubbing away a little easier than I’d like, so do be careful with those spots.  Cap is packed with two sets of hands (fists, and a gripping/open gesture combo), his shield, and the head of the Puff Adder Build-A-Figure.  The shield is the same base mold as the one included with the 20th Cap, but without the holes for the effects this time.  Unfortunately, the actual painted detailing isn’t the same between the two, so it’s not a clean swap if you’re looking to replace the 20th, but it’s at least a step in the right direction.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Legends has been incrementally giving us better and better Captain America figures as its gone along, and Hasbro set themselves a very high bar with last year’s 20th Cap, which was *so* close to being the perfect Cap figure.  When this one was announced I didn’t pay a ton of attention to it, but figured I’d at least grab it on the basis of it looking like a decent Cap.  It’s sooooooooooooooooooo much better than I was expecting.  He’s not a classic Cap, and for that reason, he’s not dethroning the 20th version, but boy is he just a very, very nicely done figure.  Hasbro has now gotten me to be genuinely excited about two Legends Ultimate Caps.  I don’t like Ultimate Cap.  I swear.

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

#3360: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA VS MORRIGAN

MARVEL VS CAPCOM (TOY BIZ)

“When Steve Rogers volunteered to serve his country by undergoing the experimental super-soldier augmentation process, Captain America was born. Captain America is the defender of truth and justice, and is the living embodiment of freedom. He has sworn an oath to protect the weak and shepherd the innocent. Armed only with an unbreakable shield, Captain America guards the freedoms held most dear.”

Remember when you had go out to a place to play a video game?  Pepperidge Farm remembers.  Okay, it’s a little more than that, right?  In the ’90s, fighting games were a big craze in the arcade world, and comics, specifically Marvel comics, were big in other parts of the world, and some genius had the idea to smash those two things together.  First, we got X-Men vs Steet Fighter in 1996, followed but Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter in 1997, and then Marvel vs Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes in 1998.  With the games themselves a success, Toy Biz licensed the Capcom half of the characters, for the purpose of doing some two-packs interacting with their Marvel line.  Like the actual games, they started with X-Men, but they eventually expanded to the rest of the Marvel and Capcom universes for a short-lived line in 1999.  And all of this is a very long lead in for me saying “hey, look at the Captain America figure I’ve got.”  Oh, and I guess there’s another figure as well.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Captain America and Morrigan are one of the four two-packs that made up Toy Biz’s one-series Marvel vs Capcom: Clash of the Super Heroes line, which fell under their larger Video Game Super Stars branding.  They hit retail in 1999.

There was a surprisingly small number of standard Cap figures in the ’90s, and this one was on that rather short list.  The figure stands about 5 3/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  He was on the larger side for Cap, at least in terms of height, though was not quite as crazy on the width as some of the other Toy Biz Caps.  His articulation scheme is amongst the best that this era had to offer, which was certainly a plus.  His sculpt was all-new at the time, though it was quickly re-used for the Silver Age line’s take on Cap, and the head got a subsequent re-use for the Greatest Moments Bullseye, all in the same year.*  It’s honestly a pretty respectable offering.  The head sculpt goes for a slightly more anime-styled look, which fits with the overall style of the game he’s meant to be based on.  It still captures his usual features, and keeps him from looking too angry or intense, like some other Caps ended up being.  The body sculpt is nicely balanced in its proportions, being bulked up, but not ridiculously so.  He’s still a little wonky in some spots, but for this era of the line, it was actually quite tame.  Cap’s paint work is generally pretty nicely handled; the base colors a touch more muted than usual, but not incredibly so.  There’s a little bit of accenting on the blue and white sections of the costume, which generally works pretty well.  The eyes get quite a bit of detailing, adding a lot of depth and life to his overall look.  Cap was packed with his usual shield; it was a unique piece, and, like oh so many Cap shields, the clasp on the back is quite prone to breaking.

Fulfilling the proper video game portion of the set, coming straight outta Darkstalkers, it’s Morrigan.  Look at her, over here, all Morrigan-y.  Oh yeah.  Morrigan.  ….Okay, I’m gonna be honest with you all here: I don’t really know much about Morrigan.  Or anybody from Darkstalkers for that matter.  I mostly know them as space fillers when Capcom needs more characters for a cross-over roster, which is probably really reductive, but it’s my site, and that’s where we are.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and she has 11 points of articulation.  Despite having a lot of articulation, the actual range of motion on most of the joints is pretty restricted.  The head can’t really turn because of the hair and wings, the shoulders don’t really go any further down, and there’s always the dreaded v-hips.  It all makes her rather difficult to keep standing as well, which is really frustrating.  She got an all-new sculpt, which has a fair bit of pre-posing, but does honestly look pretty spot-on for the character’s usual look.  Morrigan’s paint work is all pretty basic, but it matches well with her character again.  Everything is pretty clean in application as well, so that’s nice as well.  Morrigan is packed with a small bat creature thing, which clips onto her wrist.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

In 1999, I had some sort of half-day at school, and my father had a dentist’s appointment that he was unable to get out of, the location of which meant there would be no time for me to go home and actually get anything that I could entertain myself with.  There was, however, a Toys R Us rather close to the dentist’s office, so my Dad took me in to pick out something to entertain me.  This Cap (and the Morrigan that was packed with him, I guess) was what I picked.  I was always in search of the best possible Cap for my collection, and this guy looked right up that alley.  He’s honestly my favorite of the Caps in this scale, and remained my go-to Cap pretty much from the time I got him onward.  Also, there’s Morrigan.  She’s there too.

*This mold was also the one shown on all of the packaging images for the Avengers: United They Stand line’s take on Cap, though it was replaced with an entirely different mold before they actually arrived at retail.

#3331: Captain America’s Hulkbuster & Baron Zemo

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA’S HULKBUSTER & BARON ZEMO

MARVEL MINIMATES

“You get a Hulkbuster!  You get a Hulkbuster!  Everybody gets a Hulkbuster!” — Tony Stark, Avengers Assemble Season 3, paraphrased.

Look, it’s not super crazy for cartoons to be direct lead-ins to toys and stuff.  Heck, the Avengers cartoons have technically been doing it since the very beginning, since that’s United They Stand‘s whole reason for existence.  After Earth’s Mightiest Heroes was completely without toys to sell, we got Avengers Assemble, which flipped that there script.  In particular, there were a lot of Minimates, thanks to Walgreens having a whole exclusive sub-line for the animated shows.  It gave them a spot for those goofy toy-driven variants, like the aforementioned Season 3 plot of everyone getting a Hulkbuster.  And there sat DST, with all that Hulkbuster tooling, so they jumped on a few of them.  Today, I’m looking at Captain America’s Hulkbuster, alongside a non-Hulkbuster-y Baron Zemo!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Captain America’s Hulkbuster and Baron Zemo were released in the seventh Walgreens-exclusive assortment of Marvel Minimates.  They were one of the two sets in the line-up based on Avengers Assemble, with the other two being based on the relaunched Spider-Man cartoon.

CAPTAIN AMERICA’S HULKBUSTER

“The Hulkbuster Armor is designed to take on the Hulk if he loses control. Captain America’s Hulkbuster features a larger version of his shield.”

Captain America’s Hulbuster marked our third Hulkbuster in the Walgreens sub-line, after the standard Iron Man and the Hulk-Hulkbuster.  It was also the sixth overall Hulkbuster, counting the two comics releases and the one movie variant.  It was the third animated Cap as well, though this one was decidedly more variant-y than the other two.  The figure starts with the standard ‘mate body, but with all the bulking up, he’s closer to 3 inches tall than the usual 2 1/4 and he has a little bit more restricting when it comes to the standard 14 points of articulation.  In order to sustain his bulked-up look, Cap’s Hulkbuster gets 10 add-on pieces, for the torso/helmet, bicep covers, hands, thigh covers, boots, and a torso extender.  All of these parts are re-used from the Series 63 AoU Hulkbuster, who served as the basis for all of the animated ‘busters.  It’s a decent selection of parts, with quite a bit of detailing.  Not incredibly posable, but still pretty cool.  The paint work translates this figure into something more Captain America-themed, so he’s the usual red, white, and blue.  The application is notably on the sloppier side, but it’s not *awful*, and the colors are at least pretty nice.  Under the helmet, we get a Captain America head, printed straight onto the head block, rather than using a separate sculpted helmet piece.  It’s more compact, but still looks pretty decent.  Cap’s Hulkbuster is packed with an upgraded shield for him to hold, as well as a clear display stand.

BARON ZEMO

“The son of the Hydra founder Heinrich Zemo, the elderly Helmut Zemo is rejuvenated when he takes his father’s super-soldier serum.”

Helmut Zemo has been a little bit on the scarce side as far as Minimates go.  He didn’t join the line until Series 50, and since that, he’s only gotten two more releases.  This one was his second ‘mate, released 5 years after his first.  He’s based on the animation design, which is itself very closely patterned on his re-design circa the Brubaker era of the comics.  He’s light on the add-ons, with one for his “crown” and one for his belt.  Both were re-used, the crown from the Series 50 release, and the belt from countless others, since it’s just a basic piece.  His paint work is carrying most of the weight here, and it does pretty well.  He does somewhat exhibit that more washed out palette that the animation designs tended to lean towards for their ‘mates.  It works out alright for Zemo, specifically, though, and the line work in particular is pretty sharp on this one.  Zemo is packed with a sword and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I honestly don’t recall exactly when I grabbed these two.  They’d been out for a while, I know that much.  I think I probably grabbed them after a bunch of times of not finding anything new at my local Walgreens.  I like a good Cap variant, and this one’s not a bad one.  The Hulkbuster mold got a little overplayed, but the color scheme is at least pretty unique.  Zemo is a solid release for the character, and not quite as animation-specific, allowing him to do a little bit more.  Both of them are pretty fun, though perhaps easily overlooked.