Tag Archives: captain america

Mar 24 2014

Marvel Legends Infinite: Captain America (Stealth Suit) by Hasbro

OH MY GOD, I AM SO EXCITED FOR THE WINTER SOLDIER MOVEI!!!  I was already crazy excited for this flick but then Disney went and released that 4-minute clip and now I want it even more. It’s no surprise that I was going to be hunting the accompanying Marvel Legends figures and that’s been no easy feat. The pegs here are choked with WW2 Caps, a repack of a figure that I already own, and the prices online for the rest have been pretty crazy. But after a little bit of persistence and diligence, I did manage to pick up most of them at a decent price and now I only have to hunt the elusive Black Widow to finish my Mandroid BAF and then the AIM and Hydra soldiers. Seeing as how much I’m jonesing for the movie, I thought I might as well start with Cap in the Stealth Suit that he wears in the movie.

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Behold the new packaging for Marvel Legends Infinite! Despite being tied in to the Winter Soldier movie, it’s the same style package we saw when I featured two of the Amazing Spider-Man 2 figures. It’s a big departure from the very comic bookish look of last year’s cardbacks, but I still really dig it a lot. It’s totally collector friendly and the conceptual art on the side panels looks great. And just look at how packed it is in there! You couldn’t fit anything else on that tray. Let’s rip him open and take a look!

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Straight up, I have to say that I love the design of this costume. It may not be as colorful or exciting as the First Avenger or Avengers costumes, but it is a fitting tribute to the costume worn by Steve Rogers when he returned to comics and declined to recover the Captain America identity from Bucky Barnes. It also looks absolutely bitching on the big screen and not too shabby on this figure. There’s a very tactical feel to the outfit, both literally and figuratively. Every tiny bit of this guy is detailed or textured in some way, although you have to get in close to really appreciate it all. The belt is a separate sculpted piece and fits snugly around Cap’s waist. The paintwork compliments the sculpt quite nicely, particularly the silver used on the chest. There’s even a tiny American Flag and “Rogers” on his left shoulder and a SHIELD emblem on his right shoulder.

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You get two portraits with this figure, one masked and one unmasked and swapping them is as easy as popping them on and off the ball joint. The masked head shares all the impressive detail of the figure’s body. There are a few minor paint issues, like a bit of blue slop on his right ear and a little rubbing to the silver A on his helmet, but nothing too bad. The alternate unmasked portrait is also an excellent sculpt, although the Evans likeness isn’t quite all the way there. Close, but not quite. Still, I’d say it works pretty damn fine for a comic inspired Steve Rogers.

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The articulation here is about what I’ve come to expect from this line. The neck features both a ball joint and hinge, the torso has an ab-crunch hinge, and Cap can swivel at the waist. The arms have ball jointed shoulders, swivels in the biceps, double-hinged elbows, and his wrists have swivels and hinges. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have swivels in the thighs, double-hinges in the knees, swivels again at the tops of the boots, and the ankles have hinges and rockers. Not bad at all. Cap is a sturdy and well balanced figure and when you couple that with the great articulation, you get a figure that is lots of fun to play around with.

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While Cap comes with two fists attached, you also get an extra pair of hands. The right hand has the fingers straight out as if he’s either saluting or about to karate chop an unsuspecting Hydra agent. The left hand has a pointing finger so he can direct the Howling Commandos on where to attack next. What’s missing? A hand capable of clutching his shield would have been nice, perhaps instead of the right fist.

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Speaking of his shield, Cap comes with his stealth shield, which nixes the red and dulls the silver giving it a somewhat darker appearance. This is a repaint of the same shield issued with the old First Avenger 6-inch Cap, a figure which was also repacked into this wave. That’s good and bad. I do really like the realistic straps on the reverse side and the way they fit the figure’s arm, however, there’s no way that the figure can wear it on his back. Anytime a Cap figure can’t wear his shield on his back, it seems like a fundamental design oversight to me.

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This new line of Legends has an MSRP of $20 in many stores and that’s not too bad considering the extra head and hands, not to mention the BAF Mandroid right leg. but the prices online have been fluctuating like crazy. I’ve seen this version of Cap going for as much as $25, but I was able to get him when he dipped down to $17.99. I’m certainly content with that. He really is an excellent figure and my guess is he’ll spend at least a couple of days on my desk so I can fiddle about with him before finally relegating him to one of my Marvel Legends shelves.

Jul 10 2013

The First Avenger: Red Skull Movie Masterpiece 1:6 Scale Figure by Hot Toys, Part 2

Alrighty, I’m back to finish up my look at Hot Toys’ Red Skull figure. Yesterday we covered the figure as he comes out of the box, but as we all know about Hydra, “cut off one head and two more will take its place!” so it’s only natural that this figure comes with a spare head. Wait, doesn’t that mean he should have two spare heads? Well, I was never very good at the maths. Let’s pop his noggin and take a look.

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I’m still relatively new to Hot Toys figures and I’ve never swapped a head on one before, so I got to pop my cherry on this one. Boy, was I nervous! It took a lot more force than I thought it would, but thankfully everything went Ok. I gushed enough about the Hugo Weaving sculpt sculpt yesterday, but I gotta say the actual Red Skull portrait is every bit as amazing. The wizards at HT have done their usual magic, in this case reproducing the make-up used for the film. Christ, this guy is creepy looking, with the same great spark of life in his eyes and a grim visage. As impressed as I am with the Weaving likeness, I have to confess that this is the head I’m going to be using for display. It seems a crime to keep the other head, as nice it is, tucked away in a box, but truth be told, I doubt I’ll be swapping them out much.

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Of course, besides the head switch you also get the full length leather trench coat, which is f’cking glorious! I was not looking forward to the ordeal of getting this thing onto the figure, as I’ve heard some horror stories online. In practice, it wasn’t nearly as tough as I thought it would be. The coat is cleverly designed with a series of interior snaps that help the coat fit snugly and stay in place. The interior snaps were a little tough, but once those were on, everything else went plenty smooth. There’s also a redundant Velcro belt that cinches the waist tightly so that you can put the regular belt on top of it and it won’t pop off.

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Once the coat is on, and a little futzing later, it looks incredible. The material is pliable and feels great. The silver buttons coupled with the embossed Hydra belt buckle, the red piping and Hydra emblems on the shoulders, all contrast nicely with the rich black faux leather. The coat also fits quite well. I was afraid it was going to look puffy and awkward when worn over the uniform, but it’s an impressive piece of tailoring. I can’t see myself ever wanting to display the figure with the coat off again.

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And then there are the accessories. First off, you get the basic Hot Toys figure stand. This one is identical to the one that came with my Captain America figure, only with the Red Skull nameplate. You also get the Cosmic Cube and a pistol. The Cube is just a clear blue plastic cube. It’s a simple piece, but since it played such a big role again in Avengers, I’m happy to have one. He can hold it well enough in either of the open hands, but for best results there’s a hand specifically made for clutching it. The pistol is a very cool piece and is one of the custom Hydra weapons designed to be powered by the Cube’s energy. It’s a fairly well detailed piece, right down to the visible wiring.

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The frustrating thing about Red Skull is that he’s two figures in one, and unless you have an extra body and pair of boots lying around, you can’t enjoy both at once. So who to display? Johann Schmidt or Red Skull? Fortunately, it’s an easy decision for me. I love the Weaving head sculpt, and he looks great in his uniform, but once I popped on the Red Skull head and the amazing trench coat, I knew that was the way he was going to reside on my shelf. At $200, he’s a bit pricey for a figure with very little accessories, but with two amazing head sculpts and that great coat, I think it’s easy to see where the money went. Besides, I think the days of Hot Toys offering figures for under $200 are soon coming to an end. It took me a while to getting around to buying him, but he’s a gorgeous figure, and I’m thrilled to finally have him standing next to my First Avenger Captain America.

Jun 17 2013

Marvel Legends: Ultimates Captain America by Hasbro

It’s Marvel Monday again! I’ve got some new MU figures on their way to me, but until then, I’ll just have to substitute a Marvel Legends figure for today: The Ultimates version of Cap! Captain America has already had his share of love from the new Legends line, with Steve Rogers and Bucky Cap, but I’m not complaining, because I do love Captain America, and as it turns out this figure is pretty fantastic.

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There are no real changes to the packaging since the last wave. It’s still as delightfully obnoxious and in-your-face as a comic book figure package should be. The character art is a little wanting, but that’s ok because the huge bubble displays the figure well, and draws in the eye. Cap comes with his shield beside him, and despite the package exclaiming that Cap is part of the “Hit Monkey Series” there is no BAF part included with this one. My guess is that Hasbro knew this guy would sell by himself, and in my case they were absolutely right.

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Out of the package and oh, shit, this guy is all sorts of awesome. I’m not a big fan of the Ultimates books. I tend to turn to them when I have nothing else to read. That having been said, I do tend to like the character designs a lot, and Cap here is a perfect example of why I do. It’s the magnificently rugged, battlefield look that I love so much. It made perfect sense that the movie costume drew so heavy from the Ultimates design, because this looks like proper WWII Cap, thanks to all the added gear.

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He’s got a softer plastic vest with pouches and a painted buckle, and his belt has sculpted ammo pouches, grenades, a combat knife, and canteen. It all looks outstanding! It’s a shame his gun is not removable, but it’s sculpted and painted well enough that I thought it might be. All of the gear is cast in soft brown plastic with some bright silver paint apps.

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All that gear is placed onto an excellent body. The gloves and boots are slightly oversized to keep the chunky Ultimates aesthetic going, and the head sculpt conveys a delightfully self-righteous and pissed-off Rogers. The paint on the figure is also executed quite well. Yes, there’s a little chipping and bleeding on the white, which is clearly not intentional, but I think it adds to the weathered look of the character design.

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Naturally, Cap comes with his trusty shield, which is the same sculpt as the one that came with last year’s Steve Rogers. It does, however, have a fresh coat of paint, which includes a slightly more metallic finish to the front and the back is painted grey now, instead of red. The shield can clip onto his arm, or peg into the hole on his back.

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POA Roll Call! There’s nothing new here in articulation. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, hips, and ankles. The arms feature swivels in the biceps and gloves, and double hinges in the elbows. The legs have swivels in the thighs and boots, and double hinges in the knees. The torso swivels at the waist and has an ab crunch hinge. Apart from the usual annoying qualities of those Hasbro hip joints, the articulation is fab.

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Hasbro has delivered a number of 5-star figures in the new Legends line. Well, for my money, this version of Cap certainly takes his place alongside the likes of Thor, Punisher, and the first Steve Rogers figure, as one of them. He looks fantastic and he’s so much fun to play with, he’s probably going to land on my desk for a week or so before getting put up on the Legends shelves. Yes, a removable gun would have really sealed the deal, but even still, this figure has nothing to apologize for. He’s a fine example of everything I want out of this line… aside from good retail distribution. That still sucks.

Ok, with Marvel Monday out of the way, it’s going to be a DC theme up through to the end of the week. I may deviate Saturday for something different… we’ll see!

Apr 30 2013

Avengers: Captain America Quarter-Scale Figure by NECA

Yeah, I know, yesterday was Marvel Monday, but I’ve decided to keep the week going with a trifecta of Marvel stuff, because that’s just how I roll. The availability of space has always been at odds with my collecting habit. So, what do I go and do? I buy a goddamn quarter-scale Captain America figure, that’s what! It’s the first purchase that I’ve made in a while that had me starting to wonder if I have a serious problem. The saner voices in my head told me that buying this thing was against all reason, because I have nowhere to put him and he’s probably destined to hang out in his box by my Mezco Thundercats Mega-Scale figures. On the other hand, everything about this guy is EPIC, and I have a lack of willpower, and that combination is the unholy formula that brings us to today’s feature.

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Cap here is my first quarter-scale figure. Yes, I knew how tall he was when I ordered him, but it wasn’t until I got him in hand that I really comprehended it. The box is massive and it doesn’t waste a lot of space. I’ve included my 3 3/4” Hasbro Cap for comparison. I love the deco on the box; it’s colorful and really captures everything that Cap is all about. Given how huge the box is, I expected mine to be pretty messed up in shipping, but it’s pretty heavy duty and apart from a ding on the top and some scratching on the large window, it’s not bad at all.

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The back has a list of people who worked on the figure, not unlike you might find on a Hot Toys box, which is pretty cool because if something’s messed up you know who to blame. The box is totally collector friendly as Cap is just tied to the tray, which slides right out. A fair word of warning, the plastic fumes from a regular NECA figure are bad enough, now magnify that by about six times. When I pulled the tray out and the fumes hit me, I was afraid I was going to pass out and wake up 50 years later. Because… like Cap got frozen… and he slept a long time… the fumes… they were… ok, moving on.

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Out of the box and Cap is one remarkably solid hunk of plastic. There’s a lot of heft here. I could seriously wield this thing like a weapon and do a lot of damage with it. Just to further put his size in perspective, your average Sixth-Scale figure comes up to his belt! It’s amazing to me that the durability on this piece matches its size. If he weren’t so expensive I’d be tempted to grab him by the leg and drag him around the neighborhood and have adventures with him. But I wouldn’t want to wreck him by doing that. And also, I’m 40.

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Ok, so he’s big and he’s heavy… how’s he look? Fantastic! Let’s start with the portrait. NECA did a great job with the likeness to Chris Evans and the way the mask is sculpted there’s a lot of convincing depth to it, even though the whole head is molded in one piece of plastic. The flesh paint on the face looks solid and while there’s a little slop under his chin, the rest of the paintwork on the head is just about flawless. The wings and the “A” are all part of the sculpt and they’re meticulously painted in a high gloss silver.

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The rest of the costume is faithfully recreated with all the little loving details. Every tiny square millimeter of the costume is textured, giving it a seriously realistic look. In fact, I’ll go one better. The Cap costume in the movie looked a little too puffy, like soft padding to me. The texturing on this figure makes it look more rugged and credible, like there’s a body-armor quality to it and it would have a chance of surviving an engagement with an enemy. But besides the texturing all the little seams and stitches are present, and oddly enough, I think I’m most impressed by the sculpted teeth on the zippers. The gloves look great and even the treads on the soles of his boots are sculpted as if they’re a prominently visible part of the figure. I have zero complaints about the sculpt on this guy… it’s every bit as epic as the size of the figure.

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The paint is vibrant and gorgeous. The combination of deep blue, bright white, and the crimson captures everything that is Captain America. The extra little touches of silver on the star and epaulets and zippers and fasteners all really make the figure pop. However, the paint is not perfect. There’s a tiny bit of bleed around the red and white vertical striping on his torso. There’s also a little rubbing on the white vertical panel on his left side, thankfully behind the shield. There’s a few tiny marks of red spray on his belt. All these imperfections are minor to say the least, and pretty understandable when you consider the amount of surface space being painted here. I’m also reminding myself that this guy clocks in at under $100, and honestly, I’ve seen similar little paint issues on far more expensive pieces, so I’m not complaining.

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Cap comes with his shield (well, duh!) and two interchangeable hands. The figure is boxed with his fists on, while the extra hands include a right hand designed to hold the shield as if he’s about to throw it, and a left hand that’s just splayed out. The hands are attached with pegs and just pop in and out. The first time I did it a bunch of red paint flakes appeared and I freaked out, but they were just from the inner post. Phew!

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The shield itself is an impressive piece. The paint on the front surface is metallic, and while it’s not as vibrant as the Hot Toys shields, it is very attractive. I was worried whether NECA was going to be able to pull off an acceptable metallic paint job across a surface as large as this shield, but they certainly did. If you look really closely, you can see some scratches on the inner red circle above the star, but you really need to get in close to see those imperfections.

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The back of the shield is fully sculpted and features two permanently attached soft plastic belts. To get Cap to hold the shield, you just need to pop off the hand and slide the loops through the arm. Some may take issue that the hand isn’t actually holding the inner strap, but I think it looks fine the way it is, and the shield stays in place quite well.

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Cap has a ton of good articulation, but he is by no means what I would call “super” articulated. Make no mistake, this is an action figure and not a statue. You can get him into a lot of great poses, but some of his joints don’t have the same range of motion as you would find on a smaller figure with similar joints. Here’s what you get… There are ball joints in the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees, and ankles. The legs feature hip joints not unlike Mattel’s DCUC style, which allows for a wide stance. You also get swivel cuts in the thighs. The torso features a swivel in the waist and a ball joint in the torso. About the only joint here that isn’t terribly useful is the torso ball joint. It offers very slight movement, which is why I’m particularly glad that the waist swivel is there. Swivels in the biceps would have went a long way, but the ball joints in the elbows help a bit in their absence. Overall, what’s here is really good and serves to make Cap as fun to play around with as he is impressive to look at.

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And there you have it… am I at all sorry I bought this figure? Nope. Do I have any idea where I’m going to put it? Nope. In the end, my guts told me he was too spectacular to pass up, and now that I have him, I can say it was a great decision because I absolutely adore this figure. NECA supposedly limited this guy to a production run of 7500, but he’s still readily available at a number of e-tailers and his price hasn’t even begun creeping up yet. Quite the contrary, the MSRP was $99, but I got him from BBTS for $85. You get a lot of figure for that price, and while I was a little late at getting my Pre-Order in for the Quarter-Scale Iron Man, I’m hoping I can still get it fulfilled. If I do get Iron Man, I’ll likely pull a shelf out of one of my bookcases so the pair can be displayed as they deserve to be.

Apr 1 2013

Marvel Universe: Steve Rogers by Hasbro

It’s Marvel Monday and as usual I’m recovering from a weekend of bacchian debauchery mixed with working a lot. I’ve accordingly selected an MU figure that will not require a lot of my time so that I can crawl back under the covers and try to wish reality away to the cornfield. Today we’re looking at Steve Rogers. He’s one of those figures that have been given both the Universe and Legends treatment, and while I’m not usually one to double-dip between scales, it tickled me to have a Steve Rogers that can hang out with my GI Joes and show them how to take care of business. Besides, the Legends version of Steve Rogers was one of my favorite action figures of 2012, so I was curious to see how the 3 ¾” version turned out.

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It’s the MU packaging! Steve here is actually from one of the older waves, before Hasbro replaced a useful, value-added figure stand with a stupid little piece of cardboard printed to look like a comic cover. Great idea! The package has the SHIELD emblem on the front and the back shows three other figures in the wave. I purchased none of these! I didn’t feel the need to own Sub-Mariner in a speedo, I already have the Ultron from the Secret Wars pack, and Darkhawk… seriously, Hasbro? Darkhawk??? Actually, the joke’s on me because if I had actually seen him on the pegs, I would probably have picked him up. Anyway, I’m not a big fan of the character art used here, but the figure sure looks great under the bubble with his stand behind him and a pair of guns. Even from just seeing him in the package, I knew this was a figure I had to buy. Still, it seems like there’s something missing, but I can’t quite put my finger on it… oh well… it’ll come to me.

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Straight away, this figure reminds me of a shrunken down version of the Legends figure, and that is very high praise. In fact, I have only two negative things to say about Rogers, so let me get them out of the way first. The quality of plastic doesn’t feel as good as the better single-carded figures. This feels like the gritty, softer stuff Hasbro liked to use in some of the older comic packs. It’s not bad enough to ruin the figure, by any means, but it does keep this figure from achieving a status of near perfection in my eyes. Fortunately, none of the joints on my figure are warped, which is usually the case with this softer plastic. The other negative point is that Rogers is missing a socket in his back. I can’t quite remember why that omission is important… oh well… I’m sure it’ll come to me.

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So, first off Steve’s portrait is excellent. It doesn’t have all the personality that the Legends figure had, but I’m giving Hasbro a break for the smaller scale and because the head sculpt is just really clean and looks great. Even the hair is impressively done. The bulk of the figure uses a very nicely articulated, muscular buck with a mix of paintwork and added parts to customize the outfit. The shoulder harness and belt are new, separate pieces and fit the figure really well, as do the belted wraps on his lower legs. Even the hands on this guy are impressive, with uniquely sculpted fingerless gloves and wonderful paint.

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In fact, all the paintwork on this figure is solid. Sure, there are a few stray marks here and there, but the white printed emblems on his shirt and shoulders looks bright and crisp, as do the stripes running down his trousers. Even the tiny silver buckles on his gear and gloves are lovingly dressed with a little metallic silver paint. I’m not always a fan of the paint wash Hasbro uses for the MU figures, but here I think it does more good then harm.

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In addition to his personalized stand, Steve comes with a handgun and an assault rifle and… oh yeah, that’s what I was forgetting… WHERE IS HIS SHIELD??? Ok, so I agree that it isn’t a necessity for this appearance of the character, but since Hasbro included it with the Legends version, it seems conspicuous by its absence here. In fairness this guy has already won the Marvel Universe accessory jackpot since two weapons and a stand is better than the usual NOTHING AT ALL! Not a huge deal, as I have plenty of 3 ¾” scale shields lying around, but then the absence of a hole in his back to peg it is kind of annoying too. As for the guns, I’m pretty sure we’ve seen this rifle a half dozen times already and the pistol… my cat batted it off a desk and into his litter box. I’m not going in after it. My cat is an asshole.

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All quibbles aside, Steve Rogers is a fantastic figure. He’s got a solid sculpt, great paintwork, and lots of cool little attention to detail. Best of all, this is the version of Cap that I’ve always envisioned as being perfect for my most coveted of all fanboy-fueled Marvel-GI Joe crossovers. Watch out, Cobra!

Jan 2 2013

FigureFan’s Favorites 2012, Part 2

Second verse, same as the first. And again in no particular order…

Thundercats: Mega-Scale Mumm-Ra by Mezco… I had such high hopes for the Thundercats in 2011. Some of it paid off. I got some decent figures and the 8-inch Classic Lion-O proved to be my favorite figure from that year. But 2012 saw the prospects of a continued line die a slow death. In the end, I had to live vicariously through Mezco and the hopes they might keep the Classic Thunderkitty goodness going with their Mega-Scale statues. In 2012 we got Mumm-Ra and Panthro. I still haven’t opened my Panthro yet, but Mumm-Ra proved to be another outstanding effort in this line. I love this big guy, and I think he was one of the best values of the year.

Marvel Universe: Cable by Hasbro… I’m sorry to say it, but overall Marvel Universe has been disappointing me lately. Maybe the Marvel Legends figures are just pushing their smaller cousins out of my field of interest. It’s also possible that I’m just evolving beyond the 3 3/4” scale. GI Joe and Star Wars were the only lines that really tied me to it, and I don’t collect a lot of those anymore. Maybe the new 3 ¾” Doctor Who figures will bring me back. Either way, the MU figures this year have been competent enough, but not spectacular. The exception to that, however, was Cable, a figure executed so well that he barely feels like an MU figure at all.

Green Lantern Classics: Collect & Connect Stel by Mattel… I came into 2012 with a lot of Green Lantern fatigue from that shitty movie and the carpet bombing of marketing that followed it. But that didn’t stop the franchise from producing one of my favorite figures this year. Sure, Stel is a C&C figure, but he’s amazing in every way. The sculpt, the coloring, the articulation… he’s got it all. I never had much affinity for the character, but he certainly made for some excellent action figure fodder and Mattel went above and beyond.

Marvel Legends: Punisher by Hasbro… It may be because Frank Castle has been absent from my collection for so long, but this figure really hit the spot for me. It captures all there is about the character, he comes with all sorts of great weapons, and I just can’t stop playing around with him. One of the greatest compliments I can pay an action figure is to keep it standing on my desk, rather than regulate it to the shelves in the other room, and Punisher has been on my desk ever since I opened him up. It seems like I can’t go more than an hour without reaching over and picking him up.

Hot Toys’ Captain America: The First Avenger… 2012 was the year I finally broke down and bought some Hot Toys figures and Cap was my first. I was really apprehensive about blowing the money as I am generally not a 1:6 scale collector and I was a little afraid that the figure would be lost on me. Nonetheless, from the moment I had the package in hand, I knew there were no regrets. Cap’s outfit in this movie is my favorite design and I just had to have it in this epic format. While I doubt I will ever go all out into collecting Hot Toys in a hardcore manner, I can certainly see myself grabbing two or three a year.

And that’s all the good stuff… tomorrow we’ll start the one-two punch to the gonads that make up my biggest disappointments of 2012… Hang tight, ya’ll are already halfway through this wonderful week of shitty filler articles!

Aug 18 2012

Marvel Super Heroes: Captain America’s Avenging Cycle (#6865) by Lego

[Whoa! What happened to Star Trek Saturday?  I’m putting it to rest for a week or two and I’m going to use this slot to try to get caught up on all the stuff that’s piling up around here these last couple weeks. –FF]

Woe is me, I have contracted the Marvel Lego bug, and just when I was dedicating myself to completing the Lord of the Rings Lego collection. Frankly, I blame Deadpool, because I may never have started down this expensive path had Lego not included him in a set. Anyway, while I was stocking up on provisions the other day at Target I couldn’t help myself but pick up another set. This time it’s Captain America’s Avenging Cycle, and it’s considerably smaller than the first one I looked at.

There you go, it’s a pretty exciting little box. This set comes with an instruction book, a loose motorcycle frame, a small sticker sheet, and two un-numbered baggies, with a grand total of 72 pieces. Those pieces build three minifigs, a missile launcher emplacement, a Chitauri Air Chariot and Cap’s motorcycle. It didn’t take me long to throw this thing together, so let’s see what we’ve got. And as always, we’ll start with the minifigs.

First up, we have Captain America, and he is without a doubt the reason I bought this set. He’s a pretty simple minifig composed of just the head, legs, and torso, but the colors and printed details really mesh well to make him a cool little guy. Naturally, he comes with his trusty shield too.

The other two minifigs are Chitauri troops. I’m pretty ambivalent toward these guys. Like Cap, they’re pretty simple and each made up of just the three basic pieces. The printing is very detailed, but it kind of just looks like a jumbled mess of patterns. I blame the crazy Chitauri design, which was really the only thing I didn’t like about the Avengers movie. Either way, I’m sure Lego did their best with what they had to work with, but these guys just weren’t designed with the Lego treatment in mind. At least one of them does come with a pretty cool gun. And since they’re faces are just a jumbled mess, I’ve put one head on back-to-front just to mix them up a bit.

 

Cap’s motorcycle is absolutely killer for such a small and simple build. The colors match his own and it comes with stickers with his star emblem and a SHIELD sticker for the front. There’s a clip on the back so you can attach his shield to it. Part of me kind of wishes there was a clip on the front to attach it to the front of the bike in the more iconic way, but then the bike looks so good, I’d be hesitant to change anything. And most importantly, Cap looks awesome riding it. This will be a big win for my new Marvel Lego display.

Chitauri pieces are a mixed bag. I like the Air Chariot. It was a little more complex of a build than I thought it would be, which is very cool. It has some great looking jagged blade pieces and some gorgeous stickers to give it extra detail. There’s also a flick-fire missile mounted under it. The side wings can move up and down and the front shield-slash-control column can pivot forward and back. A set of handlebars for the front column would have been cool, but I can probably rob one of those pieces from one of my Atlantis sets. Either way, it still looks fine without it.

The other Chitauri piece, the missile launcher feels like just something Lego threw in to beef up the brick count. It reminds me of the kind of thing they tossed into at least a couple of the Alien Invasion sets, only they made a little more sense in those. Still, I could probably cannibalize the parts for one of my Pharaoh’s Quest sets since the brick colors are totally Egyptian.

This set was $12.99 and it seems pretty fair. While I’m overall satisfied with the set, I would have really preferred Lego broke with the movie and included Skrulls in this set instead of the Chitauri. Skrulls would have worked better as minifigs and I would have had a lot more use for them in my collection. There’s nothing particularly bad in here, and I’m sure kids will appreciate being able to get a little battle in a box like this, but ultimately, I would have been happier just getting Cap and his motorcycle in a tiny impulse set for about five bucks cheaper.

Apr 23 2012

Avengers: “Rocket Grenade” Captain America by Hasbro

Its the final installment of this little Avengers trifecta. So far, we’ve looked at Thor and Iron Man, now its time to see how Cap turned out in the new Avengers lineup. I went with “Rocket Grenade” Cap because the other version featured a gimmick built into his shield, and I prefer to be able to toss aside the gimmicky weapons. Cap needs his shield, so the choice was pretty clear.

Once again, this figure is part of the “Concept Series.” I’ve beat that dead horse long enough, so I’m not going to go into it again here. The packaging looks great and this time there is a “Try Me” hole to let you flick up the blast shield on the big, stupid rocket launcher that comes with the figure. Seriously, if pressing that button becomes the deciding factor for buying this figure, you’ve got problems. Just saying. So, here’s my big dilemma with this figure. I absolutely love Cap’s WWII era costume from the movie. But he gets a new, more modern costume in the Avengers movie. This is an Avengers movie figure. Why the hell, Hasbro, are you still releasing him in the costume from his movie and not the Avengers movie? Its like Iron Man’s triangle arc reactor all over again. Maybe Cap wears this for a bit in Avengers, but I doubt it.
Avengers costume or not, I adore this figure. I’ve always been a Cap whore and toss in how much I love his movie costume, and it should be no surprise that this one is really scatching my itch. The sculpt is absolutely fantastic. There’s so much tiny detailing on him, including the ultra-fine texturing on his tunic, the stitching on his shoulder pads and the wrinkles on his pants. The belt pouches are also amazingly detailed, and you can even see the tiny stitching and the embossed “US” on his holster. The head sculpt is excellent, particularly the depth between the mask and Steve Rogers’ face. Even the paintwork rises to the occasion, as there’s no slop here to speak of. Hasbro really nailed this figure dead on.
Cap’s articulation is the same as “Heavy Assault” Iron Man. You get a ball jointed neck, ball jointed hips and shoulders, and hinged elbows and knees. Again, its a far cry from what we saw in the Captain America movie figures, but you can still get some good poses out of him and he’s very solid and easy to stand.
Naturally, Cap comes with his shield. The sculpt is the same we’ve been getting, but this one has a really nice high gloss finish, which looks amazing. The back has a clip to go around his wrist. It also has a peg so he can wear it on his back. Only problem there is the figure doesn’t have a hole on his back to peg it into. Nice oversight there, Hasbro!
In addition to his trusty shield, Cap also comes with the titular and very stupid “Rocket Grenade” launcher. It does have a button that flips up the blast shield, and the handle folds up and down. I suppose in terms of big stupid weapons, this one isn’t the worst around, but its still going to be cast aside into the bottomless pit of my useless accessories tote.
All in all, I’ve been more or less happy with all three of the Avengers figures I’ve picked up, but Cap here is without a doubt my favorite. This figure has one amazingly detailed sculpt for a 3 3/4″ scale, the paintwork is solid, and this is the first time I’ve had a proper metallic finished shield for one of my Caps in this scale. The lack of a shield peg in his back really does hurt the figure, but when everything else is so good, I can try to look the other way. Of course, just like the other two figures, there’s a good chance you already have a good movie version of Cap and with better articulation, so you’re probably better off passing on this guy altogether.
Apr 4 2012

Marvel Legends Wave 2: Captain America by Hasbro

Its Day Three of Marvel Legends week and today we’re looking at Captain America. Or more precisely, Bucky Cap! Just like Drax, Cap here doesn’t have a variant to worry about, although one wonders why Hasbro didn’t just toss in an unmasked variant to make us go even more crazy. Some may argue getting Cap in Wave 2 is overkill after getting Steve Rogers in Wave 1, but I would disagree. Then again, I love me some Cap, and Hasbro might as well ride the popularity of the character right through the Avengers movie.

If this figure hanging on the peg doesn’t catch your eye, I don’t know what will. Besides the awesomely obnoxious package design, Cap himself is just screaming “look at me” from behind that bubble with his bright red, white and blue deco. He fills out the card very nicely with shield and gun in hand and his knife mounted on the tray beside him. Off to the side you can see the BAF piece, in this case its Zola’s right leg. I’m really digging on the character art here too. Its a great all around package that screams, “BUY ME, YOUNG PATRIOT!!!!”
So, before getting into the sculpt, let’s talk scale, because Marvel Legends is having a few issues here. Last wave, I complained about Iron Man being too small, well this time its Cap. He’s looks ok standing beside the 6-inch movie figures, but put him next to Steve Rogers from the last wave and he looks like he belongs in a different line. Now, I’ll still give credit to Hasbro for trying, because its nice to see diversity in the body types and characters as opposed to say DC Universe Classics, where outside of the C&C figures all the characters are basically the same size and build. I just think that Hasbro needs to watch out for under scaling some of these figures.
Size aside, Cap is a truly great looking figure, with just one minor stumble. I don’t think the head sculpt is quite as good as what we’ve seen in this line so far, as its actually much softer a sculpt. It still looks ok, but its not up to the standard we’ve been seeing in other figures in this line. The rest of Cap’s body is a pretty standard sculpt, that mostly utilizes the paintwork to convey his costume. There are pouches sculpted directly onto his waist, rather than on a separate belt, and his boots and gloves feature unique tooling, but that’s pretty much it. The paintwork is pretty sharp and I really like the mix of high gloss and slightly metallic type of paint used for the red, white and blue on his torso. He is, no doubt a flashy looking figure with nice proportions.
During the last Marvel Legends week, I may have commented on how I wished Steve Rogers had some working holsters for his guns, well I’m happy to report that this Cap does! Not only does he have a functional holster for his automatic pistol, but he has a functional sheath for his knife too! Awesome! Both accessories are fairly simple, yet functional sculpts. The shield is the same accessory that came with Steve Rogers, so it can either clip onto his wrist or it can be pegged onto his back.
Cap has what seems to be what is becoming the standard for the line. The head is ball jointed and features that wonderful additional hinge for better range of motion for looking up or down. The arms feature ball joints at the shoulders, double hinged elbows, swivels in the biceps and wrists, and hinges in the wrists. His legs have ball joints in the hips, swivels at the thighs and boots, double hinges at the knees, and hinged ankles. The torso swivels at the waist and has an ab crunch hinge. You can certainly get cap into some very fun poses.
Undersized or not, I love this figure! Cap’s sculpt is solid and the paintwork is downright awesome. His articulation makes him a fun figure to play with and I’m really thrilled with his accessories and the way everything he comes with can be stored away on his person. He looks right at home standing next to Iron Man or the 6-inch movie Thor and Nick Fury. Unless the size issue is a severe sticking point with you, I’d definitely recommend him as a pick up.

Next up… Madame Masque
Apr 3 2012

Marvel Legends: Steve Rogers by Hasbro

With five figures behind us, we’re well over the hump in FigureFan’s Marvel Legends marathon. One would have expected Captain America to turn up in this wave, but instead it was Steve Rogers as he appeared when back when Bucky was running around as Captain America. Not to worry, Cap fans, he turns up in Wave 2 and that’s fine by me because I was much more excited about getting this figure.

                                       
And… packaged shot. Damn, this is one packed bubble of goodness. Between the figure, the shield, the guns, and Terrax’s pelvis, you’re getting a fair load of stuff. I’m still a bit iffy with the character art, but its starting to grow on me.
Out of the package… is it me or does Steve’s head look just a little bit too big? Well, that was my initial thought, but after fiddling with him a bit, the possibility stopped bothering me because this is one amazing figure. Let the gushing begin! First off, possibly a tad oversized or not, Steve’s head is a great sculpt. First Hope Summers, now Steve Rogers, Hasbro has a cracker of a team working on these head sculpts and they are amazing.
The rest of the figure is a great mix of a standard painted costume buck with some bits of unique sculpting here and there. He has sculpted leather straps on his shoulders and right thigh, his belt is a separate piece that hangs around his waist. He lower leg bracers are also sculpted in separate pieces. And finally, he has sculpted fingerless gloves and amazingly detailed treads on his boots. Combine all this with the nice painted deco on his chest and the striping down his legs and you get one great looking, and unique figure. Once again, its just a great blend of standard figure buck, paintwork, and sculpted bits that make this figure shine.
Accessories! Steve comes with a pair of pistols and his trademark shield. The shield clips on to his arm and features a peg so that it can be stored on his back. I tend to like this shield design better than the one that came with my 6-inch movie Cap solely because it can be stored on his back. The pistols are cool sculpts and he can hold them in each of his hands. Some working holsters would have been nice, especially since most of the time, I’m going to have him posed with his shield and one pistol drawn.

Steve Rogers features some excellent articulation. His neck is not only ball jointed, but it also has an added hinge to help him look up and down even more. Hasbro, make this the standard, I love it! His arms feature ball jointed shoulders, double-hinged elbows, hinged wrists, and swivels in the biceps and wrists. His legs feature ball joints at the hips, double-hinged knees, swivels and hinges at the ankles, and swivels in the upper thighs. He swivels at his waist and he also has a hinged ab crunch in the torso. Nice!
I was pretty smitten with this figure when Hasbro first showed it off, and now that I have it in hand, I’ve got to say he lived up to all my expectations. He looks fantastic and he is so much fun to pose and play around with. Not to take anything away from Hope, Ghost Rider, or Constrictor, but Steve Rogers is definitely my favorite figure in the wave that we’ve looked at thus far. He was a great choice for the initial wave and a great example of what this new Marvel Legends line can offer when its going with both barrels blazing. And for those of you keeping score, this makes Marvel Legend, Wave One four for six.

At this point, we’ve looked at all the figures in the assortment that include the BAF pieces for Terrax. In the interest of finishing up by the end of the weekend, I’m going to look at the last packaged figure, Thor, and the BAF figure, Terrax, both tomorrow. That will allow me to do a fresh start for the new week on Monday.