Captain America: The First Avenger Action Figure Review # 1

   Ever since I was a little boy in the 70's, I have loved Marvel comics. I remember the first comic book I ever was given and read. It was "Amazing Spider-Man # 121" AKA "The Night Gwen Stacy Died". A good friend of my mother's gave it to me during a family visit. I still remember each page of that comic as I used to read it over and over and over. I loved the art, I loved the story. . . I was a True Believer from that point on.


   As the days went on, I read many comics from different companies. I loved the superhero genre, as all children do, watching scantily clad men with capes, bulging muscles (and genitals) beat up evildoers in the name of justice! I read Marvel, DC Comics, Charlton... anything I could find! But I couldn't find a hero that I identified with, that I loved with all my heart and soul... until I met Captain America in the pages of Secret Wars.


   I started reading Captain America & was reintroduced to Nick Fury/SHIELD (whom I remembered from the old Marvel Godzilla comic). I became an instant Nick Fury/SHIELD fan. For the record, Nick, the old warhorse, is my FAVORITE non-super powered hero (yes, even more than Batman). He rarely shaves, he smokes cigars, he talks smack to anyone AND any Snake Plissken fan'll tell ya... eyepatches are cool! PLUS, he's got the gimmicks and gadgets that all super spies need to compensate for the fact that he's got no mutant powers!


   Anyway, I read Cap for years and even suffered through the old 80's movie with the writer JD Salinger's son, Matt, as Captain America and an italian Red Skull. WTF? Even Ronny Cox couldn't save that one! I never thought there would be a real Captain A film... I'm SO glad I was wrong!!

LET'S GET TO THE TOYS, DAMN IT!

CAPTAIN AMERICA: BATTLEFIELD:

   Captain America in all his glorious, vintage looking goodness! He mainly resembles the Ultimate Avengers version of Classic Cap. The original Captain America serving in WWII with his original Shield.


PACKAGING:


   The figure packaging is adequate, but it seems pretty plain to me. I'm not sure what i would have done different, but it just looks very generic and blah. It doesn't POP or stand out in anyway and is hard to notice on a toy rack full of action figures. The face on the art does resemble the actor from the film, so that's a plus. Maybe they could have made it look a little more WWII era, since the film mainly takes place in the past.

FIGURE/ACCESSORIES:   Captain America is a decent, sturdy figure... until we get to his legs. His upper body seems fine, but his legs are very flimsy and soft. His knee joints seem very weak and shaky, too. He's not that hard to stand, but it appears that his joints MAY get loose quickly.

   The Cap has a Thompson Machine gun, a .45, his original Shield, a removable helmet and removable webgear (with holster). The guns are molded out of the CHEAPEST plastic I have ever seen. This cheap plastic makes a Chap Mei weapon feel like it was made out of solid iron. No joke, they are flimsy and bend so easily that they are heading right in the garbage bin, most likely (Unless one of you guys email me and want them) I am going straight to Marauder for better replacement weapons ASAP!

SCULPTING:


   I think the sculpting is very good. The figure LOOKS dynamic and has a lot of detail. I'm very glad to see that Hasbro has been stepping it up lately. this figure PWNS any Cap figure made thus far. Those Marvel Universe 3 3/4 figure Captains can now be sold or thrown away!

PAINT:


   I had to look through several figures in the toy aisle before I found one with decent paint apps. Most of the figures paint apps were horrible. Skin color on the mask, the eyes painted too big, dots on his face, etc... After passing up about4 figures, I found the one with the best paint and snagged it.

ARTICULATION:


   The figure has decent articulation in all of the areas you would expect. The wrists swivel and pivot, too! These are the wrist joints we've begged for for years! They turn left and right AND up and down. I'm sure I will get some great poses out of this bad boy! His ankles have good movement, too!


   However, as awesome as that is, the hip joints suffer badly from crappy articulation. They turn, but you have to make sure the joint is pointing the right way or it is impossible to get a good running leg pose on this guy. Add that to the fact that the plastic is super flimsy around his knees and you can surmise that this hero is going to be shelf diving quite often. Thankfully, there is a peghole under his feet so I can put him on a stand!


FINAL VERDICT: B-


   My only real issue with this figure are his flimsy legs and the cheap plastic used for the weapons. He looks great, so for those collectors who keep their figs in their plastic prisons, he'll be fine. But if you're like me and love to actually PLAY with your toys, I suggest replacing the weapons.


Maisto 1928 JDH Twin Cam Harley Davidson: Series 24:


   As I was walking around the toy aisle, I stopped in the diecast car aisle and much to my surprise, found a WWII era Harley Davidson in OD Green that I quickly snapped up! I never liked the idea of Cap riding around on a red, white & blue motorcycle. It's kinda corny to make EVERYTHING this guy owns in the USA colors. I mean, I'm a patriot, but come one! Does he wear red, white and blue underoos, too?!


   But this Harley's OD Green color matches Cap's webgear PERFECTLY and I think they are a great match for some motorized Nazi butt-kicking! Cap's Shield even snaps onto the front of the bike (with some effort). I think it's the only time I was glad they used that flimsy plastic!

Winter Soldier:


   We all thought Bucky was dead for ages, until the retcon gods dredged up the cheesiest looking character and turned him into the coolest badass in recent history. What a revamp! Can something like this finally happen to Rick Jones?!

PACKAGING:


   The same blah packaging is used for the whole line. Does anyone agree that it just does nothing?!

FIGURE/ACCESSORIES:


   Winter Soldier is a great figure. Sturdy plastic is used on him, but not the weapons. He comes with a Mauser (that fits into a holster), a sniper rifle and a backpack that turns into a flight pack. Kinda corny looking and the backside is open, which makes it look pretty cheap and cheesy.

SCULPTING:


   The sculpt on this figure is dynamite. Great work here by Hasbro. We get the long-haired version of Bucky and the Straps & Buckles style is well defined here. I always attribute this type of look to Steranko, because that's immediately what I think of when I see it. But someone on the Hisstank boards said that Steranko may have lifted it from someone else. I can't remember who it was, but thankfully, the look looks good!! If I had ONE gripe... it's that the gun molded to his chest is not removable.

PAINT:


   As usual, I had to dig through tons of Winter Soldier figures before I found one with decent paint apps i could live with. MOST of the figs had horrendous applications. I was starting to lose hope in finding a good one, but i did. I was happy because this was the figure i wanted MOST.


ARTICULATION:


   The Winter Soldier figure could ALMOST be a GI Joe: Pursuit of Cobra figure, it's so cool. He moves in every way that a Joe does, but this dreaded new hip articulation makes him a bit less of a figure. So far, he is my favorite fig in the line and i will be picking up one or two more, just in case I need a spare!

FINAL VERDICT: A-


   This is THE best figure in the Captain America line so far, so I am glad I got him. he would have been graded an A if he had the pivot/swivel wrists that Battlefield Cap has. He would have gotten an A+ if he had better hip articulation. But all in all, if you want a cool looking figure that looks like it can take what you and the kids can dish out, grab this one up FAST!

COMING UP NEXT: Bring on the Bad Guys!! The Red Skull & Crossbones!