2014 might be remembered as the year Hasbro used its 6-inch lines to beat the crap out of everyone else.
Hot on the heels of the first Spider-Man and Captain America movie waves, this figure is starting to trickle into stores now, along with “stealth suit” Rogers and the ever-elusive Black Widow. But don’t feel too badly if you miss her and just find these guys instead (like I did) because you’re still getting one helluva good figure.
Bucky here is done up in his “wet work” duds, and the colors might be a little different than in the trailer, but they look plenty good to me. There’s a lot of washed-in details, and the dark greens and browns fit the look very well. As is the trend with the Marvel movies these days, this look isn’t at all far off from Winter Soldier’s comic appearance. In my case that’s win-win because I despise the Nick Fury/Punisher body the last one was on.
And this one absolutely kills it in sculpt as well. Lots of seams, pockets and texture work the whole figure over. I especially dig the extra clip for his rifle on his right forearm (and yes, that is a “clip”– think metal box= magazine, visible bullets=clip. There, just made you smarter), as well as some throwing knives and tools in his hip-drop pouch. I’m a little bummed he doesn’t have a sidearm or holster, but his shoulder rig does leave enough room you could stash a gun or blade in the back if you wanted.
Speaking of guns, though, this weird lipstick applicator he comes with sucks. It sucked with the Hydra goon, and it sucks more here with its silly color. Give him a man’s tool, like the SVD here and he holds it very well. Like with the lack of holsters, I feel like Bucky’s a little underarmed out of the package here — I saw at least two pistols and a Skorpion strapped to his back in the trailer…
…but he does make good with two heads. The masked one is the clear winner here, but the “smoky eyes” look is at least on a good face sculpt, if you wanted to get brave with the acetone. And the previous Winter Soldier heads work here as well, if maybe sitting a little low.
So while he might not be the hot lil’ thing that Widow is, or the star of the show, he’s a damn good figure worthy of second billing.
